Creating Accounts via Enrollment Link

Learn when and how to create processing accounts using enrollment links

Payload enrollment links provide a secure, hosted onboarding experience for processing accounts. By generating a link, you can share a complete application flow with merchants, partners, or internal teams without building custom onboarding UI. This guide covers when to use enrollment links, how to generate them, and how to track enrollment progress.

Prerequisites

Before writing any code, it's helpful to learn about the following topics.

When to use Enrollment Links

Use enrollment links when you need a simple way to onboard processing accounts without building custom onboarding UI in your application. Enrollment links are ideal when you want to share an application URL via email, text, or other channels, allowing merchants to complete onboarding on a Payload-hosted page.

By using enrollment links, compliance, consent, and other legal requirements are handled automatically and abstracted away. The link ensures the submitter is shown and agrees to all required terms, captures attestations, and collects sensitive information directly within a hosted, PCI-compliant environment—removing that responsibility from your application.

Common use cases

• You want to send an enrollment link via email, SMS, or messaging platforms
• You need to share an application with multiple parties who can collaboratively fill out information
• You don't want to embed onboarding UI directly in your application
• You want a turnkey, compliant, and low-code way to onboard processing accounts
• You're building an internal tool or back-office system that needs to onboard merchants
• You want to generate shareable links for sales teams, partners, or affiliates

Generating an Enrollment Link

Creating an enrollment link is a two-step process: create an intent with the account_enrollment_link type, then share the returned URL with the merchant.

• New Account
• Existing Account

import payload
pl = payload.Session('secret_key_3bW9...', api_version='v2')
 
# Generate an enrollment link for a new processing account
 
 
 
intent = pl.Intent.create(
    type='account_enrollment_link'
)
 
print('Enrollment link:', intent.url)
# Share this URL with the merchant via email, SMS, or other channels

import payload
pl = payload.Session('secret_key_3bW9...', api_version='v2')
account = pl.Account.create(
 
# Create a processing account first
 
 
    type='processing',
    name='Acme Corporation'
)
 
# Generate an enrollment link for the existing account
intent = pl.Intent.create(
    type='account_enrollment_link',
    account_enrollment_link={
        'account_template': {
            'id': account.id,
            'type': 'processing'
        }
    }
)
 
print('Enrollment link for existing account:', intent.url)

Sending Enrollment Links

You can automatically send enrollment links to merchants via email or SMS by including a send_to object when creating the intent. The send_to object requires a name field and either an email or phone field.

• Send via Email
• Send via SMS

import payload
 
pl = payload.Session("secret_key_3bW9...", api_version="v2")
 
# Send an enrollment link via email
 
 
intent = pl.Intent.create(
    type="account_enrollment_link",
    send_to=[
        {
            "name": "John Doe",
            "email": "[email protected]",
        }
    ],
)
 
print("Enrollment link sent to:", intent.send_to[0]["email"])

import payload
 
pl = payload.Session('secret_key_3bW9...', api_version='v2')
 
# Send an enrollment link via SMS
 
 
intent = pl.Intent.create(
    type='account_enrollment_link',
    send_to=[
        {
            'name': 'John Doe',
            'phone': '+15555551234',
        }
    ],
)
 
print('Enrollment link sent to:', intent.send_to[0]['phone'])

Tracking Enrollment Status

After sharing an enrollment link, you can monitor its status and completion through webhooks and API queries.

Webhook Events

Subscribe to the processing_status webhook trigger to track enrollment progress for processing accounts. Configure a webhook with:

• trigger: processing_status - Monitors status changes for processing accounts
• reference_object: account - Specifies the object type being monitored
• url: Your endpoint URL to receive webhook notifications

Example webhook handler:

from flask import Flask, request
 
app = Flask(__name__)
 
@app.route("/webhooks/payload", methods=["POST"])
def handle_webhook():
    webhook = request.json
 
    print("Account status changed:", webhook["triggered_on"]["id"])
    # Fetch the account to check current status and handle accordingly
 
    return "OK", 200

Query Intent Status

You can also retrieve the intent to check its status:

import payload
 
pl = payload.Session('secret_key_3bW9...', api_version='v2')
 
# Query the status of an enrollment intent
 
 
intent = pl.Intent.get('int_abc123')
 
print('Status:', intent.status)  # 'pending', 'completed', 'expired', etc.

Enrollment Link Options

The Intent schema defines the structure and properties of intent objects in the Payload API. For enrollment links, you can configure various options.

Intent Options

Available fields when creating the intent object:

Next Steps

Configure payment routing, monitor KYC results, and build payment flows

Configure Processing Settings and Monitor Onboarding

Set up Processing Settings to configure payment routing and processing preferences, monitor identity verification with KYC Results, subscribe to Webhook Events for account and KYC status updates, and review Processing Accounts Overview to understand processing account capabilities.

Create Payment Flows for Merchants

Accept payments on behalf of processing accounts with Creating Payment Intents, store and manage customer payment methods using Payment Methods, and send payouts to processing accounts with Creating Transfers.

Build Reporting and Reconciliation

Track enrollment and payment metrics with Reporting Overview, create custom reports using Building Report Queries, and monitor payment activity with Transaction Reports for financial reconciliation.

Explore Alternative Onboarding Methods

Embed onboarding forms directly in your application with Enrollment Plugin for a more integrated experience, or use Accounts API for full programmatic control over account creation and onboarding workflows.

Related articles

• Enrollment Plugin - Embedded enrollment form alternative
• Accounts API - Create accounts directly via API
• Accounts API Reference
• Intent API Reference
• Accounts Overview
• Entity Overview