An account holder's status represents their overall standing on your platform. After an account holder is onboarded and verified, their status is set to active. Then, as your business relationship changes with the account holder, you can update their status to suspended or closed using the Configuration API.
Adyen can also change the status of an account holder due to suspected risk, fraud, or violation of the terms of service which can affect related account holders and balance accounts.
This page discusses the status definitions, why Adyen suspends and closes account holders, and how each status affects payment processing. To learn how to suspend, reactivate, and close an account holder, go to Manage account holders.
Status definitions
Each account holder, balance account, and payment instrument has a status that you can view and manage with the Configuration API. The status of an account holder is also shown in the Customer Area.
These are the possible status values:
| Status | Description | Editable |
|---|---|---|
| active | The resource is active and allowed to use its capabilities. This is the initial status for account holders and balance accounts. | Yes, you can change this status to suspended or closed. |
| suspended | The resource is temporarily disabled and payouts are blocked. | Yes, you can change this status to active or closed. |
| closed | The resource and all capabilities are permanently disabled. | No |
| inactive (payment instrument only) | The payment instrument is created but not yet active. This is the initial status after creating a payment instrument. | No |
To learn how to suspend, reactivate, and close an account holder, go to Manage account holders.
Adyen-initiated status updates
Adyen is continuously checking account holders to protect you from risk and fraud. For example, Adyen can flag an account holder as fraudulent and suspend them while investigating.
To know if an account holder was suspended or closed by Adyen:
- Check the Account Holder Details page in the Customer Area. If Adyen took action on the account holder, a status reason is shown.
- Listen to balancePlatform.accountHolder.updated webhooks to get automated updates.
Adyen-initiated account holder suspensions can only be reversed by Adyen.
Status inheritance
When Adyen changes the status of an account holder, it affects other resources related to the account holder.
- When Adyen suspends an account holder, the related balance accounts get suspended.
- When Adyen closes an account holder, the related balance accounts and payment instruments get closed.
Additionally, depending on the status reason, Adyen can switch the inheritance level to the legal entity rather than the account holder. This means that all account holders who share the same legal entity inherit the capability changes caused by the new status.
Status reasons
Adyen provides a status reason when we change the status of an account holder. This status reason is visible in the Customer Area Account Holder Details page.
The status determines:
- Which of the account holder's capabilities Adyen disallows.
- Whether account holders who share the same legal entity have capabilities disallowed.
Use the following tables as general guidelines. The changes in the allowed capabilities and the inheritance level can differ on a case-by-case basis.
Suspended status reasons
| Status reason | Description | Capabilities disallowed | Inheritance level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suspected Fraud | Adyen temporarily suspended the account holder while investigating potential fraudulent activity on the account (for example, bin testing, identity theft). | Payouts | Account holder |
| Suspected Risk | Adyen temporarily suspended the account holder while investigating potential risks on the account (for example, illegal business model, stolen goods). | Payouts only or payouts and pay ins | Account holder or Legal entity |
| Suspected Terms of Service | Adyen temporarily suspended the account holder while investigating a potential breach of the terms of service. (for example, underage user) | Payouts only or payouts and pay ins | Account holder or Legal entity |
Closed status reasons
| Status reason | Description | Capabilities disallowed | Inheritance level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fraud | Adyen closed the account holder due to fraud. | All | Account holder |
| Risk | Adyen closed the account holder due to risk. | All | Account holder or Legal entity |
| Terms of Service | Adyen closed the account holder due to a breach of terms of service. | All | Account holder or Legal entity |
Payment processing
When a payment is processed, your integration provides split information to tell Adyen where to direct the funds after settlement. This means that payment processing will not be directly impacted by the status of an account holder.
- If the funds are split to an account holder that is suspended, the split amount will settle in the account holder's balance account.
- If the funds are split to an account holder that is suspended, but the pay-in capabilities are also blocked, the split amount will settle in your Liable Account holder's "Reserved Incorrect Splits Account" balance account.
- If the funds are split to an account holder that is closed, the split amount will settle in your Liable Account holder's "Reserved Incorrect Splits Account" balance account.