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A core account is a real bank account on Lead’s core. Lead opens one for each account your program needs during onboarding: the FBO that pools your customers’ deposits, and the operating, settlement, revenue, and reserve accounts your program runs on. You do not create, change, or close them. You read them. Throughout this section, account means a core account. Your customers’ accounts are user accounts and are documented under Customers & Accounts.

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Account types

Every core account has a type: attributed, direct, or shadow. Use it to find the account you need. Filter on direct to find the accounts you can originate payments from, and on attributed to find the FBO your customer balances settle into. The Core Account Object defines each type.

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Who holds a core account

Each core account names the entities that hold it: whether Lead or your company is the account holder, plus any authorized user. The Core Account Object documents the entities block and allowed_actors.

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How core accounts relate to the rest of the model

  • Core balance. Each core account has one core balance today. The balance is where the money is: posted funds, holds, sweeps, overdraft, and interest. Read it with the Core Balances API.
  • Core transactions. Every ledger entry that changes the balance is a core transaction. You list them by balance, not by account. See Core Transactions.
  • Account numbers. On a direct account, account numbers attach to the core balance and make it routable. See Account Numbers.
  • Payments. ACH, wires, instant payments, and internal transfers reference an account_number_id. Lead resolves the core balance and core account behind it.

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What you can do

List and retrieve your core accounts. Both operations are read only.

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What you cannot do

  • Create, update, activate, deactivate, or close a core account. Lead manages every transition. See Core Account Statuses.
  • Subscribe to webhooks today. Core accounts change rarely, so cache the list and refresh it daily or when your Lead team tells you an account has been added. See Banking Infrastructure for what is planned.

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