Before your users can actually start collecting payments and getting their payouts, their GoCardless account needs to be verified. This is a must-do for anti-money laundering (AML) rules.
The verification process is pretty straightforward, but it asks your users to:
Provide detailed information about their business.
Upload proof of identity and address.
Add their bank account details and prove ownership of the account.
We collect all these details through our own dedicated, hosted onboarding flow. Once a user signs up to GoCardless via your app, you should immediately check their verification status and send them to this flow if they need to complete it.
Once a user completes the OAuth flow and you have an access token, you need to find out if the user needs to go through the verification process. Most new users will, but some might be connecting an existing, verified account.
You can find your user's verification status in the Creditors API using the verification_status attribute. You can query it like this:
<?phprequire 'vendor/autoload.php';$client = new \GoCardlessPro\Client([ 'access_token' => $currentUser->gocardlessAccessToken, 'environment' => \GoCardlessPro\Environment::SANDBOX]);// The Creditors API returns a list of creditors, but any GoCardless account connected// to your application will have a single creditor, so you can just look at the first one$creditor = $client->creditors()->list()->records[0];// We'll see below how to redirect users to the onboarding flow, and how it worksif ($creditor->verification_status == "action_required") { redirectToOnboardingFlow();}
import gocardless_proclient = gocardless_pro.Client( access_token=current_user.gocardless_access_token, environment='sandbox')# The Creditors API returns a list of creditors, but any GoCardless account connected# to your application will have a single creditor, so you can just look at the first onecreditor = client.creditors.list().records[0];# We'll see below how to redirect users to the onboarding flow, and how it worksif creditor.verification_status == "action_required": redirect_to_onboarding_flow()
require 'gocardless_pro'client = GoCardlessPro::Client.new( access_token: current_user.gocardless_access_token, environment: :sandbox)# The Creditors API returns a list of creditors, but any GoCardless account connected# to your application will have a single creditor, so you can just look at the first onecreditor = client.creditors.list.records.first# We'll see below how to redirect users to the onboarding flow, and how it worksredirect_to_onboarding_flow if creditor.verification_status == "action_required"
package com.gcintegration;import com.gocardless.GoCardlessClient;import com.gocardless.resources.Creditor;import static com.gocardless.resources.Creditor.VerificationStatus.ACTION_REQUIRED;GoCardlessClient client = GoCardlessClient .newBuilder(CurrentUser.gocardlessAccessToken) .withEnvironment(GoCardlessClient.Environment.SANDBOX) .build();// The Creditors API returns a list of creditors, but any GoCardless account connected// to your application will have a single creditor, so you can just look at the first oneCreditor creditor = client.creditors().list().execute().getItems().get(0);// We'll see below how to redirect users to the onboarding flow, and how it worksif (creditor.getVerificationStatus() == ACTION_REQUIRED) { redirectToOnboardingFlow();}
const client = gocardless( // We recommend storing your access token in an environment // variable for security process.env.GoCardlessAccessToken, // Change me to constants.Environments.Live when you're ready to go live constants.Environments.Sandbox,);const creditors = gocardless.creditors.list({ limit: 1 });// The Creditors API returns a list of creditors, but any GoCardless account connected// to your application will have a single creditor, so you can just look at the first oneconst creditor = creditors.creditors[0];if (creditor.verification_status === "action_required") { // We'll see below how to redirect users to the onboarding flow, and how it works redirectUserToOnboardingFlow();}
GoCardlessClient client = GoCardlessClient.Create( // We recommend storing your access token in an // configuration setting for security ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["GoCardlessAccessToken"], // Change me to LIVE when you're ready to go live GoCardlessClient.Environment.SANDBOX);var creditorListResponse = await gocardless.Creditors.ListAsync( new GoCardless.Services.CreditorListRequest() { Limit = 1 });// The Creditors API returns a list of creditors, but any GoCardless account connected// to your application will have a single creditor, so you can just look at the first oneGoCardless.Resources.Creditor creditor = creditorListResponse.Creditors[0];if (creditor.VerificationStatus == CreditorVerificationStatus.ActionRequired){ // We'll see below how to redirect users to the onboarding flow, and how it works RedirectUserToOnboardingFlow();}
package mainimport ( "context" "fmt" gocardless "github.com/gocardless/gocardless-pro-go/v6")func main() { accessToken := "your_access_token_here" opts := gocardless.WithEndpoint(gocardless.SandboxEndpoint) client, err := gocardless.New(accessToken, opts) if err != nil { fmt.Println("error in initialisating client: %s", err.Err()) return } creditorListParams := gocardless.CreditorListParams{} creditorListParams.Limit = 1 ctx := context.TODO() creditors, err := client.Creditors.List(ctx, creditorListParams) if err != nil { fmt.Printf("error in fetching creditors: %s", err.Error()) } // The Creditors API returns a list of creditors, but any GoCardless account connected // to your application will have a single creditor, so you can just look at the first one creditor := creditors[0] if creditor.VerficationStatus == "action_required" { // We'll see below how to redirect users to the onboarding flow, and how it works redirectUserToOnboardingFlow() }}
Tip
You probably won't want to poll the Creditors API on every page load for your user's
verification_status. We'd recommend caching this and refreshing it regularly, as well as at
times when it makes sense in your user journey (for example when a user returns to your app
through the post-onboarding URL).
A creditor's verification status will be one of these three values:
Nothing. They can collect payments and receive payouts!
in_review
They have sent all required information, and GoCardless is reviewing it.
They can't collect or get payouts yet. Do not redirect them. Just show a message letting them know it's being reviewed.
action_required
We need more information to complete their verification.
You should immediately redirect them to the dedicated onboarding flow.
Users might revert back to in_review or action_required even after being successful (like if they change their bank account). Always check the status before allowing payment or payout features.
We highly suggest adding clear messages in your UI if they are not successful (telling them why they can't collect/get paid) and pointing them to the onboarding flow if they're in action_required.
There, the user will fill in all the necessary information about themselves, their business, and their bank details. Once they're done, they might see an option to head back to your app. This happens only if two things are true:
You have set a post onboarding URL in your app settings.
The user is connected to just your app.
You can set the post-onboarding URL in the app creation or editing forms. If you're all set up, you can find the current URL on your app details page.
When they complete the flow, they'll see a screen that offers a convenient way to return to your app (but note, it's not an automatic redirect).
If the user is connected to more than one app (or none at all), they'll just see a generic button
to return to their GoCardless dashboard homepage. We don't have a way to know where they came from
in that case.
When your user lands back in your product, it's likely that their verification status will not yet be successful. Some of the information provided by users requires review by GoCardless, so it may be a little while before they move to the successful state. Or in some cases, further information will be requested, meaning they'll move back to action_required.
Once you see that they're in that successful state and you're all done with this part, you're ready to move on to the next step: helping them to start collecting payments and getting paid!
Tip
Spot unverified merchants at a glance
The Partner Dashboard surfaces each merchant's verification
status in the Connected Merchants list, so you can see who still needs to complete onboarding.
Click "Switch to Partner View" in the side nav to access it.