Connect Clearwater Digital Branch accounts, statements and card controls to your stack
The Clearwater Digital Branch app is the customer-facing front-end of Clearwater Credit Union, Montana's largest CDFI with more than 60,000 members and over $1 billion in assets. Behind the app sits a rich pool of structured financial data that finance teams, fintech partners and aggregators routinely need: real-time balances, posted and pending transactions, scheduled bill payments, card-control state, mobile-deposit history, and pre-approved loan offer exposure. We deliver authorized, OpenBanking-style APIs over that data without disturbing the member experience.
- Transactions and statements — posted, pending, and historical activity for checking, savings and credit-card accounts.
- Movement primitives — internal transfers, external ACH, Zelle send/receive metadata, and bill-pay scheduling.
- Card and account controls — card lock/unlock, regional and merchant-category limits, and account-alert preferences.
Feature modules
Each module is delivered as an independently versioned endpoint group with OpenAPI specs, request/response samples, retry policy and error taxonomy. Pick the modules you actually need; they compose without forcing the whole bundle.
1. Authentication & session
Mirrors the Digital Branch member-authentication flow on top of the Alkami platform Clearwater launched in May 2025. Handles password, biometric-backed device tokens, and shared-access scopes so a delegate can read but not move funds. Returns a short-lived bearer token plus a refresh token bound to the device fingerprint.
2. Statement & transaction API
Pulls posted and pending transactions per account with cursor paging, ISO-8601 date filters, and merchant-category code (MCC) breakdowns. Returns normalized fields — amount, currency, post date, MCC, counterparty, channel (UPI/ACH/Zelle/wire/card) — and offers OFX 2.x and CSV bundles for accounting platforms.
3. Movement & bill-pay
Wraps internal transfers, external ACH, Zelle send/receive and bill-pay scheduling under a single idempotent /movement contract. Each request emits a movement-id used by the webhook stream so reconciliation tools can match initiated → posted → cleared events without polling.
4. Card controls & alerts
Exposes the in-app Card Controls (Account Services > Manage Cards) as REST endpoints: lock/unlock, geo-fence, MCC blocks, transaction-amount caps, and travel notices. Account alerts can be programmed per channel — push, SMS, email — useful for fraud monitoring overlays.
5. Mobile deposit & document API
Surfaces mobile-deposit history (date, amount, status, hold release) and statement PDFs with checksum and SHA-256 fingerprints. Document objects carry retention metadata so downstream archives can satisfy member record-keeping rules.
6. Loan offer & insights
Reads pre-approved loan offers Clearwater surfaces in-app and exposes spend-insight aggregates by category and month. Useful for embedded-finance partners that want to present a member their own credit headroom without rebuilding the underwriting display.
Data available for integration
The table below maps the data assets Clearwater Digital Branch exposes through its member experience to the granularity and downstream uses we typically support. It is the single best starting point for scoping a Clearwater Credit Union API integration.
Typical integration scenarios
Scenario 1 — Small-business accounting sync
Context: A Western-Montana small business banks with Clearwater and runs QuickBooks Online. Manual CSV imports cause week-long reconciliation lag.
Data & APIs: Statement & transaction API plus a webhook on posted transactions; daily OFX 2.x export of the prior business day.
OpenFinance mapping: The flow mirrors PSD2 AISP behaviour using FDX-style fields and member-granted consent — the equivalent of a U.S. CDFI account-information service over an authorized channel.
Scenario 2 — Card-control overlay for fraud
Context: A regional fraud-ops team wants to lock cards across multiple credit unions when a phishing wave hits, without making members open each app.
Data & APIs: Card controls & alerts module — bulk lock/unlock, MCC blocks and geo-restriction toggles. Webhook for card-event posts.
OpenFinance mapping: Card-issuer service equivalent to a payment-instrument controls layer in CMA9 / Open Finance specs, scoped to the consenting member.
Scenario 3 — Personal financial management dashboard
Context: A budgeting fintech wants to enrich Plaid balances with the data Plaid does not cover (statements, mobile deposit, pre-approved loan headroom).
Data & APIs: Statement API, mobile deposit metadata, loan offer endpoint. Output normalised to FDX 5.x JSON.
OpenFinance mapping: A consent-driven aggregator extension, slot-compatible with the data-recipient pattern the CFPB outlined for Section 1033.
Scenario 4 — Lending underwriting evidence
Context: A non-bank lender wants 12 months of statements plus categorised cash-flow snapshots before issuing a small business loan.
Data & APIs: Statement PDFs with checksum, transaction history with MCC, optional spend-insight aggregates.
OpenFinance mapping: Cash-flow underwriting use case promoted by the FDIC and CFPB; aligns with how Cotribute's automated loan origination process — adopted by Clearwater in March 2024 — collects member data.
Scenario 5 — Member-care chatbot context
Context: A credit-union support chatbot needs the last five transactions, current balance, scheduled bill-pay items and any open card holds before answering a member.
Data & APIs: Lightweight composite /member/snapshot endpoint that batches balances + recent transactions + bill-pay queue + card status.
OpenFinance mapping: A consented "decision-context" call mirroring the read-only AIS pattern, optimized for low-latency conversational UX.
Technical implementation
Each integration ships with three example clients (Python 3.11, Node.js 20, Go 1.22), a Postman collection, and a deterministic mock server so your CI can run without hitting Clearwater's environment. The snippets below illustrate three of the most common calls.
1) Member login & session refresh
POST /api/v1/clearwater/auth/login
Content-Type: application/json
{
"member_id": "mt-63421",
"password_hash": "<argon2id>",
"device_fingerprint": "fp_2b3a...e9",
"biometric_token": "bio_8f2..."
}
200 OK
{
"access_token": "eyJhbGciOi...",
"refresh_token": "rfr_91dd...",
"expires_in": 900,
"scope": ["accounts.read", "movement.write", "cards.write"]
}
2) Statement export (date-range, OFX)
POST /api/v1/clearwater/statement
Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"account_id": "chk-001-77421",
"from_date": "2026-04-01",
"to_date": "2026-04-30",
"format": "ofx2"
}
200 OK
{
"account_id": "chk-001-77421",
"transaction_count": 142,
"checksum_sha256": "8b1c...e9",
"download_url": "https://api.example.com/d/stmt_2c8d.ofx",
"expires_at": "2026-05-09T18:00:00Z"
}
3) Webhook: posted transaction
POST https://your.app/hooks/clearwater
X-Signature: t=1746816000,v1=8a7c...
Content-Type: application/json
{
"event": "transaction.posted",
"event_id": "evt_91d...",
"account_id":"chk-001-77421",
"amount": -42.18,
"currency": "USD",
"channel": "card",
"mcc": 5812,
"counterparty": "STARBUCKS #02841",
"posted_at": "2026-05-09T13:55:21Z"
}
// 2xx within 5s, otherwise we retry with exponential backoff
// (1s, 5s, 30s, 5m, 1h, 6h, 24h)
Compliance & privacy
Regulatory posture
Clearwater Credit Union is a federally insured institution supervised by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and aligned with FFIEC IT examination expectations. Our integrations follow NCUA cybersecurity guidance, the FFIEC Cybersecurity Assessment Tool, PCI DSS for card data, and GLBA for member financial information. Card-control endpoints are scoped per member to satisfy data-minimization principles.
We also track the CFPB's Section 1033 personal-financial-data rights rule. The CFPB paused implementation in July 2025, leaving timing uncertain for credit unions; our delivery includes consent-management primitives (granular scope, revocation, audit trail) so that when the rule re-activates the integration is already shaped for it.
Privacy controls
- Member-granted, scope-bound consent records with immutable audit log
- Encryption — TLS 1.3 in transit, AES-256-GCM at rest, KMS-managed keys
- Field-level redaction (e.g. hide full PAN and SSN in logs)
- Configurable retention (default: 13 months for transactions, 7 years for statements)
- NDA on request; data-processing addendum aligned with state privacy laws
Data flow & architecture
A typical pipeline runs end-to-end in four stages: (1) Clearwater Digital Branch (member device) → (2) Authorized adapter / ingestion gateway → (3) Normalisation & storage (FDX-shaped warehouse) → (4) Downstream API or webhook stream. The adapter holds the consent token, the gateway enforces rate-limit and idempotency, the warehouse stores normalized transactions with merchant enrichment, and the egress layer exposes either a REST/GraphQL surface or webhook delivery to your platform. Throughput targets: 100 ms p95 for snapshot reads, < 5 s end-to-end for posted-transaction webhook fan-out.
Market positioning & user profile
Clearwater Digital Branch serves Clearwater Credit Union's 60,000+ members across Western Montana, with a heavy retail (B2C) base, a meaningful small-business (B2B) cohort served via the same Digital Banking platform, and a CDFI mission focus on low-income and historically underserved households. The audience is primarily Android- and iOS-driven, with desktop access through the unified web Digital Branch experience powered by Alkami since May 2025. Integration buyers are typically regional fintech partners, accounting platforms, embedded-finance vendors, and member-care tooling teams that need authorized read access to member data without rebuilding their own onboarding.
Screenshots
Tap any thumbnail for a larger view. These are the in-app surfaces our APIs map directly to — useful when scoping which screens you actually need to mirror on your side.
Similar apps & integration landscape
Clearwater Digital Branch sits inside a wider U.S. credit-union mobile-banking ecosystem. The apps below come up most often when scoping multi-institution integrations — partners typically need a unified view across more than one credit union, especially for accounting sync, fraud overlays, and member-care tooling. We deliver the same OpenBanking-style adapter pattern across each one.
Eastman Credit Union
Top-rated credit-union app in the U.S. (iOS 4.9 / Android 4.8); holds rich transaction, statement, and card data. Members of cross-state employer programs often need a unified view alongside Clearwater Digital Branch.
Delta Community Credit Union
Georgia's largest credit union with over 16,000 user ratings. A common dual-membership pattern (employees who relocated west) drives demand for joint Delta + Clearwater statement exports.
Redstone Federal Credit Union
Allows members to review cleared checks, view credit-card activity, pay bills and transfer funds. Integrators frequently bundle Redstone APIs with Clearwater for federal-defence-community workflows.
ESL Federal Credit Union
Rochester-based ESL holds member checking, savings and bill-pay data; relevant for accounting platforms that already serve Clearwater customers in the Northeast.
Alliant Credit Union
Easy-to-join, fully-digital U.S. credit union. Pairs naturally with Clearwater for personal-financial-management dashboards covering high-yield-savings + everyday banking.
Montana Credit Union
Other Montana institution offering balances, transfers, alerts, and mobile deposit. Co-resident members often want a single statement export across both apps.
PNW Federal Credit Union
Pacific Northwest credit-union app covering balances, transactions, bill-pay and check deposit. Common pairing for Clearwater members who also bank in Oregon or Washington.
Mountain America Credit Union
Operates across Utah, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Arizona. Cross-state lenders frequently request unified balance and transaction APIs across Mountain America and Clearwater.
Suncoast Credit Union
Florida-based credit union with mobile deposit, transfers and card controls. Used by relocated Florida-to-Montana members who keep both accounts active.
What we deliver
Deliverables checklist
- OpenAPI 3.1 specification for every endpoint group
- Protocol & auth flow report (token chain, refresh, biometric & shared-access scope)
- Runnable source — Python, Node.js, Go — with Postman collection and mock server
- Webhook delivery service with retry policy and signature verification helper
- Test cases (positive, negative, rate-limit, partial-outage)
- Compliance guidance: NCUA cybersecurity, FFIEC, PCI DSS, GLBA, Section 1033 readiness
About us
OpenFinance Lab is an independent studio focused on credit-union, neobank, and OpenBanking API integration. Our team has shipped protocol-analysis and ingestion stacks for North American credit unions, European PSD2 AISPs, and pan-Asian payment processors. We know NCUA, FFIEC, PSD2, FDX, and the CFPB Section 1033 timeline, and we bias toward authorized member-consent flows over scraping.
- Source-code delivery from $300 — runnable APIs and full documentation, paid after acceptance
- Pay-per-call API billing — hosted endpoints, no upfront cost, ideal for usage-based pricing
- NDA on request; data-processing addendum included
Contact
For a quote, sandbox access or to send the screens you want mirrored, open the contact page below. Include the data types you need (statements, card controls, mobile deposit, etc.) and your downstream system (accounting, ERP, dashboard, chatbot).
Engagement workflow
- Scope confirmation: which Clearwater Digital Branch surfaces, which downstream systems
- Protocol analysis & API design (2–5 business days)
- Build, sandbox & internal validation (3–8 business days)
- Docs, samples, and test cases (1–2 business days)
- First delivery: 5–15 business days; member-consent and bank-side approvals can extend timing
FAQ
What do you need from me to start a Clearwater Digital Branch integration?
How long does delivery typically take?
How do you handle NCUA, FFIEC, and Section 1033 compliance?
Can the integration run alongside Plaid?
📱 Original app overview (appendix)
Clearwater Digital Branch is the official mobile and web banking app of Clearwater Credit Union, headquartered in Missoula, Montana. The credit union holds more than $1 billion in assets and serves over 60,000 members, making it Montana's largest Community Development Financial Institution and the second-largest credit union in the state. It is one of the few U.S. credit unions that are members of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV), and a member of Inclusiv, a CDFI intermediary. The Digital Branch app condenses a physical branch experience into a single interface — depositing checks, paying bills, transferring funds, viewing statements, controlling card usage, and surfacing pre-approved loan offers.
In March 2024, Clearwater partnered with Cotribute to streamline Consumer and Commercial Account Opening and Consumer Loan Origination. In May 2025, Clearwater launched Alkami's Digital Banking Platform, unifying the public website, online banking and mobile banking experience under a single, scalable platform — which is what the current Digital Branch app reflects.
- Mobile check deposit, bill pay, internal & external transfers, statement view
- Card Controls under Account Services > Manage Cards (lock, alerts, limits)
- Account alerts via push, SMS or email; biometric login (Face / Touch ID)
- Shared Access for non-joint helpers, plus integrated Zelle Payments
- 24/7/365 ATM & digital banking availability for Western-Montana members