# Withdrawal statuses

1. You create a withdrawal. Your **balance goes down** by the withdrawal amount plus fee.\
   `INITIALISED`
   1. We might internally review the transaction.\
      `INITIALISED`-> <mark style="color:orange;">`REVIEWING`</mark>
   2. If review goes well it will become pending.\ <mark style="color:orange;">`REVIEWING`</mark>→ `PENDING`
   3. Otherwise it gets cancelled.\ <mark style="color:orange;">`REVIEWING`</mark>→ `CANCELLED`
2. The transaction is sent to the recipient bank for processing.\
   `INITIALISED` → `PENDING`
3. `PENDING` →
   * `CONFIRMED` - *the recipient bank has the money now*. Does not mean the beneficiary account number was credited though. Mostly ***FINAL status***. Except when bank decides to return the funds, the withdrawal gets refunded (see step 4).
   * `FAILED` - NOT FINAL status. Depending on the processing error we have three scenarios now.
     * `REFUNDED` - see step 4 below.
     * `CANCELLED` - manual action. Your **balance goes up** by the amount, Flash Payments keeps the fee. ***FINAL status.***
     * `PENDING` - rare case - retrying. Sometimes it might work. Go to item 3.
4. The recipient bank decided to return this transaction back to Flash Payments.`CONFIRMED` → `FAILED` → `REFUNDED` - usual way - automatic refunding. Your **balance goes up** by the withdrawal amount, Flash Payments keeps the fee. ***FINAL status***.

{% hint style="warning" %}
The <mark style="color:orange;">REVIEWING</mark> is an **optional** action by Flash Payments Compliance team. Occasionally we pick some transactions for extended AML/CT review. Most transactions do not ever get into the <mark style="color:orange;">REVIEWING</mark> status.
{% endhint %}

### Most common status transitions

#### Happy path

`INITIALISED`→<mark style="color:orange;">`REVIEWING`</mark><mark style="color:orange;">→</mark>`PENDING`→`CONFIRMED`

#### Unhappy paths

Recipient bank accepts the payout but then returns it:

`INITIALISED`→`PENDING`→`CONFIRMED`→`FAILED`→`REFUNDED`

Recipient bank rejects the payout:

`INITIALISED`→`PENDING`→`FAILED`→`REFUNDED`

Flash Payments Compliance team rejects the payout:

`INITIALISED`→`REVIEWING`→`CANCELLED`

### Testing/simulating unhappy paths

Typically, you want to adapt your system to handle the following common withdrawal scenarios:

#### 1. Too long in the <mark style="color:orange;">REVIEWING</mark> status

If your withdrawal is in this status this means that we are doing an internal review of it. It happens occasionally when you trigger our monitoring rules. Also, this means that we have sent your Compliance Team (or else) an email message requesting more information. You must respond. In other words, if there is a delay - it's on you. Because Flash Payments delivers all your transactions in real-time 24/7.

{% hint style="info" %}
Please always provide accurate [sender](https://developer.flash-payments.com/senders#create-a-sender) and [recipient](https://developer.flash-payments.com/recipients#create-a-recipient) information, including the full address, to prevent delays associated with internal compliance reviews on our side.

Sender and recipient addresses are automatically validated when a transaction is created. If the address cannot be verified, the transaction will be flagged for review by our Compliance team, resulting in processing delays.\
To help ensure smooth and timely processing, please provide complete and accurate address details.
{% endhint %}

You can simulate the behaviour. Your `externalReference` must include this text: `HALT_AML`. For example: `"testing HALT_AML attempt 2"`. The withdrawal will get stuck in <mark style="color:orange;">`REVIEWING`</mark> forever.

#### 2. Fails AML and gets cancelled

We checked the data you sent us for withdrawal. We didn't like it. So we cancel it immediately.

You can simulate the behaviour. Your `externalReference` must include this text: `FAIL_AML`. For example: `"testing FAIL_AML attempt 4"`. The withdrawal will be cancelled next moment after you submit it.

#### 3. Passes AML and gets processed&#x20;

If our smart AML/TM checks stop your withdrawal for manual review, you can have it automatically pushed forward by including `PUSH_AML` in the `externalReference`. For example: `"testing PUSH_AML attempt 5"`.\
\
This enables the transaction to continue as if it were approved by the compliance analyst. It can be particularly useful during your integration testing activities and also help with UAT regression testing later.

Please note that the <mark style="color:orange;">`REVIEWING`</mark> status for this payout will be recorded on our end, and a `withdrawal_reviewing` webhook will be sent.

#### 4. Recipient bank rejects the money

A common scenario in the Australian domestic payment system involves a transaction that appears successful initially, but is later reversed by the recipient’s bank—sometimes days after processing. This can happen for various reasons, such as an invalid or closed account number, an account in the wrong currency, or other account-related issues.

You can simulate the behaviour. Your `externalReference` must include this text: `FAIL_ACC`. For example: `"testing FAIL_ACC attempt 8"`. The withdrawal will be completed, and next moment failed and refunded.