**Last updated**: 17 November 2025 | [**Change log**](/products/apms/changelog/)

# Bancontact

Bancontact is a payment institution operating in Belgium.

Note
Make yourself familiar with our [API Principles](/products/reference/api-principles) to ensure a resilient integration.

details
summary
Product Overview
## Why use Bancontact?

Formerly known as Mister Cash, Bancontact is the most popular card and online payment method in Belgium, with 15 million cards in circulation in the country.

Customers can pay electronically with the Bancontact card or pay mobile via the Bancontact "Payconiq by Bancontact" app.

Every Belgian bank account holder is eligible for a Bancontact card. The card is linked to their current account and accepted in over 85% of Belgian retail outlets and online shops.

### Feature summary

| Payment type | Country | Acceptance Currency | Settlement Currency | Recurring | Reversals | Partial Reversals | Reversals period | Disputes |
|  --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Local card scheme | Belgium | EUR | EUR | ❌ | Partial refund - yesPartial cancel- No | Partial refund - yesPartial cancel- No | Up to 180 days | ❌ |


- Minimum transaction amount: 0.02 EUR
- Maximum transaction amount:
  * 1.500 EUR on mobile app
  * 5.000 EUR by bank
- Maximum amount for a single refund: 3.000 EUR


## Set your headers

Setting your headers is an important part of an API request. The headers represent the meta-data associated with your API request.


```
Authorization: {your_credentials}
Content-Type: application/json
WP-Api-Version: 2023-06-01
```

| Header | Description |
|  --- | --- |
| `Authorization` | We use the `Authorization` header to identify and authenticate you within Access Worldpay. You **must** use the `Authorization` header for any request you send to our APM API. |
| `Content-Type` | We require the `Content-Type` header if the request you're sending includes a request body, and if the HTTP method is a `POST` or a `PUT`. |
| `WP-Api-Version` | We use the `WP-Api-Version` header to identify which version of our APM API you are using. You **must** use the `WP-Api-Version` header for any request you send to our API. |


If you're using both the `Content-Type` and `WP-Api-Version` headers, they must match.

Note
Replace `{your_credentials}` with your base64-encoded Basic Auth username and password. To get your Access Worldpay credentials contact your Implementation Manager.

## Take a payment

`POST` `https://try.access.worldpay-bsh.securedataplatform.com/apmPayments`

#### Example request

{
    "transactionReference": "Memory265-13/08/1876",
    "merchant":
    {
        "entity": "default"
    },
    "instruction":
    {
        "narrative":
        {
            "line1": "Mind Palace Ltd"
        },
        "value":
        {
            "amount": 50,
            "currency": "EUR"
        },
        "paymentInstrument":
        {
            "type": "bancontact",
            "country": "BE",  
            "shopperEmailAddress": "email@example.com",
            "cancelURL": "https://worldpay-bsh.securedataplatform.com/cancel",
            "pendingURL": "http://example.com/pending",
            "successURL": "http://example.com/success"
        }
    }
}
### Parameters

| Parameter | Required? | Description | Data type | Length |
|  --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `merchant` | ✅ | An object that contains information about the merchant. | Object | N/A |
| `merchant.entity` | ✅ | Direct your payment to assist with billing, reporting and reconciliation. This is mandatory for Authentication and Queries.Contact your Implementation Manager for more details. | String | Must be between 1 and 32 characters. |
| `transactionReference` | ✅ | A unique reference generated by you that is used to identify a payment throughout its lifecycle. See [transaction reference format](/products/reference/formatting#transaction-reference-format). | String | Must be between 1 to 64 characters. |
| `instruction` | ✅ | An object that contains all the information related to the payment. | Object | N/A |
| `instruction.narrative` | ✅ | An object that helps your customers better identify you on their statement. | Object | See our [formatting rules](/products/reference/formatting#narrative-format) |
| `instruction.narrative.line1` | ✅ | The first line of the narrative which appears on your customer's statement (If a character is not supported it is replaced with a space.).See [narrative `line1` format](/products/reference/formatting#narrative-line1) for more details. | Object | 24 |
| `instruction.value` | ✅ | An object that contains information about the payment transaction. | Object | N/A |
| `instruction.value.amount` | ✅ | The payment amount. This is a whole number with an exponent e.g. if exponent is two, 250 is 2,50. You can find the relevant exponent in our [currency table](/products/reference/supported-countries-currencies#iso-currency-codes). | Integer | N/A |
| `instruction.value.currency` | ✅ | The payment currency. Refer to the individual APM page for supported currencies. | Integer | 3 |
| `instruction.paymentInstrument` | ✅ | An object that contains information about the payment method. | Object | N/A |
| `instruction.paymentInstrument.type` | ✅ | An object that contains the payment type and details. It defines which alternative payment method you wish to use. Value is `bancontact` for a mobile optimized flow. | Object | N/A |
| `instruction.paymentInstrument.country` | ✅ | An object that contains the country of your customer. Follows [alpha 2 ISO 3166-1](/products/reference/supported-countries-currencies#iso-country-codes) standard. | Object | 2 |
| `instruction.paymentInstrument.shopperEmailAddress` | ✅ | An object that contains your customer's email address. | String | N/A |
| `instruction.paymentInstrument.cancelURL` | ✅ | When your customer cancels a transaction, we redirect your customer to that cancel URL. | String | N/A |
| `instruction.paymentInstrument.pendingURL` | ✅ | When we receive the payment result for a pending payment transaction, we redirect your customer to that pending URL. | String | N/A |
| `instruction.paymentInstrument.successURL` | ✅ | When we receive the payment result for a successful payment, we redirect your customer to that success URL. | String | N/A |


## Response

#### Successful request response

* an HTTP code `201`
* an `id` which is unique to the payment - we recommend storing the "id" as this can be used to manage the payment later
* a `url` to redirect your customer to the APM provider to complete the payment
* a link to query the payment status


### Example Response

{
    "paymentId": "nFxASqw-LV9HE_rr1mMONJmqBDeXmnv5dzt9IxAXgXbfpu0O_8mOnTpFSIM9gnTSygCKQgvlwQdUbu5rExIpJA_5Uq2LEGXXAanycRpxfDPNA-E70zIWdnaMb2gJhC8AIhbOkM6xDiVNu90YCXo2snTzi_k1sEOQnKIAJNTW3Qc",
    "lastEvent": "pending",
    "_links": {
        "self": {
            "href": "https://access.worldpay-bsh.securedataplatform.com/apmPayments/nFxASqw-LV9HE_rr1mMONJmqBDeXmnv5dzt9IxAXgXbfpu0O_8mOnTpFSIM9gnTSygCKQgvlwQdUbu5rExIpJA_5Uq2LEGXXAanycRpxfDPNA-E70zIWdnaMb2gJhC8AIhbOkM6xDiVNu90YCXo2snTzi_k1sEOQnKIAJNTW3Qc"
        }
    },
    "_actions": {},
    "url": "https://payments.worldpay-bsh.securedataplatform.com/app/hpp/integration/wpg/corporate?OrderKey="
}
Note
In case of an error, you can get further information in our [error reference](/products/reference/worldpay-error-responses).

**Next Steps**

[Manage your Bancontact payment](/products/apms/20230601/manage)