How to add and verify a bank account
Connect a bank to Payment Center and finish verification so you can receive (or send) electronic payments.
New Horizon Experience. This article describes the New Horizon Experience, which is available now. In the Horizon WebRef mobile apps for Android and iOS, New Horizon is already what you see. On a computer or laptop you see it when you are in New Horizon. If you still have the older layout, choose Try the New Horizon Experience from the banner or your account menu. You can switch back from that menu any time.
This article is for Officials in the United States who already have a personal Payment Receiver account (or organization payment senders with a business account) in the Payment Center. Use it when you need to attach a bank and finish ownership verification so payouts have somewhere to land. If you do not have a payment account yet, start with How to create a Payment Receiver account.
Open Payment Center from Payments in the side menu (or from the Payments area of your account). This works on a phone and on a computer. Stay on the personal account view to receive pay. Organization administrators who send payments stay on the business account view.
Before you start
Your organization must already use Payment Center for direct deposit. A business Payment Sender account for the organization has to exist before officials can finish personal banking. Organization administrators set that up first. See How to create a Payment Sender account. Until that business account exists, Horizon explains that your organization is not using Payment Center yet.
You also need an active Official membership in the United States and a phone number that is added and verified on your Personal Profile. Adding a bank can ask for a short identity step with a verification code (from your authenticator app, or a code sent to a verified phone). Business banking also needs completed identity verification on Personal Profile before you can add or manage organization banks.
Every Payment Center account needs at least one bank, and that bank must complete ownership verification. Personal accounts typically allow one bank. Business accounts may allow up to two. If your payment account is deactivated, contact support before you try to add a bank again.
1. Open Bank Accounts
On Payment Center, open the Utilities menu (the gear on the personal card) and choose Bank Accounts. The Bank Accounts panel slides in and lists any banks already linked. If none are attached yet, you see No bank accounts attached yet and a full-width Add Bank Account button.
On a computer or laptop, the same gear sits on the personal card. Open that Utilities menu and choose Bank Accounts.
Horizon may also prompt you with Bank Account Required and the same Add Bank Account button when you return to Payment Center without a bank. Choosing that button starts the same add flow.
2. Add the bank
Choose Add Bank Account. A secure Add Bank Account window opens. Follow the on-screen steps and enter your bank or credit union details. When your bank sign-in is offered, you can use it. Otherwise enter the routing number and account number (those numbers are also on a check or deposit slip, or your bank can give them to you). Choose checking or savings so the type matches the account you are connecting.
Give the bank a nickname you will recognize later. The nickname is only a label for you. It does not change routing, account number, or account type.
If you already have the maximum number of banks, Horizon explains that the maximum has been reached. Remove a bank you no longer need first. See How to delete a bank account.
3. Wait for micro-deposits
After the bank is linked, verification usually continues with two very small deposits of different amounts. Those deposits typically take 1 to 3 business days to appear. Horizon emails you when they have arrived. Until then, Bank Accounts shows that 2 micro-deposits are on their way and asks you to wait for that email before you finish verifying here.
If the deposits have not been started yet and Bank Accounts offers Send Verification Deposits, choose it. Then wait for the email. Some banks show the deposits to you a few hours before Horizon receives confirmation. If you do not see Verify Now yet, wait for the email. The delay is usually only a few hours.
4. Verify the amounts
When the email arrives, check your bank for the two small deposits, then return to Bank Accounts. The waiting note is replaced by Verify Now. Choose it to open Verify Micro-Deposits.
Enter Micro-Deposit #1 and Micro-Deposit #2. Each amount must be between $0.01 and $0.15, and the two amounts must be different. Then choose Verify Bank Account. You have 3 tries to enter the amounts correctly.
When verification succeeds, the bank shows a Verified badge and is ready for payments. New payment transactions created after that point use this verified bank.
If verification does not succeed
After 3 incorrect tries, you must delete this bank account, wait 2 days, then add the bank again so a new pair of micro-deposits can be sent. Bank Accounts may also say micro-deposit verification failed and ask you to delete the bank and try again. See How to delete a bank account and Micro-Deposit Verification Failed.
More detail on the deposit wait and the email is in How to perform micro-deposit verification and I received micro-deposits. What do I do?.
After the bank is verified
You can rename the nickname later from the bank card menu, or remove a bank you no longer need. Changing the routing number, account number, or checking versus savings is not an in-place edit. Delete the old bank and add the new one. See How to edit or change your bank account.
Until the new bank is verified, you cannot receive new payments. Existing pending payments that were already created still use the bank that was on file when those payments were created.
If you still see the older layout
On a computer or laptop, the older legacy layout stays until you choose Try the New Horizon Experience from the banner or your account menu. That older screen uses a Bank Accounts tab and an Add Bank Account control in the top toolbar. Adding a bank there is a desktop or laptop path. The rules in this article still apply: you still need a Payment Center account, you still verify with two small deposits, and you still wait for the email before Verify Now.