Overview - Dwolla Developer Portal

Customers

A Customer represents an individual or business with whom you intend to transact with and is programmatically created and managed by a Dwolla Main account via the API. In order for a Dwolla Account to create and manage Customers, an application must obtain permission from Dwolla before being enabled in production. Note: Customers can only be US persons. Business Verified Customers may have non-US Controllers or Beneficial Owners.

Customer types

With a transfer of money, at least one party must complete the identity verification process, either the sender or the receiver. This can be either the Dwolla Main Account itself or a verified Customer type. Based on your business model and funds flow, it’s your decision about which party completes this process— you may even want to have both parties complete the identity verification process. A brief description of each Customer type is below, but for a more in-depth overview of each Customer type and what their capabilities are, check out our developer resource article.

Receive-only Users

Receive-only users are restricted to a “payouts only” funds flow. A receive-only user maintains limited functionality in the API and is only eligible to receive transfers to an attached bank account. This Customer type can only interact with verified Customers and a Dwolla Main Account.

Unverified Customers

Unverified Customers have a default sending transaction limit of $5,000 per week. A week is defined as Monday to Sunday UTC time. As this Customer is not identity verified, they will only be able to transact with verified Customers or your Dwolla Main Account.

Verified Customers

Verified Customers are defined by their ability to both send and receive money, thus, being able to fit all funds flows. They can also interact with any Customer type and hold a balance funding source within the Dwolla network. Think of the Dwolla balance as a “wallet” which a Customer can send, receive, or hold funds to within the Dwolla network. With no weekly transfer limits, this Customer type is flexible for high transaction volumes. A verified Customer can be created as a type of either Personal or Business.

Customer links

Link	Description
self	URL of the Customer resource
receive	Follow the link to create a transfer to this Customer.
funding-sources	GET this link to list the Customer’s funding sources.
transfers	GET this link to list the Customer’s transfers
send	(optional) If this link exists, this Customer can send funds. POST to this URL to create a transfer.
retry-verification	If the Customer has a `status` of `retry`, POST to this link to attempt to correct their identity verification information.
verify-with-document	If the Verified Customer of type `personal` or `business` has a `status` of `document`, POST to this link to upload a new color photo document to verify the Customer’s identity. If type `business`, the controller of the business. Read about Documents.
verify-business-with-document	If the Verified Customer of type `business` has a `status` of `document`, POST to this link to upload a new color photo document to verify the identity of the business itself. Read about Documents.
verify-controller-and-business-with-document	If the Verified Customer of type `business` has a `status` of `document`, POST to this link to upload new color photo documents to verify the identity of the controller of the business as well as the business itself. Read about Documents.
upload-dba-document	If the Verified Customer of type `business` with a `doingBusinessAs` name has a `status` of `document`, POST to this link to upload a new color photo document containing the DBA name along with the state registered business name to verify the identity of the business itself. Read about Documents.

Customer resource

Parameter	Description
id	Customer’s unique identifier.
firstName	Customer’s first name.
lastName	Customer’s last name.
email	Customer’s email address.
type	Either `unverified`, `personal`, `business`, or `receive-only`.
status	If type is unverified or receive-only: status can be `unverified`, `deactivated`, or `suspended`. If type is personal: status can be `retry`, `kba`, `document`, `verified`, `deactivated`, or `suspended`. If type is business: status can be `retry`, `document`, `verified`,`deactivated`, or `suspended`.
created	ISO-8601 timestamp.

Customer statuses

Status	Description
unverified	Customers of type `unverified` or `receive-only` always have this status.
retry	Verified Customers of type `personal` or `business` can have this status. The initial verification attempt failed because the information provided did not satisfy our verification check. You can make one additional attempt by changing some or all the attributes of the existing Customer with a POST request. If the additional attempt fails, the resulting status will be either `document` or `suspended`.
document	Verified Customers of type `personal` or `business` can have this status. Dwolla requires additional documentation to identify the Customer in the `document` status. Read about Documents.
verified	Verified Customers of type `personal` or `business` can have this status. The Customer is currently verified.
suspended	All Customer types can have a status of `suspended`. The Customer is suspended and may neither send nor receive funds. Contact Dwolla support for more information.
deactivated	All Customer types can have a status of `deactivated`. A deactivated Customer may neither send nor receive funds. A deactivated Customer can be reactivated which moves the Customer to the status they were in prior to being deactivated.

{
  "_links": {
    "self": {
      "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/9da3aa7c-2524-430b-a751-6dc722735fce",
      "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
      "resource-type": "customer"
    },
    "receive": {
      "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/transfers",
      "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
      "resource-type": "transfer"
    },
    "edit-form": {
      "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/9da3aa7c-2524-430b-a751-6dc722735fce",
      "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json; profile=\n      \"https://github.com/dwolla/hal-forms\"",
      "resource-type": "customer"
    },
    "edit": {
      "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/9da3aa7c-2524-430b-a751-6dc722735fce",
      "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
      "resource-type": "customer"
    },
    "funding-sources": {
      "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/9da3aa7c-2524-430b-a751-6dc722735fce/funding-sources",
      "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
      "resource-type": "funding-source"
    },
    "transfers": {
      "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/9da3aa7c-2524-430b-a751-6dc722735fce/transfers",
      "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
      "resource-type": "transfer"
    },
    "send": {
      "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/transfers",
      "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
      "resource-type": "transfer"
    }
  },
  "id": "9da3aa7c-2524-430b-a751-6dc722735fce",
  "firstName": "Jane",
  "lastName": "Doe",
  "email": "janedoe@email.com",
  "type": "personal",
  "status": "verified",
  "created": "2016-08-17T18:58:47.630Z",
  "address1": "99-99 33rd St",
  "address2": "Apt 8",
  "city": "Some City",
  "state": "NY",
  "postalCode": "11101",
  "phone": "5554321234"
}