Match direct debits to Ramp Bill Pay bills

Overview

Beta. This feature is currently in Beta.

Match a vendor-initiated ACH withdrawal from a Ramp Checking Account or Ramp Operating Account to the bill it pays in Ramp Bill Pay. Ramp keeps the bill visible through approval, marks it as paid after the transfer match and any required release approval are complete, and syncs the matched payment to a supported accounting provider without separately syncing the debit as another transaction.

Direct debit is available for non-recurring bills in USD. Ramp does not send funds to the vendor; the vendor pulls funds directly from your Ramp account.

Prepare a bill for direct debit

Your business must use Ramp Bill Pay and have an eligible Ramp Checking Account or Ramp Operating Account. Before the vendor withdraws funds, confirm that the account's external debit settings allow the vendor's ACH debit.

Turn off Banking auto-sync before matching. If your external withdrawals are set up to sync automatically, we recommend turning off Banking auto-sync to give you more time to match them to bills. Withdrawals that have already synced to your accounting provider are excluded from direct debit suggestions. Automatic sync already skips external withdrawals that still need required accounting categories; turning it off helps prevent sync once those fields are complete. For Ramp Plus customers using Ramp Checking Accounts, see Banking accounting sync settings to switch to Manual sync. This also means you must initiate sync for other Banking transfers yourself.

If you do not use Banking auto-sync, keep the withdrawal unsynced until you review and confirm its direct debit match. The matched payment syncs through Bill Pay only after the bill is synced and the payment is marked paid.

  1. Create or open the eligible bill in Bill Pay.
  2. Under Payment method, select Direct debit.
  3. Under Pay from account, select the Ramp account the vendor will debit.
  4. If the vendor already withdrew the funds and Ramp shows Optionally attach a transfer if you already paid, select the matching transfer.
  5. Submit the bill for approval.

After all required bill approvals are complete, Ramp marks a bill with an attached transfer as Paid unless your business requires release approval for direct debit payments. If release approval is required, the payment remains Awaiting release until a releaser confirms the match. If no transfer is attached, the payment waits for a transfer match and shows Match transfer as the next action.

Match a direct debit after bill approval

You can match an approved bill from the bill, the Ramp account's transaction history, or the Accounting Banking table:

When you start from Banking or Accounting, one debit can match one or more bill payments if the selected payments add up to the full debit amount. Select no more than one payment from each bill, and match bills with partial payments separately.

Important: Match to Ramp bills links the debit to bills created in Ramp Bill Pay. Match to [accounting provider] bill/invoice is a different workflow that links the debit to bills imported from your accounting provider. See Match external debits to bills in your accounting provider.

Review suggested direct debit matches

Ramp suggests unmatched, completed external ACH withdrawals from the selected Ramp account only if they have not already synced to an ERP. Suggestions consider the amount, vendor or ACH originator name similarity, and whether the debit occurred within 60 days before or after the payment. Review these candidates from the bill in Bill Pay.

Review and confirm the correct transfer before matching. A transfer from a different Ramp account is not eligible, and Ramp does not automatically confirm a suggested match for you.

Match direct debits to partial payments

You can use direct debit for a bill split into partial payments when your connected accounting provider supports partial payments. Each payment must match one debit for exactly that payment's amount, and the payments must add up to the bill total. You cannot split one payment across multiple debits.

Release a direct debit match

Businesses that use Bill Pay payment release can also require release approval for direct debit payments. First enable Require additional approval to release payment, then enable Require additional approval to release direct debit payments in Bill Pay approval settings.

When this setting is enabled, the direct debit payment moves to Awaiting release after its other approvals are complete. Releasing the payment confirms the match to funds the vendor already withdrew; it does not initiate or release money.

Sync matched direct debits to accounting

After the bill is synced and the matched payment is marked paid, Ramp syncs the payment through the standard Bill Pay accounting workflow. Ramp uses the cash account mapped to the Ramp account that the vendor debited.

The linked external debit is excluded from separate Banking transaction sync, preventing the payment and debit from creating duplicate accounting records. Direct debit payments can sync to accounting providers that support Ramp's standard Bill Pay payment sync.

Remove a direct debit match

Open the bill in Bill Pay and select Remove transfer. For a bill with partial payments, open the specific payment and remove its transfer instead. Ramp unlinks the debit and marks the bill or payment as unpaid.

If the bill payment already synced, review the confirmation for its accounting impact. Ramp can attempt to void the synced payment for supported accounting providers; otherwise, reverse the payment manually in your accounting provider.