To send money to a business account, you need four things from the recipient — the company’s legal name, its bank’s nine-digit routing number, the account number, and an invoice or reference number — and then you choose a channel that fits the payment: ACH for routine bills, a wire for large or urgent transfers, or a merchant portal or app for smaller amounts. Banks route payments by account number, not by name, so the account number is the one field you cannot afford to mistype.
Information You Need From the Business
Ask the business for its full legal name as it appears on the bank account. If the name on your payment doesn’t match what the bank has on file, the transfer can be delayed or rejected. Invoices and accounts receivable departments are the usual sources.
Next, get the nine-digit routing number assigned by the American Bankers Association, which identifies the financial institution holding the account.1American Bankers Association. ABA Routing Number It appears at the bottom left of a check and often on the invoice itself. Then the account number, which directs funds to the correct internal account at that bank.
Include an invoice or purchase order number whenever the business provides one. Without it, your payment can sit in a suspense account while the accounting team tries to figure out what it was for.
One legal detail worth knowing before you press send: under the Uniform Commercial Code, if your payment names one company but lists a different company’s account number, the receiving bank can process the payment based on the account number alone.2Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. UCC 4A-207 – Misdescription of Beneficiary A wrong digit in the account number is far more dangerous than a typo in the business name. Verify it character by character.
Which Payment Method to Use
The right channel depends on the size of the payment, how quickly it needs to arrive, and what the business accepts. Cost and settlement time move in opposite directions: the fastest options are the most expensive, and the cheapest take a day or two.
ACH Transfers
The Automated Clearing House network is the standard rail for U.S. business payments. It connects nearly every bank in the country and moves funds electronically in batches processed through the Federal Reserve or a private clearinghouse.3Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Automated Clearinghouse Services
Standard ACH transfers settle in one to two business days. Same Day ACH is available for payments up to $1 million and processes across three daily windows, with the last submission cutoff at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time.4Federal Reserve Services. Same Day ACH Resource Center For most senders, ACH is the cheapest electronic option; many banks offer it free on personal accounts and charge modest fees on business accounts.
Wire Transfers
Wires move money individually rather than in batches. Domestic wires travel through the Federal Reserve’s Fedwire system, a real-time settlement service where each transfer is immediate, final, and irrevocable once the Fed processes it.5Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Fedwire Funds Services That finality is the point and the risk: the recipient has the money within hours, and you cannot stop a wire the way you can stop a check.
International wires use the SWIFT messaging network and typically take one to three business days because the payment may pass through intermediary banks.
Banks typically charge senders $15 to $35 for a domestic wire, and $35 to $50 or more for international wires depending on intermediary fees.6Federal Reserve Services. Fedwire Funds Service 2026 Fee Schedules Wires make sense when the payment is large enough that the fee is trivial and same-day settlement matters.
Merchant Portals and Payment Apps
Many businesses accept credit cards, debit cards, or electronic checks through an online portal run by a third-party processor. The business absorbs the processing fee, which is why some add a card surcharge or offer a discount for paying by ACH.
Zelle, PayPal, and Venmo also handle payments to businesses, though they suit smaller amounts. Each platform sets its own limits and fees for business accounts, and none produces the formal confirmation and audit trail that ACH and wires generate. For anything above a few thousand dollars, ACH or a wire is usually the better call.
Processing Times and Costs
- Standard ACH: one to two business days, free or low-cost at most banks.
- Same Day ACH: settles the same business day if submitted before 1:30 p.m. ET, capped at $1 million per payment.4Federal Reserve Services. Same Day ACH Resource Center
- Domestic wire: same-day settlement, often within hours, typically $15 to $35.
- International wire: one to three business days, usually $35 to $50 or more.
- Merchant portal (card): instant authorization, funds reach the business in one to three business days; no fee to you unless the business surcharges.
Submitting the Payment
Once you’ve entered the routing number, account number, business name, and reference number, the platform will show a review screen. Verify the account number digit by digit rather than skimming it. When you confirm, your bank generates a unique transaction reference number.
Save that reference number. It’s the fastest way to trace the payment if something goes wrong, and some businesses require it to credit your account. Your bank’s dashboard will show the transfer as “pending” until funds leave, then “posted” or “cleared” after settlement — within one to two business days for ACH, within hours for a wire.5Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Fedwire Funds Services
Verifying Payment Instructions Before You Send
Business email compromise is one of the most common ways money goes missing on business transfers. A scammer impersonates a vendor or executive, emails “updated” bank details, and the sender wires funds to a fraudulent account. The FBI recommends verifying any change in payment instructions by calling the business at a number you already have on file, not the number in the email.7Federal Bureau of Investigation. Business Email Compromise
A few habits reduce your exposure:
- Confirm any change in routing or account information by phone through a known contact before sending.
- Check sender email domains carefully. Fraudulent addresses often differ from the real one by a single character.
- Turn on multi-factor authentication for every account you use to initiate payments.
- Slow down when someone pressures you to send urgently. That pressure is often the point.
If you send a payment and then suspect fraud, call your bank immediately and ask them to contact the receiving bank. Speed matters most on wires, because recovery becomes very difficult once the recipient withdraws the funds. Incidents can also be reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.7Federal Bureau of Investigation. Business Email Compromise
If the Money Goes to the Wrong Account
Recovery depends on how you sent the payment. ACH is easier to reverse. Wires are much harder.
For ACH, Nacha’s rules let your bank request a reversal if the payment was a duplicate, went to the wrong account, or was for the wrong amount.8Nacha. Reversals Contact your bank as soon as you notice. The window is short, and the receiving bank has no obligation to return funds that have already been withdrawn.
Wires are different. Because Fedwire settlements are final, your bank cannot simply reverse the payment. It sends a recall request to the receiving bank, which then asks the account holder for permission to return the money. There’s no legal mechanism forcing a return, and success depends on the funds still being there.
Regulation E, the federal rule that gives consumers up to 60 days to report errors on electronic fund transfers and requires banks to investigate within 10 business days, explicitly excludes wire transfers and transfers between businesses.9eCFR. 12 CFR Part 1005 – Electronic Fund Transfers (Regulation E) If you’re a business owner wiring from a commercial account, those consumer protections don’t apply, which is why verifying the account number and the instructions matters so much on the front end.
Cash Payments Over $10,000
If you pay a business more than $10,000 in cash in a single transaction or a series of related transactions, the business must file IRS Form 8300 within 15 days.10Internal Revenue Service. Form 8300 and Reporting Cash Payments of Over $10,000 The filing includes your name and identifying information. “Cash” here isn’t only physical currency; in certain circumstances it also covers cashier’s checks and money orders. The business is required to send you a written notice by January 31 of the following year confirming it filed the form.