What is Plaid?
Plaid is a third-party technology company that allows you to easily and safely connect your bank account to an app. It was recently acquired by Visa.
Mint, Quickbooks, Venmo, and student loan servicers all use Plaid since it is the industry standard to safely and securely connect bank accounts. They are not a household name, despite being acquired by Visa, because they are an infrastructure platform in the financial technology services space. If you have connected your bank account to an app like Venmo or Mint you used Plaid, probably without realizing it.
Why is my account checked periodically?
In the case of a refund or dispute, to confirm that you have enough funds available to cover the refund back to your customer we utilize Plaid to confirm your balance will cover the refund.