Pay by Bank: How it works

For: Prommt account administrators, finance contacts, and operations managers.

Pay by Bank is an alternative payment method available on Prommt accounts where open banking has been enabled. Instead of entering card details at checkout, the customer pays directly from their bank account — a real-time, account-to-account bank transfer initiated from within the Prommt checkout.

No card. No card processing fees. No chargeback exposure.

Pay by Bank is powered by open banking infrastructure and is available to customers with UK and European bank accounts. At checkout, the customer selects their bank, is redirected to authenticate within their own banking app or online banking, approves the payment, and is returned to the checkout with confirmation.

Examples by sector:

When a customer opens their Prommt payment link, they see both payment options available to them — card and Pay by Bank — unless your account is configured to direct them to one by default.

The customer journey through Pay by Bank:

The whole process typically takes under two minutes. The customer never leaves a verified, bank-confirmed payment environment — which is why Pay by Bank has a 100% track record against chargebacks.

Pay by Bank payments are not processed through a card scheme. There are no interchange fees, no scheme fees, and no card gateway charges on these transactions. The full payment amount is received.

Card chargebacks work because card schemes provide a mechanism to reverse authorised transactions. Bank-to-bank transfers have no equivalent mechanism — once a Pay by Bank payment is made and confirmed, it cannot be reversed by a third party. Pay by Bank transactions carry zero chargeback exposure.

This is distinct from fraud protection on card payments (where 3DS2 shifts liability to the card issuer). Pay by Bank removes the exposure entirely rather than transferring it.

Before a customer approves a Pay by Bank payment, their bank verifies and displays the name of the business they are paying. This is Confirmation of Payee (CoP) — a UK regulatory requirement for all banks and payment service providers operating on Faster Payments. It means the customer has a bank-verified confirmation of the recipient before money moves, significantly reducing the risk of misdirected payments or APP fraud.

Pay by Bank payments settle account-to-account with a clear payment reference. There are no card scheme settlement delays — funds typically arrive on the same or next business day, depending on your bank.

If Pay by Bank is enabled on your account, two additional settings are available under Settings → General → Checkout and Payment Links:

Sets which payment method — card or Pay by Bank — is pre-selected when a customer arrives at the checkout. The customer can still choose the other method, but this setting controls which one is shown first and highlighted by default.

Setting Pay by Bank as the default nudges customers toward the bank transfer option without removing card as a choice.

Sets a threshold amount above which only Pay by Bank is offered — card payment is not available for transactions above this value.

Use this setting when you want to eliminate card processing fees and chargeback exposure on high-value transactions. For example, setting a card limit of £1,000 means any payment request above £1,000 will only offer Pay by Bank at checkout.

When Pay by Bank is correctly configured, customers paying above your card limit threshold are directed automatically to Pay by Bank. Customers paying below the threshold see both options and can choose. Your payment records in View Payments show the payment method used against each transaction, and your bank account receives Pay by Bank settlements without card scheme deductions.

A customer says they can't find Pay by Bank at checkout. Check that Pay by Bank is enabled on your account — go to Settings → General and confirm the Pay by Bank settings are visible. If they're not, contact your Prommt Account Manager to confirm whether Pay by Bank is included in your plan. Also confirm the payment request amount — if you have a card limit set, Pay by Bank will only be the sole option above that threshold.

A customer's bank isn't listed in the Pay by Bank flow. Pay by Bank coverage depends on which banks are connected to the open banking network. The major UK and European retail banks are supported. If a customer's bank isn't listed, they will need to pay by card instead.

A customer started the Pay by Bank flow but the payment didn't complete. The customer may have abandoned the flow after being redirected to their bank, or their bank's session timed out. Check the payment status in View Payments — if it shows as pending or not paid, resend the payment request and ask the customer to retry. Ensure they have their banking app installed and accessible before starting the payment.

We want to make Pay by Bank the default but keep card available. Set Default Payment Method Displayed to Pay by Bank under Settings → General. This shows Pay by Bank first and highlighted at checkout, but card remains available for customers who prefer it.

We want to remove card entirely for payments above a certain amount. Use the Set Card Limit setting under Settings → General. Set the threshold to the amount above which you want Pay by Bank to be the only option.