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Requesting payment information from payees

Emily P.
  • Updated
This article will walk through how to request payment information from a new payee in Relay, how new payees can submit their information to a Relay user, and how to access this information once it's been submitted.

Why request payment information from payees directly?

Payees may not feel comfortable providing their banking details via email, which is why you can request these details from the payee directly within Relay. This will send the payee an email where they can enter their banking details into an encrypted form, which will then store that information in your Relay account so you can send them payments securely.

How to request payment information from payees (Web)

  1. Sign in to your Relay account.
  2. Navigate to the Payments tab, then select Payees from the drop-down menu.
  3. Click New Payee.
  4. Enter the payee’s name, email, and account classification (business or personal). An email address is required in order to request a payee's payment information.
  5. Select the desired payment method for your payee (ACH, domestic wire, international wire, or check).
  6. Check off the Request payment information from this payee box. This will replace the banking information form fields with three new inputs:
    • Phone number [Optional]: submit the payee's phone number to send them an SMS notification that their payment information is being requested.
    • Note: add a note for the payee (e.g., "Please provide your banking information to receive payments from my company.").
    • W-9 form required: check this box if you need a W-9 from this payee.
  7. Click Create Payee to save the payee in your Relay account. Once this is done, the payee will receive an email (and a text message, if you entered their phone number) requesting their payment information.
    • If your payee isn't sure what to look out for in their email inbox, please feel free to direct them to this article.

How to request payment information from payees (Relay Mobile App)

  1. Sign in to the Relay app on your mobile device.
  2. Navigate to the Payments tab.
  3. Tap the plus (+) sign next to Payees.
  4. Enter the payee’s name, email, and account classification (business or personal). An email address is required in order to request a payee's payment information.
  5. Tap Create.
  6. Back on the Payments tab, select the new payee from your list of payees.
  7. Select the desired payment method for your payee (ACH, domestic wire, international wire, or check).
  8. Check off the Request payment information from this payee box. This will replace the banking information form fields with three new inputs:
    • Phone number [Optional]: submit the payee's phone number to send them an SMS notification that their payment information is being requested.
    • Note: add a note for the payee (e.g., "Please provide your banking information to receive payments from my company.").
    • W-9 form required: check this box if you need a W-9 from this payee.
  9. Tap Update to save the payee in your Relay account. Once this is done, the payee will receive an email (and a text message, if you entered their phone number) requesting their payment information.
    • If your payee isn't sure what to look out for in their email inbox, please feel free to direct them to this article.

Sending a payment to your payee

You can immediately submit payments to your new payee after submitting the payment information request, even if their information is still pending. However, the transaction will not be initiated until the payee has submitted their payment information. 

For instructions on how to send payments to payees, please see the below articles:

Requesting payment information from payees synced from Xero or QuickBooks Online

When a bill is synced from Xero or QuickBooks Online to Relay, a payee will automatically be created if it is the first time a bill was synced for that payee. These payees will likely not have any payment information associated with them, so you may need to request their information by following the above steps.

For more information on syncing bills to Relay from Xero and QuickBooks Online, please see Introduction to Bill Pay.

Please note: any information added to payees synced from Xero and QuickBooks Online will not update in Xero or QuickBooks Online. This information is only stored in Relay.

Why isn't the "requesting payment information" option showing up for me?

If you are not seeing this option within your account, it could be that there is no email listed for your payee. To learn how to edit your payee to add an email before requesting information, please see Adding and archiving a payee.

Downloading W-9 forms submitted by payees

For a full walkthrough of how to run a W-9 report on Relay, please see Running a W-9 report.

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