Bank account lifecycle
Account statuses
Throughout it’s lifecycle a bank account moves through a limited set of stages, captured by its account-status
field. The allowed stages are outlined below:
- Opening. When you request to open a bank account, its status will be
opening
while our platform sets up the account. Accounts in this state cannot send or receive payments. Part of the set up includes assigning an account number and sort code, so you may see your account without these fields while it's in an opening state. - Open. Once an account is fully set up, it moves to
open
. Open accounts can make and receive payments and earn interest. - Closing. When you request to close a bank account, it will move into the
closing
state and any accrued interest will be paid out. The account will not move intoclosed
state until its balance is zero. Learn how to close a bank account. - Closed. Once an account that is
closing
has a balance of zero, it will automatically move toclosed
.
An account’s progression through these stages is linear and unidirectional, meaning that it follows a straight, irreversible path from opening
to closed
.
Available actions
The account-status
affects the actions that can be performed on the account as detailed in the table below:
Opening | Open | Closing | Closed | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Receive payments | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
Make payments | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Transfer money | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Earn interest | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
Account statuses are different from account restrictions, which also change the actions that can be performed on the account.