billing

PATCH `/v1/payment-methods/{paymentMethodId}`

Nominate a stored payment method as primary or backup.

Authentication

Send an API key as a bearer token. This endpoint does not state a specific permission in the specification, so give your key the least it needs and check the response rather than assuming.

This endpoint takes no organisation id. Your key already identifies the organisation it belongs to, and the response is scoped to it.

Try it

Replace anything in angle brackets with your own values, and the key placeholder with a key from your dashboard.

curl -X PATCH https://api.zinndigital.com/v1/payment-methods/{paymentMethodId} \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer zdk_live_…" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "role": <string<, primary, backup>> }'

Signed in? The API console in your dashboard fills in your real organisation id and your own key, and runs the request against the live API so you can see the actual response. Open this endpoint in the API console

Details

Sets the mandate's account-wide `role`, demoting whichever method held that slot. A method that is not usable (unconfirmed, revoked, or past its printed expiry) is rejected with 422 rather than silently accepted — the customer must not believe their renewals are covered when they are not. Nominating the current primary as backup (or the reverse) **swaps** them atomically, so the account is never left holding two of one slot and none of the other. Promoting a method that currently has **no role** demotes the outgoing primary to `backup` when — and only when — the backup slot is empty (owner ruling 2026-08-24, #3798). A backup the customer nominated deliberately is never overwritten; the outgoing primary simply loses its role, as before. Without this the account could end up with a primary and no fallback without being told, and the automatic backup-on-decline charge could not fire. ⛔ This operation described a field named `is_default` until 2026-08-25. No such field has existed since roles replaced it — the request schema has required `role` throughout — so the published description named a parameter no client could send (D13613).

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	What it is
`paymentMethodId (path)`	`string`	Yes	The stored payment method's id.

Request body

Name	Type	Required	What it is
`role`	`string<, primary, backup>`	Yes	Nominate this mandate as the account's `primary` or `backup`, or send `""` to clear its role. Roles are account-wide: promoting a method demotes whichever method held that s…

Response

Name	Type	Required	What it is
`id`	`string`	Yes	—
`gateway`	`string<stripe, paypal>`	Yes	The rail holding the mandate. Crypto (NOWPayments) is absent by design — it has no mandate primitive, so those customers are invoiced ahead rather than rebilled (ADR 0011 §6).
`status`	`string<pending, active, expired, revoked>`	Yes	Only `active` is chargeable; `pending` means the gateway has not confirmed it yet.
`role`	`string<, primary, backup>`	Yes	Which job this mandate does for the organisation. `primary` is charged first; `backup` is charged immediately if the primary declines; `""` is simply stored. ⛔ Replaced `is_…
`removal_blocked_by`	`string<, subscription, adhoc_charge, reseller_programme>`	Yes	Empty when this method may be removed. Otherwise the obligation that keeps the floor binding: this is the account's last operational way to pay and the named thing is still…
`method_type`	`string`	Yes	The gateway's own name for what kind of mandate this is — Stripe's `PaymentMethod.type` (`card`, `sepa_debit`, `klarna`, `kakao_pay`, …). Empty on a rail that does not type its…
`can_auto_renew`	`boolean`	Yes	Whether this mandate can be charged off-session, i.e. whether a renewal can be taken without the customer present. `false` means the subscription renews manually: the cu…
`brand`	`string`	Yes	—
`last4`	`string`	Yes	—
`exp_month`	`integer`	No	—
`exp_year`	`integer`	No	—
`holder_name`	`string`	No	—
`confirmed_at`	`string`	No	When the gateway confirmed the mandate. Null while `pending`.
`created_at`	`string`	Yes	—

Errors this endpoint can return

401 · 403 · 404 · 422

PATCH /v1/payment-methods/{paymentMethodId}