diff --git a/models/api/finstitutions/payments/request.py b/models/api/finstitutions/payments/request.py
index 8e1702e..56d8be3 100644
--- a/models/api/finstitutions/payments/request.py
+++ b/models/api/finstitutions/payments/request.py
@@ -190,7 +190,8 @@ class PGPaymentRequestData(BaseModel):
 
     tags: List[Any] | None = Field(
         description = "any no. of tags to apply to this payment record to make search and filtering easy later",
-        default = None
+        default = None,
+        validate_default = True
     )
 
     # ┏┓    ┏•
diff --git a/models/api/sms/send.py b/models/api/sms/send.py
index 8a57526..6e64cf6 100644
--- a/models/api/sms/send.py
+++ b/models/api/sms/send.py
@@ -177,9 +177,9 @@ class SMSSendRequestHeaders(BaseModel):
 
 class SMSSendRequestData(BaseModel):
 
-    tokenKey: ObjectId = Field(description = "the auth token to use to send this message")
+    tokenKey: ObjectId
     message: List[NimbusSMSIndiaMessage] | List[SavvyBulkSMSKenyaMessage]
-    tags: List[Any] | None
+    tags: List[Any] | None = Field(default = None, validate_default = True)
 
     # ┏┓    ┏•
     # ┃ ┏┓┏┓╋┓┏┓