Step 4: Certify Beneficial Ownership #

The basics #

In order for your business verified Customer to be eligible to send funds, the individual creating the business verified Customer account must certify beneficial owner(s). By certifying that all beneficial owner information is correct, the requirements imposed by the United States Federal customer due diligence rule and Dwolla will be successfully fulfilled.

Certification of beneficial owners should be included as part of the Customer account registration and immediately following the creation of the business Verified Customer and the addition of all owners (unless exempt).

How do I know what business structure is required to certify Beneficial Ownership? #

Determining Certification needed #

When a business verified Customer needs to be certified, Dwolla will return a link in the API response after retrieving a Customer. If no certification link is returned, the Customer is either already certified, or is exempt from certification.

Example response

{
  "_links": {
    "self": {
      "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/41432759-6d65-42e5-a6be-400ddd103b78",
      "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
      "resource-type": "customer"
    },
    "certify-beneficial-ownership": {
      "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/41432759-6d65-42e5-a6be-400ddd103b78/beneficial-ownership",
      "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
      "resource-type": "beneficial-ownership"
    }
  },
  "id": "41432759-6d65-42e5-a6be-400ddd103b78",
  "firstName": "Account",
  "lastName": "Admin",
  "email": "accountAdmin@email.com",
  "type": "business",
  "status": "document",
  "created": "2018-05-10T19:59:22.643Z",
  "address1": "66 Walnut St",
  "city": "Des Moines",
  "state": "IA",
  "postalCode": "50309",
  "businessName": "Jane Corp",
  "controller": {
    "firstName": "Jim",
    "lastName": "Controller",
    "title": "CEO",
    "address": {
      "address1": "1749 18th st",
      "address2": "apt 12",
      "city": "Des Moines",
      "stateProvinceRegion": "IA",
      "country": "US",
      "postalCode": "50266"
    }
  },
  "businessClassification": "9ed3f670-7d6f-11e3-b1ce-5404a6144203",
  "businessType": "llc"
}

Certification Statuses #

Certify ownership #

To change the certification status of your business verified Customer account, you will want to POST to the beneficial ownership endpoint. By updating the certification status to certified, the Account Admin creating the business verified Customer is indicating that all information is correct. After the Account Admin certifies that the information provided is accurate and the information the Account Admin submitted has been verified through the identity verified process, your business verified Customer is now ready to transact within the Dwolla network.

POST https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/56502f7a-fa59-4a2f-8579-0f8bc9d7b9cc/beneficial-ownership
Accept: application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json
Content-Type: application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json
Authorization: Bearer pBA9fVDBEyYZCEsLf/wKehyh1RTpzjUj5KzIRfDi0wKTii7DqY

{
  "status": "certified"
}

...

{
    "_links": {
        "self": {
            "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/56502f7a-fa59-4a2f-8579-0f8bc9d7b9cc/beneficial-ownership",
            "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
            "resource-type": "beneficial-ownership"
        }
    },
    "status": "certified"
}

Certification Text Example #

Example for certification is as follows:

"I,____ (name of Account Admin), hereby certify, to the best of my knowledge,
that the information provided above is complete and correct."

Handling recertify status #

If you are adding, removing, or updating information of beneficial owners tied to a business verified Customer account, the certification status will change to recertify.

Instances that you will see your certified business verified Customer change to recertify are as follows:

• Adding a beneficial owner
• Removing a beneficial owner
• Updating a beneficial owner in incomplete status

When a Customer has a recertify beneficial ownership status, they will have up to thirty days to update and verify their beneficial owners’ information and update their status to certified. If the certification status isn't updated within this timeframe, the business verified Customer will have its certification_status changed to uncertified, leaving the Customer unable to transact.