To send money to escrow, you’ll use one of two payment methods: a domestic wire transfer from your bank, or a cashier’s check delivered to the escrow office. Both give the escrow agent guaranteed, immediately collectible funds, which is what state “good funds” laws require before closing can proceed. The mechanics are simple. The risk that matters is wire fraud, which cost real estate buyers more than $173 million in 2024.1IC3.gov. 2024 IC3 Annual Report
You’ll usually send funds to escrow twice: an earnest money deposit of roughly 1% to 3% of the sale price within a few days of offer acceptance, and the balance of your down payment plus closing costs just before closing. The payment method and the verification steps are the same for both.
Wire Transfer or Cashier’s Check
Most states have “good funds” laws that prohibit a settlement agent from disbursing money until the escrow account holds funds that are immediately collectible. Personal checks can bounce days after deposit. Standard ACH transfers take one to three business days to settle and can be reversed. Neither qualifies.
Wire transfers settle the same day through the Federal Reserve’s Fedwire system, typically within hours. Cashier’s checks are drawn against the bank’s own funds rather than your account balance, which makes them guaranteed the moment they’re issued. Either one satisfies the immediate-collectibility rule that lets the escrow agent pay the seller, pay off the existing mortgage, and record the deed on the same day.
Which to choose usually comes down to the dollar amount and timing. Wires are the standard for closing-day funding because they arrive within hours and don’t require a trip to the branch. Cashier’s checks work well for earnest money or smaller amounts you can hand-deliver, but they take longer to clear once deposited and can’t be corrected if you make a mistake.
Get and Verify Your Wire Instructions
Before you move any money, you need the official wire instructions from your escrow officer. Request them through a secure portal or encrypted email, never from an unexpected message. The document should contain:
- The full legal name of the receiving bank where the escrow company holds its account.
- A nine-digit ABA routing number identifying that bank within the Federal Reserve system.2American Bankers Association. ABA Routing Number
- The escrow company’s fiduciary account number.
- Your escrow file or reference number, which links the payment to your transaction.
A single transposed digit can send your funds to the wrong account entirely, and recovering a misdirected wire is difficult when it’s possible at all. Banks typically charge $20 to $35 for an outgoing domestic wire, so get the details right the first time.
Verify by Phone Before You Send
Wire fraud in real estate works almost the same way every time. A criminal monitors email traffic between you, your agent, and the escrow company, sometimes for weeks. Shortly before closing, they send you an email that looks like it’s from your escrow officer with “updated” wire instructions routing the funds to the criminal’s account. Federal consumer protections that cover debit cards and ACH payments don’t apply to domestic wire transfers, so there is no regulatory mechanism to force your bank to reverse the transaction.
The defense is simple and non-negotiable. Call your escrow officer at a number you already have, taken from your original escrow paperwork, the title company’s website, or a business card you received in person. Do not use any phone number included in the email containing the wire instructions. A criminal who can fake the email can fake the phone number too. Read back every digit of the routing and account numbers and get verbal confirmation.
A few more habits that protect you:
- Never click links in emails about wire instructions. Type the escrow company’s web address directly into your browser if you need a portal.
- Treat last-minute changes as a red flag. Legitimate escrow companies rarely change wire instructions mid-transaction. Verify again by phone before acting on any update.
- Confirm receipt after sending. Call your escrow officer, at a verified number, within an hour of sending the wire to confirm the funds landed in the right account.
If someone other than the buyer is funding the escrow, such as a parent gifting a down payment, the escrow company will almost always require a signed gift letter and may need the third party’s identification. Confirm the paperwork with your escrow officer before the funding deadline.
Send the Wire
You can initiate a wire online through your bank’s secure portal or in person at a branch. Online, you’ll navigate to the wire transfer section, enter the recipient details from your verified instructions, and submit. Many banks cap online wires at $50,000 to $100,000 per day, so if your closing amount exceeds that limit, plan on a branch visit with government-issued identification to satisfy federal customer identification requirements.3eCFR. 31 CFR 1020.220 – Customer Identification Programs for Banks
After you submit, your bank runs its own verification. Expect a multi-factor authentication code sent to your phone, or a callback from a bank representative confirming you authorized the transfer. These steps meet federal anti-money laundering requirements.4FFIEC BSA/AML Manual. Risks Associated with Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing – Funds Transfers Don’t ignore them. A missed callback can freeze the transfer and push closing to the next day.
Cutoff Times
Fedwire processes transfers on business days from 9:00 p.m. ET the previous evening through 7:00 p.m. ET.5Federal Reserve Financial Services. Wholesale Services Operating Hours Your bank’s own cutoff for same-day processing is earlier, typically around 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. ET. Miss that window and your wire won’t go out until the next business day. If you’re closing on a Friday, build in extra cushion. A wire submitted after Friday’s cutoff won’t process until Monday.
Once the transfer settles, your bank generates a reference or confirmation number. Request it immediately. It’s the only proof the wire was sent, and your escrow officer will use it to match the incoming funds to your file.
If you’re wiring from a bank outside the United States, add days to your schedule. International wires need a SWIFT code for the receiving bank, often require you to state the purpose of the payment, and typically take one to five business days to arrive. Coordinate with your escrow officer well before closing.
Deliver a Cashier’s Check
Visit your bank and request a cashier’s check for the exact closing amount payable to the escrow or title company. The teller withdraws the funds from your account immediately and issues a check drawn on the bank’s own reserves, which is what makes it a guaranteed instrument. Most banks charge between $10 and $20.
Make the check payable to the exact entity name on your escrow instructions. Even a small discrepancy in the company name can cause the escrow agent to reject it. Triple-check the dollar amount. Unlike a wire, you can’t correct a cashier’s check error by just sending another one. You’d return the original to your bank, wait for it to be voided, and get a new one issued.
You can hand-deliver the check to the escrow office or use a courier service with real-time tracking. A professional courier typically costs $25 to $50 for same-day local delivery. Whatever method you use, get a receipt or signed acknowledgment from the escrow agent confirming they received it.
Guard that receipt. If you lose the check, your bank will require you to purchase an indemnity bond, essentially an insurance policy that holds the bank harmless if the lost check surfaces and someone tries to cash it. Even after you provide the bond, the bank may make you wait 30 to 90 days before issuing a replacement.6HelpWithMyBank.gov. Why Do I Need an Indemnity Bond to Replace a Lost Cashiers Check That kind of delay will almost certainly derail your closing.
When the Funds Clear
Cashier’s checks deposited in person by the payee are generally available by the next business day under federal funds-availability rules. If the check is deposited through a drop box or similar method, availability can extend to the second business day. In rare cases involving new accounts or unusually large amounts, the bank can hold funds on a cashier’s check for up to nine business days.7eCFR. 12 CFR Part 229 – Availability of Funds and Collection of Checks (Regulation CC) Your escrow agent may wait for full clearance before disbursing, so factor the extra time into your closing schedule.
If Your Wire Goes to the Wrong Account
Speed is everything. Wires settle in hours, and once the funds leave the receiving account, recovery becomes extremely unlikely. If you realize your wire went to the wrong place, act immediately:
- Contact your bank first and request a wire recall. Your bank will reach out to the receiving institution and try to freeze the funds before they move. The faster you call, the better your odds.
- Notify the receiving bank directly if you have any information about where the funds landed. They can place a hold on the account if the money is still there.
- File a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov. The FBI coordinates with FinCEN and can sometimes intervene to freeze stolen funds.1IC3.gov. 2024 IC3 Annual Report
- Alert your escrow officer and real estate agent so they can adjust the closing timeline and help document what happened.
- File a police report with local law enforcement. You’ll need it for any insurance claim.
Be realistic about recovery. No federal regulation gives you the right to claw back a completed domestic wire transfer. Your bank will try, but there’s no guarantee. The verification steps described earlier are the only reliable protection you have.
Large-Transaction Reporting
A large payment to escrow can trigger federal reporting, though in most cases the obligation falls on the bank or settlement agent rather than on you. Any cash transaction over $10,000 at a bank triggers a Currency Transaction Report filed with FinCEN. Deliberately splitting a payment into smaller chunks to avoid this threshold, a practice called structuring, is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.8FinCEN.gov. A CTR Reference Guide
Separately, an escrow agent who receives more than $10,000 in cash or certain cash equivalents, including cashier’s checks with a face value of $10,000 or less, must file IRS Form 8300. The obligation also applies when multiple related payments cross that threshold within a 12-month period.9Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8300 – Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business
One boundary worth knowing: starting March 1, 2026, FinCEN’s Residential Real Estate Rule requires settlement agents to report non-financed residential transfers made to legal entities such as LLCs, corporations, and trusts.10FinCEN.gov. Residential Real Estate Rule If you’re buying through a business entity without a mortgage, expect the title company to request identification for anyone who owns 25% or more of that entity.