How are KBA verifications charged in BoldSign?

Knowledge-based authentication (KBA) usage is tracked separately from ID verification in BoldSign. KBA charges are based on KBA challenges that are started for signers.

Understanding when KBA is charged helps admins manage usage, plan credits, and pay-as-you-go costs.

Settings - Subscription - View transactions - KBA

When is KBA charged?

A KBA usage is recorded when a signer starts a provider-billable KBA challenge. In BoldSign transaction details, this may appear as Challenge Started.

This means KBA can be charged when the signer starts the KBA challenge and security questions are generated. The charge is not based only on whether the signer passes KBA.

What counts as KBA usage?

KBA usage may be counted when:

A signer starts KBA and security questions are generated.
A signer successfully completes KBA.
A signer fails KBA after starting a billable challenge.
A signer starts a new KBA challenge after a retry or reset.

If multiple signers in the same document require KBA, each signer can create separate KBA usage. If the same signer retries and starts another billable KBA challenge, that retry can also create additional usage.

What does not count as KBA usage?

KBA usage is not recorded when:

A sender adds KBA to a signer but the signer never starts KBA.
A document is created or sent with KBA, but the signer does not open and start the KBA challenge.
KBA is blocked before a billable challenge starts.
The sender resets KBA authentication without the signer starting a new challenge.

Resetting KBA does not itself create KBA usage. However, if the signer starts KBA again after reset, the new challenge may count as a new KBA usage.

Plan credits and pay-as-you-go

Depending on your BoldSign subscription, KBA usage may be covered by included plan credits or billed through pay-as-you-go.

Plan credits: If your plan includes KBA credits, usage is deducted from the available KBA plan credits.
Pay-as-you-go: If included credits are unavailable and pay-as-you-go KBA is enabled, KBA usage is billed as pay-as-you-go.

Admins can review KBA usage and costs from the subscription and transaction pages.

Retry charges

If a signer fails KBA and retries, each new billable KBA challenge may count as another KBA usage. For this reason, the retry attempt setting can help control both signer experience and possible usage costs.

For example, if the retry count allows multiple attempts, a signer may be able to start more than one KBA challenge for the same document.

Managing KBA costs

To manage KBA usage:

Configure the number of retry attempts carefully.
Keep signer names accurate to reduce avoidable KBA failures.
Keep name matching enabled to avoid mismatched identity attempts.
Track KBA usage from the subscription transaction page.
Use budget limits if your account uses pay-as-you-go controls.

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