BCU’s direct deposit authorization form is a one-page PDF you can download from the credit union’s website, complete with your account and employer details, and submit to your employer’s payroll department to route your paycheck into your BCU checking or savings account. If you’d rather not deal with paper, BCU’s Switch Direct Deposit tool inside online and mobile banking does the same job electronically in about two minutes.
What to Gather Before You Start
You need three pieces of information: your BCU account number, BCU’s routing number, and your employer’s name and address.
BCU’s routing number is 271992400. You can confirm it at the bottom of the credit union’s website or on any BCU check.
Your account number appears in BCU’s digital banking platform and at the bottom of a personal check, just to the right of the routing number. No checks and no digital banking access? Call BCU or stop by a branch and ask a representative to look it up.
Many employers also want a voided check or a direct deposit verification letter attached to the form. If you don’t have paper checks, ask a BCU teller to print a counter check or a letter confirming your account and routing numbers. Either one satisfies payroll without the cost of ordering a full checkbook.
How to Fill Out the Form
The PDF has three sections.
At the top is the employer section. Enter your employer’s name, street address, city, state, zip, phone number, and your employee ID. Your pay stub or offer letter has the address if you aren’t sure.
The middle section covers deposit instructions. Choose checking, savings, or both. Write each account number and the routing number (271992400) next to the matching account type. For your entire net pay in one account, fill in just that line. To split the deposit, fill in both lines with dollar amounts or percentages.
The bottom section is your personal information. Print your full legal name, address, city, state, zip, and phone number exactly as they appear on your BCU account. Sign and date it. Use the name on your government-issued ID so a mismatch doesn’t delay processing.
Double-check the account number and routing number before signing. A single transposed digit can send your paycheck to the wrong account, and recovering misdirected funds through the ACH network is slow and not always successful.
Splitting a Deposit Across Two Accounts
The form includes lines for both checking and savings, so you can split one paycheck between them in a single submission. A common setup is a fixed amount into savings — $200 a pay period, for example — with the remainder going to checking. You can also use percentages, such as 10 percent to savings and 90 percent to checking.
Splitting between BCU and an outside institution works differently. Your employer’s payroll system handles that, not BCU’s form. Most payroll platforms accept multiple direct deposit entries, each with its own routing number, account number, and allocation. Check with HR to confirm how many accounts the system supports and whether a separate authorization is required for each.
Skipping the Paper: Switch Direct Deposit
If you’d rather not print, sign, and hand-deliver anything, log into BCU’s digital banking and choose “Switch Direct Deposit” from the More Menu. BCU says the process takes about two minutes. The tool connects to your employer’s payroll system and sends over your account and routing details automatically after you search for your employer by name and confirm which account should receive the deposit.
Two limits are worth knowing. Not every employer is in the tool’s database, and certain government payers — Social Security among them — require you to set up direct deposit through the agency itself rather than through a third-party portal. When the tool can’t complete the switch electronically, it generates a pre-filled PDF you can download, print, and give to your employer.
Where the Completed Form Goes
The signed form goes to your employer, not to BCU. In most workplaces that means HR or a payroll specialist. Some companies accept the signed PDF through an internal employee portal.
If your employer uses a self-service payroll platform such as ADP, Workday, or Paychex, you may be able to enter your banking details directly in the system without submitting a paper form. Keeping a signed copy is still useful if payroll later asks for a paper record or you need to verify what you submitted.
Federal benefit payments are a separate process. Don’t use BCU’s form for Social Security or VA compensation; enroll through the paying agency instead. Social Security beneficiaries can set up direct deposit through a “my Social Security” account online, by calling the SSA at 1-800-772-1213, or by calling the Treasury’s Electronic Payment Solution Center at 1-800-333-1795. Federal law requires all federal benefit payments to be made electronically, either by direct deposit or onto a Direct Express debit card.
When the First Deposit Will Arrive
Expect the first electronic deposit one to two full pay cycles after your employer processes the form. Payroll typically sends a prenote — a zero-dollar test transaction — through the ACH network to confirm your account and routing numbers before any real money moves. That prenote takes roughly three business days to clear, and when you add payroll’s own processing schedule, the full activation window stretches across one or two pay periods.
During the transition you’ll probably get one more payment the old way, whether that’s a paper check or a deposit to your previous account. Watch your BCU transaction history in the app or online banking to see when the first live deposit lands. If nothing has arrived after two full pay cycles, start with your payroll department. The problem is almost always on the employer’s end: a form stuck in a queue, a typo that triggered a prenote rejection, or a missed processing cutoff.
Once direct deposit is active, BCU can release funds up to two days before your scheduled payday at no extra cost, depending on when your employer’s payroll system initiates the transfer.