Glossary & mental model
Accounts
A Moov account is an identity record for a business or person, not a bank account. Every merchant, customer, and end-user of your platform has one, and it holds linked sources such as a Moov wallet, bank accounts, and cards. You may see these more specific terms:
Partner account
A partner account is a contracted business entity that uses Moov's platform to facilitate a transfer solution for merchants and connected accounts.
Merchant account
A merchant is a business entity that can facilitate transfers. A merchant is connected to Moov through a partner Moov account.
Owner account
An owner account is the account that initiated an object such as a payment link (the partner or a merchant), and only the owner can update it; compare ownerAccountID with partnerAccountID or merchantAccountID to check.
Connected account
A connected account is any account that is linked to another Moov account. A connected account can be a business or an individual account.
Business representatives
A business representative is someone with beneficial ownership (≥25% ownership) or significant control over a business entity. Moov must verify business representatives before enabling payment capabilities for a business account. There are two types: control officers and beneficial owners.
Capabilities
Capabilities determine what each Moov account can do, such as storing funds in a wallet, sending funds, or collecting funds. Each capability has its own identity verification requirements.
Dashboard
The Moov Dashboard is an online portal that gives you the ability to create and manage Moov accounts and settings.
Facilitator fees
A facilitator fee is a way for you, as a platform partner, to monetize payment flows when creating a transfer.
Foreign ID
A foreignID is an optional, unique alias you set on an account to link it to a record in your own system.
Idempotency
Idempotency means repeating a request produces the same result, so a retried transfer or refund can't charge someone twice. Moov uses the X-Idempotency-Key header for this.
Instant payments
Instant payments (RTP or FedNow) move funds to an eligible bank account in seconds, any day of the year. Moov routes instant bank payouts over the RTP or FedNow networks.
Payment methods
A payment method is the API object that pairs a source with a payment rail, such as ach-debit-fund for a bank account or moov-wallet for a wallet. You use payment methods, not sources, when you create a transfer; which ones an account has depends on its sources and capabilities.
Push to card
Push to card sends funds instantly to an eligible debit card over Visa Direct or Mastercard Send.
Scopes
Scopes limit an OAuth 2.0 access token to a specific set of Moov endpoints and, usually, a single account. Client-side integrations such as Moov.js need them.
Sources
A source is a bank account, card, or wallet linked to a Moov account. Sources are where money is held or drawn from. Moov creates payment methods from each source, depending on the rails it supports.
Test mode
Test mode is a separate Moov environment with sample data and its own API keys where you can build and simulate transfers without moving real money. When you're ready to move real money, you switch to production mode.
Transfers
Transfers move money between payment methods. Every transfer has a source payment method (where money comes from), a destination payment method (where it goes), and an amount.
Wallets
A Moov wallet is a ledger balance that stores funds for a Moov account on Moov's platform. Funding payouts from a wallet makes them faster, and you can move money between wallets and linked bank accounts.
Visit the Moov dictionary for a comprehensive overview of industry terms.