BILL terminology

In this section, we discuss a list of terms for key concepts in a BILL integration. Note that this is not an exhaustive list and will be actively updated.

BILL organization

Term	Details
AP org	Advanced Payable organization. With this organization, you pay a BILL subscription to initiate & send payments to vendors.
AR org	Advanced Receivables organization. With this organization, you pay a BILL subscription to send invoices & receive payments.
BR org	Basic Receivables organization. With this organization, you have a free BILL account to manage contact information & payment preferences, & to receive payments from AP organizations.
MFA	Multi-Factor Authentication. BILL requires MFA for secure login. MFA is an additional layer of protection making is extremely difficult to compromise the security of a BILL account.
Sandbox	Lower-level development environment where BILL tests product releases before releases in Production. You can use the Sandbox environment for iterative testing without financial impact (no money movement). All data & workflows are simulated in the Sandbox environment.
KYC/KYB	Know Your Customer/Know Your Business. BILL KYC/KYB is compliance review infrastructure to confirm business legitimacy & ownership.
User verification	BILL performs user identity verification when a user adds a funding payment account in their BILL organization. Users that are flagged by the BILL risk model answer questions based on their background, & upload identity documentation (if required).

AP payments

Term	Details
ACH	Automated Clearing House. This is the primary system the agencies use for Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). BILL electronically deposits funds n financial institutions, & completes payments online.
ePayment	A term referring to electronic payments made to BILL Network vendors. ePayments include ACH, virtual card, international, & wallet payments.
Manual Bank Add	The process where a user manually enters bank account & routing information. BILL sends a test deposit, which can take up to 2 business days after the user adds the bank account. The user must verify the test deposit before being able to use the account for payments.
Plaid	A third-party system that BILL uses for users to automatically connect a bank account in their BILL organization. No trial deposit verification is required.
Pay by card	AP payment funding method. The user can fund vendor payments with a credit card or debit card even if the vendor does not accept card payments.
Virtual card	AP payment disbursement method. When a vendor accepts virtual card payments, BILL sends them a single-use, 16-digit Mastercard or Visa number for each payment amount. The vendor processes a virtual card just like a credit card.
Wallet	An option for AR & BR orgs to store received funds with BILL for faster payments. If an organization has not opted into BILL Wallet, funds land in the vendor bank account even if BILL reflects the disbursement method as wallet.
IP	International Payments. BILL supports international payments to 130+ countries in over 100 currencies.
IT	Instant Transfer. A payout option enabling vendors to receive funds in minutes. BILL disburses the funds immediately & settles the underlying payment later. The vendor pays a fee for Instant Transfer.
Bill currency	The currency in which vendor bills are presented. The currency can be `USD` or an international currency.
Payment currency	The currency in which the vendor receives funds. The currency can be `USD` or an international currency.
Local transfer	BILL delivers local transfers with the vendor country's domestic payment network. If available, BILL defaults to using local transfer. Payments can be made only in the international currency.
Wire	BILL delivers wire transfers with the SWIFT network or through intermediary banks. Delivery timing depends on the vendor country. Payments can be made in USD & in the international currency. Wire transfers are available in more currencies as compared to local transfer.

BILL Network

Term	Details
Payer	The customer that initiates & sends payments to vendors.
Vendor	The payee that receives funds from the payer.
BILL vendor	A vendor record created in the BILL organization. The BILL vendor can be `CONNECTED` in the BILL Network or `NOT CONNECTED` (Private vendor).
BILL Network	The BILL Network enables you to connect with over 7 million customers & vendors. When you are connected with a BILL Network vendor, BILL automatically enables payments to the connected vendor with ACH, virtual card, or check. The BILL Network includes 3 types of organizations. Verified national vendors: A directory of large billers (including water, power, cable, & phone companies). You simply search for the vendor in the BILL Network with an account number & zip code. BILL automatically connects you with the vendor & you can begin paying the vendor. BILL AR (Advanced Receivables): Organizations or individuals with BILL subscriptions that receive funds for payers (customers). Search for & send a connection request to the vendor in the BILL Network. BILL automatically connects you with the vendor & you can begin paying the vendor. BILL BR (Basic Receivables): Organizations or individuals that have joined the BILL Network with an invitation from the BILL subscriber. A BR org is subscription free. After accepting the invitation & setting up account with payment information, BILL sets the BR org as `CONNECTED` in the BILL Network.
Public vendor	A BILL vendor that in the BILL Network.
Private vendor	A BILL vendor created that is not in the BILL Network. Check vendor: A vendor record includes only the vendor mailing address. BILL mails a paper check to the vendor address when you send a payment. Private ACH vendor: A vendor record includes manually entered ACH information (bank account and routing details) by the payer. With this information, BILL enables electronic payments to this vendor outside the BILL Network. Pending Invite vendor: A Check or Private ACH vendor whom the payer invited to join the BILL Network. After accepting the invitation, the vendor becomes a BR org in the BILL Network. When the invitation is pending, the vendor receives payments via check or ACH.
Vendor invitation	The process where a customer invites a BILL vendor to join the BILL Network to enable electronic payments.
Virtual Card vendors	Vendors that BILL identifies as accepting virtual cards as an ePayment method. These vendors can be public or private.
Auto-connect	The process where BILL asynchronously connects BILL vendors to BR organizations based on high-confidence matching.
Auto-enrollment	The process where BILL asynchronously connects BILL vendors to virtual card vendors based on high-confidence matching.
Delete a connection or disconnect	The process where a user cancels the connection with a Public vendor. This action converts the BILL vendor to a private vendor, enabling the user to manage the vendor contact & payment information.

Updated about 2 hours ago

What’s Next

Understanding the BILL Network