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External accounts are bank accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, or payment destinations outside Grid where you can send funds. Grid supports two types:
  • Customer external accounts - Scoped to individual customers, used for withdrawals and customer-specific payouts
  • Platform external accounts - Scoped to your platform, used for platform-wide operations like receiving funds from external sources
Customer external accounts often require some basic beneficiary information for compliance. Platform accounts are managed at the organization level.

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Create external accounts by region or wallet

  • United States
  • Mexico
  • Brazil
  • Europe
  • India
  • Cryptocurrency
ACH, Wire, RTP
cURL
curl -X POST 'https://api.lightspark.com/grid/2025-10-13/customers/external-accounts' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic $GRID_CLIENT_ID:$GRID_CLIENT_SECRET' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "currency": "USD",
    "platformAccountId": "user_123_primary_bank",
    "accountInfo": {
      "accountType": "US_ACCOUNT",
      "accountNumber": "123456789",
      "routingNumber": "021000021",
      "accountCategory": "CHECKING",
      "bankName": "Chase Bank",
      "beneficiary": {
        "beneficiaryType": "INDIVIDUAL",
        "fullName": "John Doe",
        "birthDate": "1990-01-15",
        "nationality": "US",
        "address": {
          "line1": "123 Main Street",
          "city": "San Francisco",
          "state": "CA",
          "postalCode": "94105",
          "country": "US"
        }
      }
    }
  }'
Category must be CHECKING or SAVINGS. Routing number must be 9 digits.
Use platformAccountId to tie your internal id with the external account.
Sample Response: 
{
  "id": "ExternalAccount:e85dcbd6-dced-4ec4-b756-3c3a9ea3d965",
  "customerId": "Customer:019542f5-b3e7-1d02-0000-000000000001",
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "currency": "USD",
  "platformAccountId": "user_123_primary_bank",
  "accountInfo": {
    "accountType": "US_ACCOUNT",
    "accountNumber": "123456789",
    "routingNumber": "021000021",
    "accountCategory": "CHECKING",
    "bankName": "Chase Bank",
    "beneficiary": {
      "beneficiaryType": "INDIVIDUAL",
      "fullName": "John Doe",
      "birthDate": "1990-01-15",
      "nationality": "US",
      "address": {
        "line1": "123 Main Street",
        "city": "San Francisco",
        "state": "CA",
        "postalCode": "94105",
        "country": "US"
      }
    }
  }
}

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Business beneficiaries

For business accounts, include business information: 
{
  "currency": "USD",
  "platformAccountId": "acme_corp_account",
  "customerId": "Customer:019542f5-b3e7-1d02-0000-000000000001",
  "accountInfo": {
    "accountType": "US_ACCOUNT",
    "accountNumber": "987654321",
    "routingNumber": "021000021",
    "accountCategory": "CHECKING",
    "bankName": "Chase Bank",
    "beneficiary": {
      "beneficiaryType": "BUSINESS",
      "businessInfo": {
        "legalName": "Acme Corporation, Inc.",
        "taxId": "EIN-987654321"
      },
      "address": {
        "line1": "456 Business Ave",
        "city": "New York",
        "state": "NY",
        "postalCode": "10001",
        "country": "US"
      }
    }
  }
}

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Account status

Beneficiary data may be reviewed for risk and compliance. Only ACTIVE accounts can receive payments. Updates to account data may trigger account re-review.
StatusDescription
PENDINGCreated, awaiting verification
ACTIVEVerified and ready for transactions
UNDER_REVIEWAdditional review required
INACTIVEDisabled, cannot be used

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Listing external accounts

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List customer accounts

curl -X GET 'https://api.lightspark.com/grid/2025-10-13/customers/external-accounts?customerId=Customer:019542f5-b3e7-1d02-0000-000000000001' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic $GRID_CLIENT_ID:$GRID_CLIENT_SECRET'

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List platform accounts

For platform-wide operations, list all platform-level external accounts: 
curl -X GET 'https://api.lightspark.com/grid/2025-10-13/platform/external-accounts' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic $GRID_CLIENT_ID:$GRID_CLIENT_SECRET'
Platform external accounts are used for platform-wide operations like depositing funds from external sources.

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Best practices

Validate account details before submission:
// US accounts: 9-digit routing, 4-17 digit account number
if (!/^\d{9}$/.test(routingNumber)) {
  throw new Error("Invalid routing number");
}

// CLABE: exactly 18 digits
if (!/^\d{18}$/.test(clabeNumber)) {
  throw new Error("Invalid CLABE number");
}
Verify status before sending payments:
if (account.status !== "ACTIVE") {
  throw new Error(`Account is ${account.status}, cannot process payment`);
}
Never expose full account numbers. Display only masked info:
function displaySafely(account) {
  return {
    id: account.id,
    bankName: account.accountInfo.bankName,
    lastFour: account.accountInfo.accountNumber.slice(-4),
    status: account.status,
  };
}

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Next steps

Plaid integration

Simplify external account setup with Plaid Link for instant bank verification

Cross-currency transfers

Learn how to send international payments using external accounts

API Reference

View complete API documentation for external accounts
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