Moov – Payments Infrastructure for Custom Financial Products

Overview

Moov offers an API-first platform designed to enable businesses to build and embed financial services directly into their applications. Founded in 2017, the company focuses on providing foundational payment infrastructure, allowing developers to create custom payment experiences rather than integrating pre-defined solutions. This approach is particularly suited for marketplaces, software platforms, and businesses that require granular control over their payment flows, such as managing multi-party payments, escrow services, or recurring billing for diverse user bases.

The platform's core components include Moov Accounts, which provide a unified ledger for managing funds; Moov Wallets, for holding balances and facilitating user-centric transactions; Moov Transfers, for moving funds between accounts and external destinations; Moov Payouts, for disbursing funds; and Moov Cards, for issuing virtual or physical cards. These components are exposed through a comprehensive RESTful API, supported by SDKs for popular programming languages including Node.js, Python, Go, and Ruby, which aid in development and integration efforts. Moov's developer-centric design emphasizes flexibility, allowing for customized onboarding, payment routing, and reconciliation processes. For instance, a marketplace could use Moov Accounts to manage funds for individual sellers, Moov Transfers to disburse payments, and Moov Cards to provide sellers with branded spending options, all within a unified system. The platform also addresses compliance requirements, holding certifications such as SOC 2 Type II and PCI DSS Level 1, which are critical for handling sensitive financial data and transactions.

Moov's infrastructure is built to support complex payment scenarios, such as those found in gig economy platforms or e-commerce marketplaces where funds need to be collected from buyers, split among multiple sellers, and then disbursed. The API provides endpoints for linking bank accounts, processing card payments, initiating ACH transfers, and managing the lifecycle of transactions. This level of control allows businesses to design custom user interfaces and backend logic that align precisely with their operational needs, differentiating it from more prescriptive payment gateways. The platform's free tier for development and testing allows prospective users to explore its capabilities before committing to production use. By abstracting the complexities of payment processing and regulatory compliance, Moov aims to reduce the operational burden on businesses while providing the tools necessary for financial innovation.

Key features

• Moov Accounts: Provides a unified ledger system for managing funds, supporting multiple currencies and account types. This enables platforms to create distinct accounts for individual users, vendors, or sub-merchants.
• Moov Wallets: Allows users to hold balances within the platform, facilitating internal transfers and payments without needing to access external banking rails for every transaction.
• Moov Transfers: Supports various transfer methods, including ACH, wire transfers, and card network transfers, enabling movement of funds between Moov accounts and external bank accounts.
• Moov Payouts: Facilitates the disbursement of funds to individuals or businesses, supporting scheduled or on-demand payouts via various methods.
• Moov Cards: Enables the issuance of virtual or physical cards, allowing platforms to create custom spending programs for their users or partners.
• Multi-Party Payments: Designed to manage complex payment flows involving multiple participants, such as splitting payments between a platform and its sellers, or managing escrow.
• Developer SDKs: Offers client libraries for Node.js, Python, Go, and Ruby to streamline API integration and development workflows.
• Compliance & Security: Adheres to industry standards including SOC 2 Type II and PCI DSS Level 1 for data security and regulatory compliance.

Pricing

Moov's pricing model is transaction-based, with volume discounts available for higher usage. A free tier is provided for development and testing purposes. Specific rates vary by transaction type and volume.

For detailed pricing information and volume discounts, refer to the official Moov pricing page.

Common integrations

Moov's API is designed for direct integration into custom applications. While it provides core financial infrastructure, it can be combined with other services to build comprehensive solutions:

• Identity Verification (KYC/KYB): Integrate with third-party identity verification services to automate customer and business onboarding, fulfilling Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) requirements.
• Accounting Software: Connect payment data with accounting platforms like QuickBooks or Xero to streamline reconciliation and financial reporting.
• CRM Systems: Link payment activity to customer records in CRM platforms such as Salesforce Sales Cloud to provide a complete view of customer interactions and transactions.
• Fraud Detection: Implement third-party fraud detection tools to monitor transactions and prevent fraudulent activity across the payment ecosystem.
• Data Analytics Platforms: Export transaction data to business intelligence tools for advanced analytics and reporting on payment performance and user behavior.

Alternatives

• Stripe: A comprehensive payment processing platform offering a wide range of APIs for online payments, subscriptions, and financial services, including Stripe Connect for platforms.
• Dwolla: Specializes in account-to-account (A2A) payments, primarily focusing on ACH transfers and enabling businesses to move money directly between bank accounts.
• Modern Treasury: Provides an API for automating payment operations, reconciliation, and cash management across multiple bank accounts, focusing on treasury and operational finance.

Getting started

To begin using Moov, developers can sign up for a free account to access the sandbox environment. The following Node.js example demonstrates how to create a Moov Account, which is a foundational step for most operations on the platform:

const moov = require('moov-node');

const moovClient = new moov.MoovClient({
  clientID: process.env.MOOV_CLIENT_ID,
  clientSecret: process.env.MOOV_CLIENT_SECRET,
  baseURL: 'https://api.moov.io/v1'
});

async function createMoovAccount() {
  try {
    const account = await moovClient.accounts.create({
      type: 'individual',
      profile: {
        individual: {
          name: {
            firstName: 'Jane',
            lastName: 'Doe'
          },
          birthDate: '1990-01-01',
          governmentID: 'XXX-XX-XXXX' // Placeholder, replace with actual ID verification flow
        },
        email: '[email protected]',
        phone: {
          countryCode: '1',
          phoneNumber: '5551234567'
        },
        address: {
          addressLine1: '123 Main St',
          city: 'Anytown',
          state: 'CA',
          postalCode: '90210',
          country: 'US'
        }
      }
    });
    console.log('Moov Account created:', account);
    return account;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error creating Moov Account:', error.response ? error.response.data : error.message);
  }
}

createMoovAccount();

This code snippet initializes the Moov client with API credentials and then calls the accounts.create method to establish a new individual account. The profile object contains necessary details for the account holder, which would typically be collected through an onboarding process. After creating an account, developers can proceed to link bank accounts, process transfers, or issue cards using other API endpoints. Detailed instructions for setting up API keys and testing in the sandbox can be found in the Moov developer documentation.