Introduction

Welcome to the API Guide for Remittance Origination. This suite of APIs is designed to facilitate the seamless initiation of remittances from the United States to various countries across Latin America and other regions worldwide. Whether you’re building a payment platform, a digital wallet, or integrating remittance services into an existing product, these APIs provide the tools needed to ensure secure, fast, and efficient money transfers.

Our APIs enable you to:

• Originate transactions in compliance with U.S. regulatory requirements.
• Offer flexible options for recipients, including deposits to bank accounts, cards, electronic wallets, and cash pickups.
• Track and manage remittance flows with transparency and control.

This guide will walk you through the API endpoints, authentication methods, and key parameters required to initiate and monitor remittances. Whether you’re processing individual transfers or managing large volumes, these APIs are built to scale, ensuring reliability and compliance across various markets.

See: Remittances API

API Overview

This remittance platform provides a range of APIs to streamline the process of estimating, initiating, managing, and tracking remittances. Below is a breakdown of the key APIs available:

Quotations Quickview API

This API allows users to quickly generate an estimation for a remittance. It provides an overview of the transaction cost and exchange rate, enabling fast decision-making for sending remittances. This endpoint is ideal for users who need a rapid cost assessment without detailed validations.

Quotations API

The quotations API offers a more detailed estimate, including transaction costs and exchange rates. This endpoint provides both the fee structure and currency conversion rates.

The remittance quotation API requires the following fields to generate transaction information. These parameters define the remittance details, including the parties involved, the amounts being sent or received, and the payment options for both funding and payout.

• entityReference: This field represents the person or entity initiating the remittance. It is a unique identifier associated with the sender who starts the remittance process. It should be registered before sending the remittance.
• recipientReference: A unique identifier for the remittance recipient. This field specifies the final beneficiary who will receive the funds in their account or via the selected payment method. It should be added to the sender before sending the remittance.
• recipientPayoutMethodId: Identifier of the payment method associated with the recipient, which will be used to pay out the remittance.
• originAmount: The amount in the origin currency that is being sent. This value defines how much money the sender is transferring from the origin country.
• destinationAmount: The amount the recipient will receive in their local currency. If it required if the originAmount it is not sent in the request.
• fundingParty: Information related to the payment method used to fund the remittance. This field is optional, as in some cases, the sender’s digital account may be pre-funded by a merchant, removing the need to provide additional payment details in this part of the flow.
• senderParty: Information about the sender’s digital account from which the remittance will be originated. This field defines the digital account of the user sending the funds. It can be a omnibus account associated with the merchant.

Create Remittance API

This API is used to initiate a remittance transaction. After receiving a valid quotation, this endpoint processes the transfer request by securely registering the sender and recipient details. It kicks off the remittance workflow, ensuring that all regulatory and transactional requirements are met, and performs validation checks on the sender and recipient information. It uses the quote obtained via the quotation API to proceed with the transaction.

Throughout its lifecycle, a remittance goes through several statuses that indicate its progress and outcome. Below is a description of each status:

• CREATED: The remittance has been created but has not yet been processed.
• IN_PROCESS: The remittance is currently being waiting for the funding process.
• FUNDED: The sender has provided the necessary funds, and they have been confirmed.'
• IN REVIEW: The remittance requires manual verification by one of the parties involved, either the sender or the receiver
• AVAILABLE_FOR_PICKUP: The funds are available for the recipient, either for cash pickup or deposit into an account.
• COMPLETED: The remittance has been successfully received by the recipient, and the transaction is complete.
• CANCELLED: The remittance was cancelled before the process was completed.
• FAILED: The remittance failed due to a technical error, insufficient funds, or rejection during the process.
• REFUNDED: The funds were returned to the sender following a failure or cancellation.

Get Remittance API

Once a remittance has been initiated, this API allows the retrieval of all the relevant data associated with that particular remittance. By providing the remittance reference, users can access details such as the current status, transaction history, and any relevant metadata.

Cancel a Remittance API

This API provides the ability to cancel an initiated remittance, as long as the payment has not yet been completed at the destination. If the transaction is still pending, users can use this endpoint to stop the transfer process, ensuring flexibility and control over remittance operations.

Catalog APIs

To further support the remittance process, the platform also includes catalog APIs:

• Payout Methods API: provides a list of available payment methods for remittances based on the destination country.
• Country API: This API provides a list of available countries for sending remittances along with the possible currencies that can be used for each country. This API allows users to retrieve information about supported remittance destinations and the corresponding currencies that can be selected for each transfer.
• Payment Agents: These APIs provide a list of available payment agents who can process remittances in different countries. Payment agents include banks, financial institutions, and other authorized entities.
• Country States: This API allows users to retrieve a list of states within a given country, ensuring that all address details are correctly captured and validated.

Recipient APIs

In addition to the remittance flow, there are APIs dedicated to managing the recipients of remittances and the payment methods linked to them. These endpoints allow you to register, update, or retrieve information about recipients, as well as manage their associated payment methods, ensuring smooth and reliable processing of funds at the destination.

See: Recipients API

API Flows

Remittance quotation quick view

The following flow outlines the steps required for customers to quickly obtain a remittance quotation estimate. This estimation only provides information on the costs and exchange rate applied, without performing any validations of the provided data.

Add Sender

In the remittance process originating from the United States, the first key step is registering the sender (remitter). This registration ensures that essential information about the sender is captured, allowing for secure and compliant transactions. While the following basic details are typically required, additional information may be necessary in certain cases to meet regulatory or security requirements.

Basic Sender Information Required

• Phone Number: This serves as a primary contact method and is often used for verification purposes.
• First Name: The sender’s given name is required for identity verification and record-keeping.
• Last Name: The family name is crucial for accurately identifying the sender.
• Address Information: Full address details, including street, city, state, and postal code, ensure proper documentation and compliance with regulations such as Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) protocols.

Following the API flow:

Add Recipient

As part of the remittance process, registering the recipient (receiver) is a crucial step that ensures the funds are delivered to the correct individual in a secure and compliant manner. Once a receiver is registered, a payment method must be associated with their profile to determine how they will receive the remittance—whether through a bank account, mobile wallet, or cash pickup.

Basic Receiver Information Required

To create a receiver, the following details are typically requested:

• First Name: The receiver’s given name is essential for identifying them in the remittance process.
• Last Name: The family name is necessary for proper identification and record-keeping.
• Country of Residence: This determines the jurisdiction and regulations under which the remittance will be processed.
• Address: The complete residential address, including street information, ensures accurate delivery and compliance with local regulations.
• City: This is used in conjunction with the address for further localization.
• Province or State: Captures the state or province within the country of residence, necessary for addressing and compliance purposes.

Payment Method Association

Once the receiver is registered, the next step is to associate a payment method. This defines how the remittance will be delivered to the recipient. The options typically include:

• Bank Account: The receiver provides their banking details (e.g., account number, bank name, branch code) for a direct deposit.
• Mobile Wallet: If available in the recipient’s country, the remittance can be sent to a mobile wallet using the receiver’s registered mobile number.
• Cash Pickup: The receiver can collect the funds at a designated location, such as a partner financial institution, using an identification document for verification.

Remittance using a funding payment method

The process of creating a remittance begins when the sender selects the amount they wish to send or the amount they want the recipient to receive. Next, the payment method for disbursement, the funding method, and the recipient’s details are provided. With this information, the system validates the transaction and generates a quotation.

Once the quotation is obtained, the sender can confirm the remittance. Upon confirmation, they receive the necessary instructions to complete the funding based on the chosen payment method. After the payment is confirmed, the details required for the recipient to receive the funds are shared, or the recipient is notified to await a direct deposit, depending on the case.

Webhooks are sent to the merchant after the remittance has been created and the sender has confirmed the payment, providing updated information about the status of the transaction.

Remittance with pre-funded funds

Sending a remittance without using a funding method follows the same flow as the process with funding. However, in this case, it is not necessary to include the funding method in the quotation API, as the funds are obtained directly from the sender’s digital account. These cases are typically for merchants who do not utilize Inswitch’s collection capabilities, thus necessitating the use of pre-funding.