Wire Transfers

Wire transfers are the alternative payment method on Play Money. Unlike ACH (where the platform pulls money automatically), wire transfers require the investor to actively send money from their bank. Wire payments are common for larger investments, IRA/DAF accounts, and international investors.

How Wire Transfers Work

From the Investor's Perspective

1. The investor commits to an investment and selects "wire transfer" as their payment method.
2. They receive a link to the wire instructions portal where they can view the routing number, account number, and reference code for the wire.
3. They initiate the wire transfer from their bank using those details.
4. Once the wire arrives and is matched, their investment is marked as funded.

What Happens Behind the Scenes

1. Investment committed -- the investor submits their investment with wire as the payment method.
2. Expected Payment created -- the system creates an Expected Payment record on the SPV's virtual account. This tells the system "we're expecting a wire for $X from this investor."
3. Wire instructions shared -- the investor accesses wire details through a secure portal link. Banking details are never sent via email for security.
4. Wire arrives -- the investor's bank sends the wire to the SPV's virtual account.
5. Matching -- when the payment provider detects the incoming wire, it's matched against the Expected Payment using amount, payer name, and reference code.
6. Payment completed -- a Payment Order is created with status "completed." The system automatically checks whether the investment is now fully funded: if the total received equals or exceeds the committed amount, the investment moves to "funded." If only a partial amount was received (e.g. due to wire fees), the investment moves to "pending" until the remainder arrives.

Expected Payment Statuses

Expected Payments track the lifecycle of an anticipated wire:

Wire vs. ACH Comparison

Security: No Banking Details in Email

This is a critical security principle: wire instructions (routing numbers, account numbers) are never sent in email. Instead:

• The investor receives an email with a link to the wire instructions portal
• They must be logged in to view the details
• This prevents wire fraud where malicious actors intercept emails and substitute their own banking details

What Admins Should Know

• Wire transfers depend on the investor -- unlike ACH, you can't force a wire to happen. The investor must take action.
• Monitor pending expected payments -- if a wire has been pending for several days, the investor may have forgotten or had trouble with their bank. See the Wire Not Received playbook.
• Wire fee shortfalls are normal -- banks often deduct $10-25 for wire fees, so the amount received may be slightly less than expected. See Short Payment playbook.
• Expected Payments do NOT auto-expire. Modern Treasury sends overdue webhooks as an FYI (the EP is still matchable). We only mark an EP expired when MT actually archives it -- a manual operator action at MT. Even then, late wires still reconcile against expired EPs (a late_match audit entry is written so the trail is clear). Use the Re-open action on the EP admin page if you want MT to resume auto-matching.
• Never share banking details via email -- if an investor asks for wire instructions by email, direct them to the portal link instead.