Liquid supports payments to all US financial institutions and to 175+ countries worldwide. Here’s how to set up your US bank account to get paid quickly.
Ready to get paid? We’ve partnered with Plaid to securely connect your US bank account to Liquid. Liquid is the fastest and easiest way to manage your freelancing projects and get paid in the US and worldwide in over 175 countries. Secure payments are delivered to your account in 3-5 days.
If you are an international vendor, stop here (you may review this post to learn how to set up your international bank account). If you are a US vendor, read on to learn how to set up your US bank account today.
Initial Setup of your Liquid Account
When you set up your account in Liquid, we’ll ask you for some information about your business to get you started. This information is then used to pre-populate your contracts (such as NDAs and Master Services Agreements) and tax forms. Here is some of the information you must provide when setting up your account:
Whether you have an entity (incorporated business) through which you do your work and, if so, the type of entity
Your business name (or name you use with your Clients if you don’t have an incorporated business entity)
The country where you are located
Business Address
In addition, US-based vendors and citizens are required to enter their US Tax ID — SSN or EIN. Your SSN or EIN are used to pre-populate W-9 forms on your behalf and help your clients prepare your 1099 forms. Your W-9 forms are sent to clients who have requested this IRS tax form and only sent upon your signature. All information transmitted to Liquid is encrypted and stored securely
.
Initial Finance Setup
As a Vendor, we do not charge you any fees to use Liquid.
All invoice payments in Liquid to US-based Vendors are processed via ACH, which is a fast, secure way of electronically transmitting funds directly to your bank account. For us to do so, we’ll need you to provide your banking information through Plaid (see below). After submitting your initial company information, we’ll take you through this process. Rest assured, your information is only used to send you money and is transmitted and stored securely.
Secure connection to your bank via Plaid
Plaid makes a product that allows users to securely connect bank accounts to apps. They’re used by companies like American Express and Venmo to authenticate and verify bank accounts instantly. This enables Liquid to facilitate quick transfers between accounts via ACH. Plaid is very secure and connects to more than 10,000+ US financial institutions and is used by more than 3,000 financial apps and services (including Liquid). In fact, one in four US adults has connected a financial account to an app with Plaid (and that number is growing daily).
Connecting with Plaid when your bank isn’t listed
For the smallest banks or credit unions, Plaid offers manual micro-deposits in which users will confirm the deposited amounts. When you can’t find your bank in Plaid’s list, press the small button that says “Link with account numbers.” Then, you will be able to enter your account information manually. Plaid offers Same Day ACH, so micro-deposits appear in an account within 1 business day.
Adding your bank account via Plaid with an account number and routing number
What if I’m not comfortable entering my bank login info into Plaid?
Even if your bank is listed as an option for direct login, you can choose to connect it via manual micro-deposits instead. Simply type characters until you see a small button that says “Link with account numbers.” Then, you will be able to enter your account information manually. Plaid offers Same Day ACH, so micro-deposits appear in an account within 1 business day. Then, you will need to come back to Liquid and confirm the deposited amounts to verify your bank account.
What if I get an error while adding my bank account in Plaid?
If you get an error in Plaid while adding your bank account, please reach out to us via support@poweredbyliquid.com and via the chat function. In addition, please reach out to your bank to ask if there are known issues with connecting with Plaid. There are some banks that may require you to log in to your account via Plaid on Liquid (as some banks, such as Chime, do not support adding accounts via routing number and account number). Also, you may want to review Plaid documentation and consider reaching out to Plaid directly.
Initial Finance Setup: Account Holder Information
Be sure to check (and double-check) your account holder’s information before submitting it. If your information is incorrect, payouts may be prevented, failed, or delayed. This form requires you to fill out the following information:
Business account or Personal account. We need to know whether your account is a business account or a personal account to properly initiate payments to you.
Bank Account holder Name and Address
This will default to your business address, but if the address associated with your bank account is different, you will need to change it here.
Please do not use any initials, as this may slow down payment processing.
After you have completed the initial setup process in Liquid, you will be able to complete and execute any contracts and tax forms that your Client has requested from you (your Client-Vendor onboarding process). Once you have completed your Client-requested onboarding processes, you will be able to send project proposals, invoice your client, and get paid!
Settings in Liquid: Getting Paid
Within the Settings section, the Getting Paid subsection allows you to edit your bank account holder information or replace your bank account with a different account. You’ll notice that you can only have one bank account set up to receive payments. However, you can replace or edit that bank account.
Once Plaid has verified your bank account information automatically or you’ve entered your micro-deposit amounts, that badge will show Verified in green. If you see a yellow badge indicating that the account is awaiting verification, there’s no need to do anything; Plaid will take care of the rest. If you see a red badge that says Unverified or Waiting for Manual Verification, you’ll see a purple button to take the action needed to fully verify your account. Once your account has been verified, you will be able to invoice your clients and receive payments!
Verifying the micro deposit amounts for bank accounts added via Plaid with an account number and routing number
If necessary, you may edit your account holder information without affecting your bank account’s verification status with Liquid. However, replacing your bank account will require you to step through Plaid (and verification steps) again.
Liquid is highly secure
At Liquid, we take the security and availability of our customer’s data very seriously. Liquid is built on a secure network infrastructure with all customer data encrypted both in transit and at rest. Liquid uses state-of-the-art cryptographic algorithms during data transmission (HTTPS) and in our databases (AES 256 encryption keys). Our servers are kept in PCI-certified data centers with 24×7 monitoring. Our applications’ infrastructure platform meets or exceeds a broad set of international, industry, and regional compliance standards such as ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27018, and are audited at least annually by independent third-party auditors.
Get paid in 2-3 days
Our partnership with Plaid allows us to make payments in 2-3 days quickly and securely. Even if your clients choose to make payments via credit card, you will receive your ACH payment in 2-3 days. Still have questions? Reach out to us via chat anytime.
