Payroll isn’t just about getting people paid—it’s about trust. Hundreds of trusted financial applications and institutions like Venmo, American Express, and Fannie Mae use Plaid to securely grant access to specific information about their payroll bank account. The Plaid integration helps BambooHR Payroll confirm that the account your payroll is processing from has the needed funds to cover the entirety of your payroll expense. That means fewer funding delays, more predictable paydays, and a safer, smoother experience for everyone involved.

BambooHR uses Plaid to:

1. Access your account number, routing number, and account type (checking, savings, etc.)
   • By getting your bank account information directly from the source, we can avoid any manual data entry errors and ensure you have online access to your bank account. We only use your bank account information to automatically populate the necessary payroll onboarding documents you will need to fill out and sign.
2. Access your account balance
   • Instances of Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) are never fun to deal with, especially nefarious ones. We also understand that unintentional occurrences of NSFs can happen. Whether intentional or not, NSFs cause a lot of additional work for you and us. We want to avoid these situations.

By connecting your bank account through Plaid, you unlock the convenience of 2-day ACH payroll funding without compromising financial security. It’s fast, secure, and transparent—so you stay in control while we keep your payroll on track. The benefit? You get peace of mind, your team gets paid on time, and you avoid the stress of last-minute wires or funding disruptions.

Instead of manually entering your bank account information, BambooHR uses Plaid to link your bank account to BambooHR securely. You will set up your company bank account during the payroll onboarding process. Within the Set Up Your Bank Account section, click Add Bank to initiate the Plaid link flow, as shown above. If you have multiple EINs, you will see a table with an option to add a bank account for each EIN.

Once you add your bank account(s), notice the Plaid status column. A green plug will indicate that the bank account is actively connected to Plaid. A gray plug will indicate there is no connection with Plaid. The warning icon indicates the Plaid connection has expired, and will notify you to reconnect the bank account in a warning banner at the top of the page.

Plaid supports most bank institutions. However, if your bank is not an option in Plaid, or you want to enter this information manually, click Manually add my account in the screenshot above. This will allow you to add your bank information directly in BambooHR. Once you add your bank details, you will arrive at the next step to download and sign the ACH authorization form.

1. Account Nickname:Name this bank account. Choose whatever you would like. This name will appear on the Payroll Review page.
2. Account Number: Enter the account used to fund payroll transactions. Please double-check to ensure you have entered the correct account number.
3. Routing Number: Enter the routing number for the bank that your account is with. This should be a nine-digit number.
4. Account Type: Indicate whether this is a checking or savings account.

Please note that you can only manually add a bank account during implementation when your account is being verified. If you need to add a bank account or multiple bank accounts for different pay schedules after you complete implementation, you must do so through Plaid. The following funding methods are also available if you wish not to use Plaid:

• 4-Day ACH
• Reverse Wire
• Wire

Please contact Payroll Support for help setting up these alternative methods.

To ensure the security of your bank account information, Admins cannot make direct edits to the bank information, with the exception of the bank nickname, after the initial setup. All changes will need to be made by a Payroll Support Hero.

Please be prepared with one of the following verification methods when contacting Payroll Support (even if you are updating to a bank you've used previously):

• A voided check with the routing number and account information
• Bank Verification Form (You will need to reach out to your bank to receive this)

Once Payroll Support receives the required documentation, they will submit the request to our bank, National Payment Corporation. Clients will see a penny amount (between $0.01 and $0.99) debited and credited by NPC Payroll by the next business day in that bank account. This penny transaction will allow our bank to verify the routing and account number you’ve provided for your new bank account. Once clients see these transactions, they must reply to the email from Payroll Support with the exact penny amount so the change can be finalized.

If you are an international company with employees in the United States, BambooHR Payroll has the following funding requirements:

1. United States bank account
2. Headquarters office in the United States (Physical Address)
3. All of the United States dealings must be done in the United States, which includes processing payroll funds. This means the international company cannot transfer or wire money to/from an international bank account. If this happens, our bank will reject your company due to NACHA rules.

After adding your bank details during payroll onboarding, you will see your bank information listed on the Bank Account tab in Payroll > Settings. Your Bank Authorization Forms that you completed during Payroll Onboarding will also live here.

If your bank uses tokenization to protect your account number, be sure to verify that your real bank account number is reflected here to avoid running into issues with running payroll.

The penny verification process will be completed during Payroll Onboarding under the Bank Authorization task. All four onboarding documents must be verified with the IRS and BambooHR's bank before the penny test is sent, which usually takes 10-15 days. Within that time, please watch for an email from our Payroll team. They will contact you directly letting you know when to expect the penny amount deposit into your company bank account.

Once you receive the email from our team and the penny deposit in your company bank account, simply locate the Bank Authorization section in Payroll Onboarding, enter the deposit amount, and click Verify Account.Please be careful to enter the correct amount, as the system will only let you have two attempts.

Once your account is verified, you will see the completed ACH authorization form in the Bank Account tab under Payroll Settings. These are available to refer back to in the future if needed.