The Bank of America direct deposit form, officially the Non-Federal Direct Deposit Enrollment Request Form, authorizes your employer to send your paycheck electronically into your Bank of America checking or savings account.1Bank of America. Non-Federal Direct Deposit Enrollment Request Form You can pull a prefilled copy through Online Banking or the mobile app, add a few employer details, sign it, and hand it to payroll.2Bank of America. Direct Deposit — Access Your Money Faster Most employers activate the deposit within one to two pay cycles after they receive the completed form.
How to Get the Form
Bank of America offers three ways to get a prefilled copy with your routing number, account number, and name already printed on it.
- Sign in at bankofamerica.com, go to your account details, and download the prefilled PDF.2Bank of America. Direct Deposit — Access Your Money Faster
- Open the mobile app, tap the Erica icon, and type or say “Set up direct deposit.” Erica walks you through the download.2Bank of America. Direct Deposit — Access Your Money Faster
- Visit a financial center and ask a banker to print one for you.
If your employer insists on using its own form, you can still use the Bank of America version as a reference. The form itself says that when an employer “prefers or requires their own form, use account type, number and ABA routing number below to help complete their form.”1Bank of America. Non-Federal Direct Deposit Enrollment Request Form
One account type is excluded: direct deposit is not available for SafeBalance Banking for Family Banking accounts.2Bank of America. Direct Deposit — Access Your Money Faster If that’s your account type, you’ll need a different Bank of America account to receive direct deposits.
What You Need Before You Fill It Out
Gather these details before you sit down with the form. A missing or wrong field can push your first deposit back a full pay cycle.
Routing and Account Numbers
The form needs your nine-digit ABA routing number, which identifies the Bank of America processing location tied to your account. Routing numbers vary by state, so the number for a California account is different from one for a New York account. Use the number for the state where you opened the account.3GovInfo. 12 CFR Part 229 – Appendix A to Part 229 Both your routing number and account number appear under your account details in Online Banking and the mobile app.4Bank of America. FAQs: How to Find Your Bank of America Routing Number They also run along the bottom of any personal check printed on the account: routing number first, then account number.
The prefilled form has these numbers already printed, which heads off the most common mistake, transposing a digit by hand.
Employer Information
You’ll need your employer’s name, street address, city, state, and ZIP code. A recent pay stub or your HR portal has this. If the payroll office uses a different mailing address than your worksite, use the payroll address.
How You Want the Deposit Split
The form lets you send pay to as many as three accounts.1Bank of America. Non-Federal Direct Deposit Enrollment Request Form For each one, you choose a flat dollar amount, a percentage of your paycheck, or the remaining balance after the other allocations. A common setup is a fixed amount into savings each payday with checking marked “remaining,” so whatever’s left after the savings transfer lands in checking.
Filling Out the Form
The form fits on a single page. If you downloaded the prefilled version, your account details are already there and you’re mostly adding employer information and your signature.
- Employer/Company section: enter your employer’s full legal name and mailing address.
- Account information: for each account, mark checking or savings, enter the account number and ABA routing number, note the state where the account was opened, and specify the deposit amount as a percentage, flat dollar amount, or “remaining.”1Bank of America. Non-Federal Direct Deposit Enrollment Request Form
- Personal information: your first, middle, and last name, home address, and phone number. Make sure the name matches what Bank of America has on file. A mismatch between the form and the account can trigger a rejection.
- Signature and date: your signature authorizes your employer to send ACH credit entries to the listed accounts, and it authorizes the return of any funds deposited in error.1Bank of America. Non-Federal Direct Deposit Enrollment Request Form
Some employers also ask for a voided check as a backup way to verify your numbers. If you don’t have paper checks, the prefilled Bank of America form shows the same information a voided check would and generally serves the same purpose.
Giving the Form to Your Employer
Hand the completed form to your payroll department or HR representative. Bank of America doesn’t process it for you. Your employer is the one who enters your banking details into their payroll system.2Bank of America. Direct Deposit — Access Your Money Faster How you deliver it depends on the company:
- Many larger employers use payroll platforms like Workday or ADP, where you upload the PDF or enter the routing and account numbers directly.
- Some companies accept a scanned copy or a photo. Send it only through a secure company email address or encrypted portal, since the form contains your full account number.
- Smaller firms often want the signed original delivered in person.
Ask payroll about the cutoff date for the current pay cycle. If you submit after the cutoff, your first direct deposit won’t start until the next cycle. Keep a copy of the signed form for your own records.
When the First Deposit Will Hit
Most employers activate direct deposit within one to two pay cycles after they receive your form. The gap exists because payroll systems need time to verify your banking information. Many employers send a pre-notification, a zero-dollar test transaction through the ACH network, to confirm the routing and account numbers before running your first real deposit.5Nacha. Micro-Entries (Phase 1)
During that waiting period, your employer will typically keep paying you by paper check or whatever method you used before. Once the first electronic deposit arrives, you can turn on alerts in Online Banking or the mobile app to get a notification each payday. If the first deposit doesn’t show up when expected, start with your payroll administrator rather than the bank. The issue is almost always a data entry error on the employer’s end.
Changing or Canceling Direct Deposit Later
If you switch to a different Bank of America account, move to another bank, or want to go back to paper checks, submit a new form or a written cancellation to your employer’s payroll department. The change goes through payroll, not Bank of America. The authorization you signed stays in effect “until Employer/Company has received written notification from me of its termination.”1Bank of America. Non-Federal Direct Deposit Enrollment Request Form
When switching banks, keep your old Bank of America account open until at least one paycheck lands in the new one. Closing the old account too early can leave a deposit with nowhere to go. The ACH transfer bounces back to your employer and you wait another pay cycle while they sort it out. Overlapping the two accounts through a full pay period avoids that gap.