# Refund a payment without a reference You can issue a refund through Checkout.com even if the original payment wasn't authorized or captured by us. > **Information** > > If you processed the original payment with us, we recommend you [process the refund with the payment ID](https://www.checkout.com/docs/payments/manage-payments/refund-a-payment/refund-a-payment-with-a-reference.md) instead. For example, you can use unreferenced refunds if: - You authorize payments through multiple payment service providers (PSPs), but want to manage refunds through us. - You do not have a `payment_id` available to send in the refund request, which prevents us from linking it to the original authorization. > **Information** > > To enable unreferenced refunds, contact your account manager or [request support](https://dashboard.checkout.com/support/new?topic=case_account_management_and_access&issue=issue_account_changes). Refunds are debited immediately from your sub-account's _Available_ balance. If _Available_ has insufficient funds, the refund can still be processed using funds from your _Pending_ or _Operational_ balance. If your account does not have sufficient funds across these balances to process the refund, you can [add funds to your sub-account balance](https://www.checkout.com/docs/funds-management/move-funds/add-funds.md). You can view your sub-account balance in the: - _Business account_ > _Balances_ page in the [Dashboard](https://dashboard.checkout.com/) - Response to a [Get entity balances](https://api-reference.checkout.com/tag/Balances/#operation/getEntityBalances) request --- ## Eligible payments To be eligible for an unreferenced refund, the original payment must have been performed: - In the United States (US) using a credit or debit card – Prepaid cards are not supported - By a card issued in the US by one of the following schemes: - American Express – supported only under the American Express OptBlue model. - Discover - Mastercard - Visa --- ## Request an unreferenced refund To issue an unreferenced refund, call the [Request a payment](https://api-reference.checkout.com/tag/Payments/#operation/requestAPaymentOrPayout) endpoint and: - Set `payment_type` to `UnreferencedRefund`. - Provide the account from which to debit the funds in the `source` field. - Provide the account to credit with the refund in the `destination` field – You can provide the full card details or a payment instrument ID. To avoid [sanctions requests](https://www.checkout.com/docs/business-operations/compliance-requests.md#Sanctions_requests), ensure you provide as much information as possible about the source and destination of the funds. For more information, see [Reduce sanctions request volumes](https://www.checkout.com/docs/payments/optimize-payments/reduce-sanctions-request-volumes.md). > **Information** > > The Unified Payments API supports [idempotency](https://www.checkout.com/docs/developer-resources/api/idempotency.md). You can safely retry API requests without the risk of duplicate requests. > **Information** > > Your base URL's `{prefix}` value is unique to your account and environment. To learn how to retrieve your base URLs for the sandbox and production environments, see [API endpoints](https://www.checkout.com/docs/developer-resources/api/api-endpoints.md). **Production** `POST` `https://{prefix}.api.checkout.com/payments` **Sandbox** `POST` `https://{prefix}.api.sandbox.checkout.com/payments` **Card details** To issue a refund to an account holder using their full card details: - Set `destination.type` to `card`. - Provide the card number in the `destination.number` field. ### Request example ```json { "amount": 1000, "currency": "USD", "payment_type": "UnreferencedRefund", "processing_channel_id": "pc_xxx", "reference": "REF-FQSGRB", "source": { "type": "currency_account", "id": "ca_xxx" }, "destination": { "type": "card", "number": "4111111111111111", "expiry_month": 12, "expiry_year": 2042, "account_holder": { "type": "individual", "first_name": "Toby", "last_name": "Arden", "date_of_birth": "2000-01-01", "country_of_birth": "US", "billing_address": { "address_line1": "123 Anywhere St.", "city": "Anytown", "state": "AL", "zip": "123456", "country": "US" } } } } ``` ### Response example If you receive a `202 Success` response, your request was successful. ```json { "id": "pay_g4blr3juzouutaijarea5hejd4", "status": "Pending", "reference": "REF-FQSGRB", "instruction": { "value_date": "2025-04-15T22:00:07.7270019Z" }, "_links": { "self": { "href": "https://{prefix}.api.sandbox.checkout.com/payments/pay_g4blr3juzouutaijarea5hejd4" }, "actions": { "href": "https://{prefix}.api.sandbox.checkout.com/payments/pay_g4blr3juzouutaijarea5hejd4/actions" } } } ``` **Payment instrument** If you've stored the account holder's payment details as a [payment instrument](https://www.checkout.com/docs/payments/store-and-manage-credentials/store-credentials/payment-instruments.md), you can issue a refund using the source ID: - Set `destination.type` to `id`. - Provide the payment instrument ID in the `destination.id` field. ### Request example ```json { "amount": 1000, "currency": "USD", "payment_type": "UnreferencedRefund", "processing_channel_id": "pc_xxx", "reference": "REF-GKCQLQ", "source": { "type": "currency_account", "id": "ca_xxx" }, "destination": { "type": "id", "id": "src_xxx", "account_holder": { "type": "individual", "first_name": "Ali", "last_name": "Farid", "date_of_birth": "2000-01-01", "country_of_birth": "US" } } } ``` ### Response example ```json { "id": "pay_j6wxwvn6icjelfw24k6xzyfmea", "status": "Pending", "reference": "REF-GKCQLQ", "instruction": { "value_date": "2025-04-15T22:04:41.1840138Z" }, "_links": { "self": { "href": "https://{prefix}.api.sandbox.checkout.com/payments/pay_j6wxwvn6icjelfw24k6xzyfmea" }, "actions": { "href": "https://{prefix}.api.sandbox.checkout.com/payments/pay_j6wxwvn6icjelfw24k6xzyfmea/actions" } } } ``` --- ## Confirm the refund When you request an unreferenced refund, we perform additional transaction monitoring and risk checks to confirm that the recipient of the refund is the account holder. If the refund is successful, you receive a `payment_refunded` webhook. You can subscribe to other [refund webhooks](https://www.checkout.com/docs/developer-resources/event-notifications/event-types.md#Gateway) to monitor the refund's status. > **Note** > > Receiving a response from the API is not a confirmation that the refund was successful.