An Account Funding Transaction (AFT) is a transaction where funds are pulled from a cardholder's Visa or Mastercard account to fund a separate, non-merchant account. AFTs enable person-to-person (P2P) money transfers, prepaid card top-ups, and digital wallet funding. This tutorial explains how AFTs work, how they differ from related transaction types, and how to use them with Checkout.com.
What is an Account Funding Transaction?
Think of an AFT like a direct debit: the payment provider reaches into the cardholder's account and pulls the funds, with the cardholder's authorization. The key difference is that instead of paying for goods or services, the funds are moved to another account — such as a prepaid card, a digital wallet, or a recipient's account.
AFTs are "pull" transactions. Their counterpart, the Original Credit Transaction (OCT), is a "push" transaction — it delivers funds to a recipient's account. Together, an AFT and an OCT form the two legs of most money movement flows: the AFT pulls from the sender, and the OCT pushes to the recipient.
When should you use an AFT?
AFTs are the right tool when your platform needs to move funds between accounts rather than collect payment for a purchase. Common scenarios include:
- P2P money transfers: A customer sends money to a friend or family member through your platform. The AFT pulls funds from the sender's card; an OCT then pushes those funds to the recipient.
- Prepaid card top-ups: A cardholder adds funds to a prepaid card directly from their debit card account.
- Digital wallet funding: A customer loads money onto a digital wallet or mobile payment app.
How it works with Checkout.com
AFTs are processed through the Visa and Mastercard networks, which means you need an acquirer — like Checkout.com — to connect you to those schemes and facilitate the transaction.
AFTs are not enabled by default. To use them, contact your account manager or request support.
Once enabled, you can perform AFTs through three integration paths:
- Payments API: Call the Request a payment or payout endpoint and set
"processing": { "aft": true }in the request body. - Payment Setup API: AFT is supported as part of the Payment Setup API flow.
- Apple Pay and Google Pay via Flow: When creating your payment session on your server, set
"processing": { "aft": true }. On the client side, setcaptureBillingAddress: trueon the wallet component so Flow collects the sender's billing details during authorization.
The required sender and recipient data varies by card scheme (Visa or Mastercard) and operating region. For the full field-level requirements, see Perform an Account Funding Transaction in our documentation.
How the flow works
- Trigger: The cardholder initiates a money movement on your platform — for example, "Send £50 to Ali."
- Request: Your server calls Checkout.com identifying the transaction as an AFT, along with the sender and recipient details required for the scheme and region.
- Authorization: Checkout.com, acting as acquirer, submits the AFT to the card scheme. The scheme authorizes the transaction and debits the sender's account.
- Outcome: The funds are now available to push to the recipient — typically via an OCT to complete the transfer.
AFT vs OCT vs regular payment
These three transaction types are easy to confuse. Here's how they differ:
| AFT | OCT | Regular payment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direction | Pulls funds FROM a cardholder's account | Pushes funds TO a cardholder's account | Pulls funds FROM a cardholder's account |
| Purpose | Funds a non-merchant account | Delivers funds to a recipient | Pays for goods or services |
| Role in flow | Source leg of a money transfer | Destination leg of a money transfer | Standalone purchase |
| API flag | processing.aft: true |
Separate payout request | No special flag |
Common issues
AFTs can often be mistaken for regular payments or refunds. In the Checkout.com ecosystem:
- An AFT is not a purchase. A regular payment charges a cardholder for goods or services. An AFT moves money to a non-merchant account — no product or service changes hands.
- An AFT is not a refund. A refund reverses a prior purchase. An AFT is a new funding movement with no prior transaction to reverse.
- An AFT is not an OCT. They are two sides of the same transfer. Setting
processing.aft: trueidentifies the pull leg only. The push leg (OCT) is a separate transaction. - Sender and recipient fields are scheme- and region-dependent. The data you must provide in the sender and recipient objects varies depending on whether you are processing a Visa or Mastercard transaction, and whether it is domestic or cross-border. Always check the requirements for your operating region before going live.
Where to go next
Now that you understand how AFTs work, you can set up your integration:
- Perform an Account Funding Transaction — Step-by-step API guide for Visa and Mastercard AFTs, including sender and recipient field requirements by region.
- Accept account funding transactions with a wallet — How to enable AFTs via Apple Pay and Google Pay in Flow.
- To enable AFTs on your account, contact your account manager or request support from the Dashboard.