Help connecting Plaid to my WordPress + payday loan application
Budget: $30 – $250 USD
Hi,
I run a small payday loan / short-term loan website on WordPress, and I’ve been approved for Plaid (production). I already have the Plaid Quickstart (Node) running locally on my Mac, but I need a developer to turn this into a proper integration that works with my live loan application.
My current setup
Website: WordPress
Loan application form: currently using Jotform or Zapier (can keep using it)
Automation: some things run through Zapier
Plaid Quickstart: working locally in /quickstart/node and /quickstart/frontend with Production. I understand the basics but I’m not a developer.
What I want the user flow to be
User fills out the loan application form in Jotform (basic personal + income info).
After submitting, Jotform redirects to a page on my WordPress site, e.g.:
https://mydomain.com/connect-bank?jotform_id={id}
On that connect-bank page, the user should automatically be sent to a Plaid Hosted Link session to connect their bank account.
When they finish Plaid, they should be redirected back to another WordPress page, e.g.:
https://mydomain.com/bank-connected
Behind the scenes, for each applicant, I want to:
Create a fresh Plaid session (link_token / hosted_link_url) per borrower
Exchange the public_token for an access_token
Store that data in a simple database, tied to the borrower (using the Jotform submission ID or similar)
This needs to support multiple applicants at once (dozens), with each having their own Plaid session.
What I need you to build
Deploy the Plaid Node Quickstart backend
Take the existing /node backend from the Plaid Quickstart and deploy it to a host (Render, Railway, Fly.io, Heroku, AWS, etc.).
Configure environment variables for:
PLAID_CLIENT_ID
PLAID_SECRET (Sandbox + Production)
PLAID_ENV (we can start with Sandbox, then move to Production)
PLAID_PRODUCTS (e.g. transactions,auth)
PLAID_COUNTRY_CODES (e.g. US)
Create an endpoint to generate a Plaid Hosted Link URL per borrower
New route, for example:
POST /api/plaid/create-hosted-link
It should:
Accept JSON body: { borrowerId }
borrowerId will be the Jotform submission ID from the URL (jotform_id)
Call Plaid’s /link/token/create with:
user.client_user_id = borrowerId
products = my approved products
country_codes = ['US']
language = 'en'
hosted_link.completion_redirect_uri = 'https://mydomain.com/bank-connected'
Optional: webhook for Plaid events
Return JSON: { hosted_link_url: 'https://...plaid.com/...' }
Handle the Plaid completion & save the access_token
Implement the necessary logic (likely via webhook or the Hosted Link session finish event) to:
Receive the public_token / link_token
Call Plaid /item/public_token/exchange
Store borrowerId, item_id, and access_token in a database table (can be Postgres, MySQL, or any simple option you recommend).
The goal: for any given borrower/application ID, I can later query their Plaid data (transactions, balances, etc.) via the stored access_token.
Wire my WordPress page to the backend
On the WordPress page https://mydomain.com/connect-bank, add a small JavaScript snippet that:
Reads jotform_id from the URL
Sends a POST request to https://<your-backend-domain>/api/plaid/create-hosted-link with { borrowerId: jotform_id }
On success, redirects window.location to the returned hosted_link_url
If there’s any error, show a basic “There was a problem connecting to your bank, please contact support” message.
Make sure it works end-to-end
Test the flow:
Fill out Jotform
Redirect to connect-bank with jotform_id
Automatically go into Plaid Hosted Link
Complete the Plaid flow
Get redirected back to bank-connected
Confirm that in the database there is a record with:
borrowerId = Jotform submission ID
item_id
access_token
(Optional but nice) Provide a simple backend route or script to fetch and log sample Plaid data for one borrower so I know it’s working.
What I care about
Clear, simple code and comments (I’ll likely work with you or someone again to extend it later).
Security: Plaid secrets and access_tokens must be stored securely and not exposed in frontend/WordPress.
A short Loom video or brief explanation showing:
Where the code lives
How to deploy/update it
How to see logs and confirm it’s working
If you’ve done Plaid integrations before, please mention that and share an example.
Thanks!
I run a small payday loan / short-term loan website on WordPress, and I’ve been approved for Plaid (production). I already have the Plaid Quickstart (Node) running locally on my Mac, but I need a developer to turn this into a proper integration that works with my live loan application.
My current setup
Website: WordPress
Loan application form: currently using Jotform or Zapier (can keep using it)
Automation: some things run through Zapier
Plaid Quickstart: working locally in /quickstart/node and /quickstart/frontend with Production. I understand the basics but I’m not a developer.
What I want the user flow to be
User fills out the loan application form in Jotform (basic personal + income info).
After submitting, Jotform redirects to a page on my WordPress site, e.g.:
https://mydomain.com/connect-bank?jotform_id={id}
On that connect-bank page, the user should automatically be sent to a Plaid Hosted Link session to connect their bank account.
When they finish Plaid, they should be redirected back to another WordPress page, e.g.:
https://mydomain.com/bank-connected
Behind the scenes, for each applicant, I want to:
Create a fresh Plaid session (link_token / hosted_link_url) per borrower
Exchange the public_token for an access_token
Store that data in a simple database, tied to the borrower (using the Jotform submission ID or similar)
This needs to support multiple applicants at once (dozens), with each having their own Plaid session.
What I need you to build
Deploy the Plaid Node Quickstart backend
Take the existing /node backend from the Plaid Quickstart and deploy it to a host (Render, Railway, Fly.io, Heroku, AWS, etc.).
Configure environment variables for:
PLAID_CLIENT_ID
PLAID_SECRET (Sandbox + Production)
PLAID_ENV (we can start with Sandbox, then move to Production)
PLAID_PRODUCTS (e.g. transactions,auth)
PLAID_COUNTRY_CODES (e.g. US)
Create an endpoint to generate a Plaid Hosted Link URL per borrower
New route, for example:
POST /api/plaid/create-hosted-link
It should:
Accept JSON body: { borrowerId }
borrowerId will be the Jotform submission ID from the URL (jotform_id)
Call Plaid’s /link/token/create with:
user.client_user_id = borrowerId
products = my approved products
country_codes = ['US']
language = 'en'
hosted_link.completion_redirect_uri = 'https://mydomain.com/bank-connected'
Optional: webhook for Plaid events
Return JSON: { hosted_link_url: 'https://...plaid.com/...' }
Handle the Plaid completion & save the access_token
Implement the necessary logic (likely via webhook or the Hosted Link session finish event) to:
Receive the public_token / link_token
Call Plaid /item/public_token/exchange
Store borrowerId, item_id, and access_token in a database table (can be Postgres, MySQL, or any simple option you recommend).
The goal: for any given borrower/application ID, I can later query their Plaid data (transactions, balances, etc.) via the stored access_token.
Wire my WordPress page to the backend
On the WordPress page https://mydomain.com/connect-bank, add a small JavaScript snippet that:
Reads jotform_id from the URL
Sends a POST request to https://<your-backend-domain>/api/plaid/create-hosted-link with { borrowerId: jotform_id }
On success, redirects window.location to the returned hosted_link_url
If there’s any error, show a basic “There was a problem connecting to your bank, please contact support” message.
Make sure it works end-to-end
Test the flow:
Fill out Jotform
Redirect to connect-bank with jotform_id
Automatically go into Plaid Hosted Link
Complete the Plaid flow
Get redirected back to bank-connected
Confirm that in the database there is a record with:
borrowerId = Jotform submission ID
item_id
access_token
(Optional but nice) Provide a simple backend route or script to fetch and log sample Plaid data for one borrower so I know it’s working.
What I care about
Clear, simple code and comments (I’ll likely work with you or someone again to extend it later).
Security: Plaid secrets and access_tokens must be stored securely and not exposed in frontend/WordPress.
A short Loom video or brief explanation showing:
Where the code lives
How to deploy/update it
How to see logs and confirm it’s working
If you’ve done Plaid integrations before, please mention that and share an example.
Thanks!