Outbound Returns

A homing bank has different ways of returning an inbound payment:

An unpaid is automatically generated as the next part of the process when a payment at an account held at the homing bank is unsuccessful, i.e., the account could not be debited or credited. The bank does not need to implement any additional operations for an unpaid as it is an inherent part of the process for rectifying an unsuccessful payment.
A dispute usually happens when a debit payment has been erroneously taken from a consumer's account at the homing bank. The homing bank then initiates a return of the consumer's money.

In this case, the homing bank is sending the outbound request.

The following scenarios describe the payment return transaction flows between you as the homing bank (of the original payment) and Electrum.

Successful Outbound Return

outbound return success

You send an outboundPaymentReturn request to the outbound/payment-return endpoint (PaymentReturn schema, see below).

PaymentReturn Schema

required	object (MessageIdentifiers) Holds a point-to-point unique message identification string as well as a message's creation date time.
	object (SupplementaryData) A list of key-value pairs to support adding any supplementary/additional data to an Electrum Regulated Payments API message.
required	object (TransactionIdentifiers) Holds a series of identifiers to identify the transaction or an individual message that is part of a transaction.
required	object (Party) This model is the basic representation of a Party. It is expanded on depending on whether the party is a person or an organisation.
	object (PaymentAccount) Representation of an account for payment purposes. Note that at least one of `identification` or `proxy` is expected to be present.
required	object (InstitutionIdentification)
required	object (Party) This model is the basic representation of a Party. It is expanded on depending on whether the party is a person or an organisation.
	object (PaymentAccount) Representation of an account for payment purposes. Note that at least one of `identification` or `proxy` is expected to be present.
required	object (InstitutionIdentification)
	object (InstitutionIdentification)
	object (InstitutionIdentification)
	object (MessageIdentifiers) Holds a point-to-point unique message identification string as well as a message's creation date time.
	object (OriginalTransactionData) Contains key elements related to the original transaction that is being referred to.
required	object (PaymentReturnPaymentScheme) Designates which scheme a payment return is associated with and describes scheme-specific information for the return.
	object (PaymentTypeInformation)
	Array of objects (ReturnReasonInfo) non-empty A list of `ReturnReasonInfo` values providing detailed reason information for the return.
required	object (TransactionAmounts)
schema required	string Value: "PaymentReturn"
settlementDate	string <date> Date on which the amount of money ceases to be available to the agent that owes it and when the amount of money becomes available to the agent to which it is due.

Electrum returns a positive response with HTTP status code 202.

Electrum validates the account information sent by the bank using the CDV specification.

After Electrum has successfully validated and processed the transaction within Electrum, Electrum sends an outboundPaymentReturnResponse message to the outbound/payment-return-response endpoint (PaymentStatusReport schema).

PaymentStatusReport Schema

required	object (MessageIdentifiers) Holds a point-to-point unique message identification string as well as a message's creation date time.
	object (SupplementaryData) A list of key-value pairs to support adding any supplementary/additional data to an Electrum Regulated Payments API message.
required	object (MessageIdentifiers) Holds a point-to-point unique message identification string as well as a message's creation date time.
required	object (TransactionIdentifiers) Holds a series of identifiers to identify the transaction or an individual message that is part of a transaction.
	object (InstitutionIdentification)
	object (InstitutionIdentification)
	object (OriginalTransactionData) Contains key elements related to the original transaction that is being referred to.
required	object (PaymentStatusReportPaymentScheme) Designates which scheme a payment status report is associated with and describes scheme-specific information for the payment status report.
schema required	string Value: "PaymentStatusReport"
required	object (Status)

Electrum will send the message repeatedly via a store-and-forward queue until you acknowledge receipt.

You respond with an HTTP status code of 202.

The transaction is stored in a database until an adequate number of transactions has been received, or a time limit has been reached. Electrum then groups the transactions into an EFT data file and sends the file to BankservAfrica immediately if the day's processing window is still open; if not then Electrum sends the file once the next processing window is open.

Error Handling

No Response from Electrum

outbound no response electrum

If you do not receive an acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement from Electrum in response to a PaymentReturn message, then you can retry the transaction up to set number of times before considering the transaction failed. Such a transaction will be considered a reconciliation exception.

Negative Acknowledgement from Electrum

outbound return NACk from Electrum

If you receive a negative acknowledgement (NACK; HTTP 5xx or retryable HTTP 4xx) from Electrum in response to a PaymentReturn message, then you can retry the transaction up to a set number of times before considering the transaction failed. Such a transaction will be considered a reconciliation exception.

Note

You can retry the message for all HTTP 5xx and 4xx NACKs that are considered transient (i.e., recoverable). For HTTP 4xx NACKs that are not recoverable, the error will be resolved manually.

No PaymentStatusReport from Electrum

outbound return no PSR from Elecctrum

If you do not receive a PaymentStatusReport message from Electrum before the reconciliation window closes, then the transaction will be considered a reconciliation exception.

No HTTP Response from the Bank

outbound return no http from HB

If Electrum does not receive an acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement from you in response to a PaymentStatusReport then Electrum will continue to send the message via a store-and-forward queue. If there is still no response before the reconciliation window closes then the transaction will be considered a reconciliation exception.

Error Validating Account Details

outbound return account validation error

A payment may be rejected for various reasons during the account validation stage. If you receive a PaymentStatusReport message containing the status code RJCT from Electrum, then you can retry the transaction after rectifying the discrepanices, or abort the transaction.

No Response from BankservAfrica

If Electrum does not receive a response after sending an EFT file to BankservAfrica, Electrum will notify BankservAfrica that a file has been sent and an issue has occurred. The issue will be resolved between BankservAfrica and Electrum. The process will then continue as normal.