How Collection Accounts Work

A Collection Account is an account that is strictly used to collect payments. Unlike Fixed Accounts, this type of account is issued each time a payment needs to be made. You can choose to issue a unique Collection Account every time someone wants to pay your business, or you can create a permanent Collection Account for all collections of the same type.

In this article, you will learn about Collection Accounts, when to use them and how they work.

Who can create a Collection Account?

Anyone can.

Collection Accounts can be created with the Bloc API or on the Dashboard. However, you can also use these accounts to collect real money if your business details have been verified on Bloc. To learn more about verifying your business details, read this article: Verifying Your KYB Details.

The primary difference between a Collection Account and a Fixed Account is that Collection Accounts are owned and assigned to the organization, while a Fixed Account is assigned to the customer.

Another difference is that Collection Accounts do not hold balances, and you can't send money out of them; all payments received are settled in your Settlement Balance. On the other hand, Fixed Accounts can hold balances (like a normal bank account).

How it Works

Collection Accounts work best when you strictly want to collect payments from a customer. The account numbers issued when you create this type of virtual accounts are owned by Banc Corp Microfinance Bank, a duly licensed bank by the CBN.

1. Who owns a Collection Account?

The account holder of a Collection Account is you, the business that created it.

You don't need to collect any KYC details from any customer to create a Collection Account. We use the verified business details from your business to activate the account.

2. Is there a limit to the number of Collection Accounts I can create?

No, you can create as many Collection Accounts as possible, and use them to receive payments from your customers.

3. Why do Collection Accounts expire?

They won't unless you set them to.

You can choose to create Collection Accounts per payment; once the payment is complete, there is no use for that particular account number. On the other hand, you can create a single Collection Account that can work for multiple inward payments.

4. How much does it cost to create a Collection Account?

Creating a Collection Account is free.

5. What fees accompany this type of account?

We charge 1% per transaction capped at NGN 250 only for every payment received with a Collection Account.

6. Where can I access all the payments I receive?

You can find the total of payments into your Collection Accounts on the Settlement Balance. We pay out the total amount collected to your designated settlement bank account or your Main Balance every morning on weekdays.

To learn more about how this works, read this article: What is the difference between Main Balance and Settlement Balance?

7. What currencies do you support?

We only support NGN bank transfer payments for now.

8. How do I delete a Collection Account?

You cannot delete an account on Bloc. You can leave the account alone until it expires on its own. You don't have to do anything else.

When should you use Collection Accounts?

If you want to receive payments from your customers strictly via bank transfer, then you should use Collection Accounts.

It is very straightforward. Someone wants to pay you money; you generate an account number and provide it to them; they transfer the money to the account; you receive it in your Settlement Balance; the customer gets a receipt in their email; and you get settled the next day.

1. How fast and reliable are Collection Accounts?

Creating an account is near-instant.

Processing deposits and receiving payments typically happens in less than 2 minutes. This is possible because of our direct integration with NIBSS, the switching provider responsible for instant inter-bank transfers.

2. What does our NIBSS integration mean?

It means that when customers want to transfer to an account created on the Bloc, they can find our bank (Banc Corp Microfinance Bank) listed on the recipient bank list, and they can verify the account number.

It also means that deposits into a Collection Account are now powered by a proprietary infrastructure, reducing the risk of downtimes from a third-party service provider.