# Create an Outbound Payment

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

# Create an outbound payment

There are two types of outbound payments you can create: **regular outbound payments** (sent to the recipient you specify) and **withdrawals** (transferred to your verified business bank account).

## Regular outbound payments

Let's create your first outbound payment. At a minimum, you need to specify the following details:

- `amount` in minor units (e.g., pence for GBP, cents for EUR)
- `scheme` — the payment scheme you want to use
- `recipient_bank_account` — your customer bank account ID

> **Info:**
> The Outbound Payment API enforces idempotent creation to prevent duplicate payments. The
>   **Idempotency-Key** header is mandatory. For details, refer to the [API
>   reference](/docs/api-reference/limits#idempotency-keys).

Here's an example to guide you:

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

  }
}
```

## Withdrawals

Withdrawals are essentially regular outbound payments — they follow the same lifecycle, events, creation and cancellation process, and other behaviours. The only difference is that withdrawals are sent to your nominated (and verified) bank account. A separate endpoint is provided for convenience, as you don't need to specify a recipient.

Withdrawals are useful when you wish to move funds out of your Payment Account. This is particularly relevant for organisations using the _Funding from Collections_ model, where payouts from Collections accumulate in your Payment Account unless a withdrawal is made.

> **Info:**
> All unassigned funds are automatically paid out to your nominated business bank account quarterly
>   — on the first Tuesday of each January, April, July, and October.

Here's an example of creating a withdrawal:

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

}
```

## Scheduling future-dated outbound payments

In the standard scenario for instant schemes such as Faster Payments, your outbound payment is sent immediately and typically reaches the recipient's bank account within seconds (in rare cases it may take up to a few hours).

To schedule a payment for a specific future date, set the `execution_date` field:

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

  }
}
```

## What's next?

  
#### [Approve an outbound payment](/docs/send-money/send-an-outbound-payment/approve-an-outbound-payment)

Review Confirmation of Payee results and approve the payment to send it.

  
#### [Cancel an outbound payment](/docs/send-money/send-an-outbound-payment/cancel-an-outbound-payment)

Cancel a pending payment before it enters the executing state.