# Approve an Outbound Payment

Source: https://docs.gocardless.com/docs/send-money/send-an-outbound-payment/approve-an-outbound-payment

# Approve an outbound payment

To enhance security and compliance, we have implemented a mandatory approval process for all outbound payments. Your outbound payment will not be sent until you explicitly confirm that you have reviewed the payment details and agree to proceed, because:

- Instant outbound payments cannot be cancelled once initiated, as we immediately start the money transfer process. The approval step allows you time to double-check the payment details before it is too late.
- As part of our compliance process, we run verification checks such as **Confirmation of Payee** to help prevent misdirected payments. See [Bank Account Holder Verification](/docs/send-money/bank-account-holder-verification) for more details.

## Approval process

An outbound payment can only be approved after all verification checks are completed. This ensures you can review the payment details and verification results before giving the go-ahead. The outbound payment will enter the **`pending_approval`** state, and you will receive the **`set_to_pending_approval`** webhook notification.

### Steps

1. Upon receiving the **`set_to_pending_approval`** webhook, retrieve the payment details and carefully review the response, paying special attention to the verification results. See [Bank Account Holder Verification](/docs/send-money/bank-account-holder-verification) for guidance on interpreting results, and [Tracking Outbound Payments](/docs/send-money/tracking-outbound-payments) for how to retrieve payment details.
2. If you are ready to proceed, use the designated API endpoint to approve the payment:

```http
POST https://api.gocardless.com/outbound_payments//actions/approve HTTP/1.1
```

3. If you notice an error in the details or have concerns about the verification results and do not wish to proceed, you can cancel the payment. See [Cancel an Outbound Payment](/docs/send-money/send-an-outbound-payment/cancel-an-outbound-payment).
4. Upon successful approval, the payment will transition to the next appropriate state.

## What's next?

  
#### [Tracking Outbound Payments](/docs/send-money/tracking-outbound-payments)

Monitor payment status changes and lifecycle events after approval.

  
#### [Strong Customer Authentication](/docs/send-money/strong-customer-authentication)

Learn how SCA works and which payments qualify for an exemption.