Instant account funding
Fund accounts the moment users sign up.
The first deposit is what turns an approved account into a real one. Users fund from an external debit card in seconds, so spend happens instantly instead of three business days later. Nothing fronted, no working capital tied up.
- Visa Direct
- Mastercard Move
The first deposit lands in seconds
Money moves from the user's external debit card into the account you issued while they are still in your app. No ACH window, no weekend, no holiday.
Activation in one session
Signup and first use stop being separate events. The account is funded before the user leaves your app.
Deposits grow on their own
Funding that takes seconds increases usage. Top-ups become routine instead of a decision users postpone until payday.
Card risk handled
Card authorization, velocity limits, and per-program transfer limits run on the platform. Visa and Mastercard debit only, screened before the transfer is created.
You already won the signup. The wait is where you lose the customer.
A user downloads your app, passes KYC, links a funding source, and then waits three to five business days for money they have already sent. No first trade, no first swipe, no habit. Some come back when the money finally lands. The rest were not lost to a competitor, they were lost to a settlement window.
Instant funding collapses signup and first use into a single session, so the product gets a chance to prove itself while the user is still paying attention. Activation is a moment, not a waiting period.
No line of credit required.
Funding an account before the money has settled usually means fronting the deposit yourself. Every new account ties up a little more working capital, and somebody on your side carries the risk until the rail clears. Most teams avoid that by making the user wait instead.
On Astra, the debit on the user’s external card completes before the credit to your account is pushed, so the money landing in the account is the user’s own, moving in real time. Nothing is advanced, so there is nothing to reconcile against a credit line.
$0
of your working capital per funded account
Front the deposit yourself and tie up working capital on every new account, or hold the user at zero until the rail clears and hope they come back.
The user links a card, the debit clears, and the credit lands in the account you issued. The money is theirs, moving in real time, and none of it comes off your balance sheet.
Link the card once,fund the account in seconds.
Link the external card
The user links a debit card through Astra’s PCI compliant form. The account you issued is registered through the API.
- Your card form or ours, your UX either way
- Cards the issuer has blocked from pulling are flagged before the user tries
Set your limits
Configure velocity rules, risk thresholds, and per-transfer limits via API. Limits are set with you before launch and tuned per program, not hardcoded into your build.
- Transfer limits are configured per program
- A new funding flow is a setting, not a rebuild
Astra runs the funding
Astra debits the linked card and, on success, immediately credits the account you issued, reporting every status change over webhooks. No prefunding, no settlement account to keep filled.
- Funds available the moment they land
- Ledgering and reconciliation already built
Two ways to land the money
Where the deposit lands depends on what your program issues. Both start the same way, with the user linking an external debit card.
Card to Card
Card to Account
The Payments Cloud
One product. The whole platform doing the work.
Instant Account Funding runs on the same four-layer platform as everything on Astra. No separate build, no separate compliance posture, and every other payment type is a setting away.
Smart Execution
Authorization, settlement, and rail connectivity. The debit on the external card runs here in real time over Visa and Mastercard, then the credit lands on the card or the account you issued.
Dynamic Controls
Velocity limits, per-transfer limits, and risk rules, configured via API. KYC and KYB built in, or bring your own provider.
Intelligent Routing
Astra routes each funding transfer to the destination your program issues, card to card where funds are available immediately, or card to account where the debit clears now and the credit lands the next business day, then reports status over webhooks.
Cloud Services
Card authorization, disputes, reconciliation, and reporting. The parts of a funding program you would otherwise staff.
Results from teams building on Astra
Fold ran the exact play this page describes: Accelerated ACH first, then Instant Funding on top of the same integration. Deposits went up 10x in transfer count within 60 days.
Till uses Astra to power instant card-to-card funding
Growing deposits faster and increasing activations with Instant Funding
DoorDash launches instant deposits for DoorDash Crimson with Astra
For developers
One call funds the account.
- Link cards through Astra's PCI compliant form, or bring your own
- One call creates the funding transfer, Astra handles authorization and settlement
- Velocity limits and risk rules are configuration, not code
- Every status change lands on your webhook
Three ways to move money. One integration.
Your team integrates once. Every payment type after that is a setting you turn on, not a new build.
Push payouts to debit cards in seconds
Send funds to any US debit card over Visa Direct and Mastercard Move, with money available the moment it lands. Apply a transfer fee and payouts become a revenue line.
Run faster, lower-risk ACH
Same-day clearing and built-in screening on the rail you already use. Ship faster transfers and cut return risk without rebuilding a thing.