Receive a Bacs Direct Credit payment
This guide will walk you through receiving a payment to one of your accounts. Payment processing is a multi-step process which requires interacting with several resource types. Learn about payments, transactions, submissions and admissions here
Prerequisites
If you are attempting to receive a payment into a pooled account, the account must first have one or more pooled account members added to it. You can view the guide to add pooled account members here.
Receive a Bacs Direct Credit Payment
We recommend creating a webhook in order to receive notifications of new inbound payments. The examples below illustrate a typical set of notifications that you will receive for an inbound bacs direct credit.
Bacs has a three-day processing cycle. Payments and their admissions become visible on day two of that cycle, but no money moves until day three: Direct Credits are credited to your account on the morning of day three, and Direct Debit collections are debited that morning too. Weekends and bank holidays are not counted: if a step in the cycle falls on a non-working day, it happens on the next working day instead.
The payment-created event informs you that an inbound payment has been received. For a Bacs Direct Credit, this happens on day two of the cycle, the day before the funds are credited.
{
"event-url": "/v0/events/ev.MG7WpgsiWrqVlfQlYnwZ3w",
"event-type": "payment-created",
"event-payload": {
"created-at": "2026-07-07T09:15:03.706Z",
"creditor": {
"account-url": "/v0/bank/accounts/ba.bihSK9VMQRCVhrFm5Rv7MA",
"creditor-type": "griffin-bank-account"
},
"debtor": {
"account-holder": "Jane Doe",
"account-number": "60484240",
"account-number-code": "bban",
"bank-id": "000000",
"bank-id-code": "gbdsc"
},
"payment-admissions-url": "/v0/payments/pm.BEPkS5c_XAy9ILoXr4rTYA/admissions",
"payment-amount": {
"currency": "GBP",
"value": "20.00"
},
"payment-direction": "inbound-payment",
"payment-reference": "ACME LTD SALARY",
"payment-type": "credit-transfer",
"payment-url": "/v0/payments/pm.BEPkS5c_XAy9ILoXr4rTYA"
},
"created-at": "2026-07-07T09:15:03.706Z"
}
The admission-created event can also be used to identify when a payment has been received. Additionally you can use admissions to monitor the payment as it is being processed.
{
"event-url": "/v0/events/ev.2mTHGtHNUjSVYgGEGUeuMQ",
"event-type": "admission-created",
"event-payload": {
"account-url": "/v0/bank/accounts/ba.bihSK9VMQRCVhrFm5Rv7MA",
"admission-scheme-information": {
"payment-scheme": "bacs"
},
"admission-status": "processing",
"admission-url": "/v0/admissions/pa.b-zT_tXrXHO7KkuuRx8eXQ",
"created-at": "2026-07-07T09:15:03.706Z",
"payment-url": "/v0/payments/pm.BEPkS5c_XAy9ILoXr4rTYA",
"unique-scheme-identifier": "2F0BABD7"
},
"created-at": "2026-07-07T09:15:03.706Z"
}
The transaction-created event signals that the payment amount has been credited to the recipient, on day three of the cycle. transaction-created events additionally include account-balance information, so they are useful for maintaining an account statement, or for reconciliation.
{
"event-url": "/v0/events/ev.mrsba9YxUtaoo4JP5eOv6Q",
"event-type": "transaction-created",
"event-payload": {
"account-balance": {
"currency": "GBP",
"value": "20.00"
},
"account-transaction-url": "/v0/bank/transactions/tr.PK8zcJ9wVnOn5jHghsNJew",
"account-url": "/v0/bank/accounts/ba.bihSK9VMQRCVhrFm5Rv7MA",
"balance-change-direction": "credit",
"balance-change": {
"currency": "GBP",
"value": "20.00"
},
"effective-at": "2026-07-08T07:00:41.978Z",
"payment-url": "/v0/payments/pm.BEPkS5c_XAy9ILoXr4rTYA",
"post-datetime": "2026-07-08T07:00:41.978Z",
"processed-at": "2026-07-08T07:00:41.978Z",
"transaction-origin-type": "payment"
},
"created-at": "2026-07-08T07:00:41.978Z"
}
The admission-updated event signals an update to the payment as a result of processing; in this case its status is delivered, signalling that the payment amount has been credited to the recipient, but it could also signal a rejection or return.
{
"event-url": "/v0/events/ev.y3pDUTezWC-G41Pk0ilYfg",
"event-type": "admission-updated",
"event-payload": {
"account-url": "/v0/bank/accounts/ba.bihSK9VMQRCVhrFm5Rv7MA",
"admission-scheme-information": {
"payment-scheme": "bacs"
},
"admission-status": "delivered",
"admission-url": "/v0/admissions/pa.b-zT_tXrXHO7KkuuRx8eXQ",
"created-at": "2026-07-07T09:15:03.706Z",
"payment-url": "/v0/payments/pm.BEPkS5c_XAy9ILoXr4rTYA",
"unique-scheme-identifier": "2F0BABD7"
},
"created-at": "2026-07-08T07:00:41.978Z"
}
Payment references
The payment-reference on an inbound Bacs payment is the reference supplied by the sending organisation.
The unique-scheme-identifier on the admission is the reference the Bacs scheme assigns to the payment as it is delivered to us. The scheme does not guarantee that it is unique, so do not use it on its own as a reconciliation or deduplication key. Use the payment-url or admission-url to identify a payment uniquely.
Returned credits
Sometimes Griffin cannot apply a credit to the account it is addressed to: for example, because the account has been closed or blocked, or because it is a pooled account with no pooled account members. In these cases the payment is returned to the sending bank, and the admission's status changes to returned. No funds are credited.
{
"event-url": "/v0/events/ev.iXm2vRq4THSkDb0AhYcW1g",
"event-type": "admission-updated",
"event-payload": {
"account-url": "/v0/bank/accounts/ba.bihSK9VMQRCVhrFm5Rv7MA",
"admission-scheme-information": {
"payment-scheme": "bacs"
},
"admission-status": "returned",
"admission-url": "/v0/admissions/pa.b-zT_tXrXHO7KkuuRx8eXQ",
"created-at": "2026-07-07T09:15:03.706Z",
"payment-url": "/v0/payments/pm.BEPkS5c_XAy9ILoXr4rTYA",
"unique-scheme-identifier": "2F0BABD7"
},
"created-at": "2026-07-08T07:00:41.978Z"
}
Recalls and reversals
Occasionally the sending bank recalls a payment, for example because it was sent in error. Recalls are generally made before the credit is applied on day three: the payment is withdrawn and the admission's status changes to cancelled, and no funds are credited to the account. In some cases the funds have already been credited and need to be debited again; if this happens, we will contact you.
A reversal occurs when an error has been made in a file of payments sent to the scheme. Correcting it involves crediting the account (for Direct Debits) or debiting it (for Direct Credits) after the original file has been processed. Reversals are rare, and Griffin treats them as incidents.