If you're a US-based employee, you can link your personal bank account so Perk can pay you back for your out-of-pocket expenses directly. You only need to link your account once — after that, every reimbursement is sent to it as an Automated Clearing House (ACH) bank transfer, which typically arrives within 1–2 business days of being sent. Use this article to link your account, check its verification status, and track your reimbursement payments.
Before you start
To link your bank account for reimbursement payouts, you need a personal checking account at a US bank, held in your own name. Perk only supports checking accounts — savings and money-market accounts don't work for reimbursement payouts. Joint and business accounts also aren't supported, so make sure the account you link is in your name alone.
You'll link your account using Plaid, a secure bank-connection service that Perk uses to connect to your bank. Plaid handles the connection directly with your bank, so Perk never sees or stores your bank login details.
Link your bank account
Follow these steps to link your bank account:
- Go to Profile > Personal > Bank information.
- Select Add bank account. This opens a secure Plaid window.
- Choose your bank from the list.
- Log in with your own bank credentials inside the Plaid window.
- Choose the checking account you want to use for reimbursements.
- Return to Perk. Your account now shows as linked, along with its verification status.
Once your account is linked, Perk shows a summary of it: the bank name, a masked account number, and the date you connected it. You can edit or remove this account at any time — see Update or remove your bank account.
Check your verification status
After you link your bank account, Perk verifies it before your reimbursements can be paid out. There are 3 possible verification statuses:
| Status | What it means | What you need to do |
|---|---|---|
| Verified | Most banks confirm the connection right away, so your account is ready to use immediately. | Nothing — you're all set. |
| Automatic verification pending | Perk sends a small test deposit to your account, which verifies itself automatically, usually within 1–2 business days. | Nothing — Perk verifies it for you. |
| Manual verification pending | Perk sends a small test deposit to your account, and you need to confirm it, usually within 1–3 business days. | Check your bank statement for the test deposit, then select Continue verification and enter the code in Perk. |
Track your reimbursement status
Your reimbursement status shows where your payment is, separately from your expense's approval status. An expense moves through its own stages on its way to accounting — submitted, approved, reviewed, and exported — but reaching those stages doesn't mean you've been paid yet.
Once an expense is approved for payout, your reimbursement moves through 3 stages:
- Scheduled: your payment is queued for the next payment run.
- Processing: Perk has sent your payment, and it's on its way to your bank.
- Reimbursed: the money has arrived in your bank account.
If Perk needs you to do something before it can pay you — usually because your bank account isn't verified or is invalid — your reimbursement status shows Needs action. Fix your bank details to let the reimbursement go ahead.
You (or a financial reviewer) can cancel a reimbursement while it's Scheduled or in Needs action. Once it moves to Processing, the payment is already underway and can't be canceled.
You can see your reimbursement status on the expense itself, and in your task list of expenses.
Note: Always check your reimbursement status, not your expense status, to know whether you've actually been paid. An expense can show as exported for accounting before the reimbursement has reached your bank account.
Update or remove your bank account
You can edit or remove your linked bank account at any time from Profile > Personal > Bank information. For example, if Alex Macdonald switches banks, he removes his old account and links his new one in its place.
- To link a different account, remove your current one, then add the new one and complete verification.
- Removing your account means Perk can't pay out new reimbursements until you link and verify a new one.
Troubleshooting payment issues
If verification fails
If your bank can't confirm the connection, Perk shows this message: "Verification failed. Connect another account and try again." When you see this, link your bank account again — you can try the same account or connect a different one.
For example, if Sarah's verification fails because she mistyped her bank login, she selects Add bank account again and reconnects using the correct credentials.
If verification is taking longer than expected
Automatic verification usually finishes within 1–2 business days, and manual verification within 1–3 business days. If your verification is still pending after that window:
- Check your bank statement again for the test deposit — it may have arrived later than expected.
- Enter the code in Perk if you find it, using Continue verification.
- Contact Perk support if the deposit still hasn't shown up, or your status still hasn't updated.
Expense is over your company's reimbursement limit
What you see: A message that the expense is above the limit for reimbursement.
What to do: Expenses above the limit can't be paid through Perk's reimbursement. Your company will reimburse you another way (e.g. payroll). Check with your finance team.
Company's credit limit exceeded — can't process more payouts
What you see: A message that payouts can't be processed right now because the company's credit limit (or similar) has been reached.
What to do: This is a company-level limit, not something you can fix in your profile. Your finance or admin team needs to resolve it with Perk (e.g. adjust the limit or settle the balance). Your reimbursement will be processed once the company's account is in good standing. Ask your finance team for an update.