To wire earnest money, get the wire instructions directly from your escrow or title company, verify every digit by phone using a number you look up yourself, and send the funds from your bank well before both the contract deadline and your bank’s daily cutoff. The deposit usually runs 1% to 3% of the purchase price, and most contracts give you one to three business days after offer acceptance to deliver it. Wires are the preferred method because they settle the same day, but they are also effectively final once sent, so the process rewards care over speed.
Get the Wire Instructions From the Escrow Company Directly
Ask your escrow officer to send you the official wire instruction document. Do not rely on instructions forwarded by your real estate agent, the seller, or anyone else in the chain. The sheet you need comes straight from the escrow or title company and contains the routing information the Federal Reserve’s Fedwire system uses to deliver your payment.
The sheet will include:
- The receiving bank’s name and physical address. Many banks require the branch address for internal compliance with federal customer identification rules.
- The ABA routing number, a nine-digit code that identifies the bank in the Fedwire network.
- The account number for the escrow company’s trust account.
- A “For Further Credit” (FFC) line, usually with your file number or the names on the purchase contract, so the title company can match the funds to the right file.
Transcribe every digit carefully. One wrong number in the routing or account field can send your deposit to a stranger, and recovering a misdirected wire is neither quick nor guaranteed. Most banks charge $25 to $35 for a domestic outgoing wire, and in-person transfers sometimes run higher. Budget that fee separately so the escrow company receives the full deposit amount in your contract.
Verify the Instructions by Phone Before Sending Anything
Real estate wire fraud is one of the most common and damaging scams in home buying. A criminal intercepts or spoofs an email that appears to come from your escrow officer or agent, swaps in their own account number, and waits for the money to land. The email often looks identical to legitimate correspondence, right down to the sender’s name and company logo.
The one defense that reliably works is a phone call. Before you authorize any transfer, call the escrow company using a number you find independently, from their official website or from paperwork you received at the start of the transaction. Do not call a number listed in the email with the wire instructions, because that number may be the scammer’s too. Read each digit of the routing number and account number back to the escrow officer and get verbal confirmation.
Treat the following as red flags: last-minute changes to account details, urgency language pushing you to wire immediately, or an email from a slightly different address than your escrow officer has used before. Legitimate escrow and title companies now tell buyers plainly that wire instructions will not change mid-transaction, and many require buyers to sign a wire fraud advisory at the outset acknowledging these risks.
Send the Wire From Your Bank
With verified instructions in hand, you authorize the transfer through your bank. Many buyers can do this online through a secure wire portal by entering the recipient details into the designated fields. For larger amounts, some banks require an in-person visit with government-issued photo identification to sign a wire authorization form. Call your bank ahead of time to find out which process applies to you and whether daily transfer limits could force a branch visit.
Timing matters more than most buyers realize. Banks enforce a daily cutoff for same-day processing, and the window varies. Some institutions cut off as early as 2:00 PM Eastern, while others accept same-day wires until 5:00 PM Eastern or later. Submit after the cutoff and the transfer will not process until the next business day, which can push you past your contract deadline. Weekends and federal holidays do not count as business days, so a Friday afternoon miss means Monday at the earliest. Initiate the wire early in the morning on a business day well before your deadline.
Once you have entered the details and confirmed the amounts, you sign the transfer authorization, digitally or on paper. That signature is a binding instruction to debit your account and transmit the funds. Double-check the routing number, account number, and dollar amount one last time before signing. After the wire leaves your bank, you cannot cancel it.
Why You Cannot Simply Dispute a Wire
Most electronic payments you make as a consumer, including debit card purchases and ACH transfers, come with error-resolution rights under federal Regulation E. Wire transfers through Fedwire do not. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explicitly excludes them from Regulation E’s coverage.1Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.3 Coverage Wires are governed instead by UCC Article 4A, which treats a wire as final once the receiving bank accepts it.2Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. UCC – Article 4A – Funds Transfer (2012) If you enter the wrong account number, your only recourse is to ask your bank to request a voluntary return from the receiving institution. There is no regulatory rule forcing them to send it back.
Get a Reference Number and Confirm Receipt
Once your bank processes the wire, ask for a receipt that includes the federal reference number, sometimes called the IMAD (Input Message Accountability Data). This identifier lets both the sending and receiving banks track the funds through Fedwire. Send the reference number to your escrow officer right away. It serves as proof that you met your contract’s deposit deadline even if the funds take a few hours to post to the trust account.
The escrow company should confirm receipt the same business day for wires initiated before cutoff, or the following business day for late-afternoon submissions. Once the funds land, the title company logs the deposit in your transaction file. Keep the wire receipt and any confirmation from the escrow company in your closing folder. If a dispute later arises over whether you delivered earnest money on time, these records are your evidence.
If You Suspect You Wired to a Fraudulent Account
Speed is everything. The moment you realize or even suspect the account was fraudulent, call your bank and ask them to initiate a recall of the wire. Banks can sometimes freeze outgoing funds if the receiving institution has not yet released them, but the window is often just hours.
After contacting your bank, report the incident to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov and to your local FBI field office. Federal law enforcement works with financial institutions to try to recover fraudulently redirected wires, and reporting within 72 hours significantly improves the odds of getting the money back.3FinCEN.gov. Fact Sheet on the Rapid Response Program (RRP) Notify your escrow officer too, so they can document the situation and, if needed, help you request an extension of the contract deadline while recovery efforts proceed.
Even with fast action, recovery rates stay low once the funds leave the receiving bank. Phone verification before sending remains far more valuable than any after-the-fact remedy.
Missing the Deadline Can Cost You the Deal
Many real estate contracts include a “time is of the essence” clause that makes every deadline a firm contractual requirement rather than a rough target. If your contract contains that language and you fail to deliver the earnest money on time, the seller may have grounds to declare you in default. The consequences range from the deal falling apart to a breach-of-contract claim.
Even without a time-is-of-the-essence clause, a missed deadline signals to the seller that you may not be reliable, and in a competitive market that alone can be enough reason to accept a backup offer. Have your wire instructions verified, your bank account funded, and your identification ready at least a day before the deadline. Treat the contract date as a hard wall, not a target to bump up against on the last afternoon.
Can You Get the Deposit Back?
Wiring earnest money does not mean losing it. The deposit sits in escrow until closing, and several standard contract contingencies let you walk away with a full refund if you act before their individual deadlines. A financing contingency protects you if your mortgage falls through. An inspection contingency applies if a home inspection reveals serious defects the seller will not address. An appraisal contingency applies if the home appraises below the purchase price and the two sides cannot agree on a fix. Each requires written notice to the seller before its deadline expires. Miss that window and a refundable deposit can become forfeitable.
When buyer and seller agree on how to handle the deposit, the escrow company releases it on joint instructions. When they disagree and both claim the money, the escrow agent cannot pick a side. In most states, the agent will eventually file an interpleader action, which deposits the disputed funds with the court and lets a judge decide. The escrow company is released from liability, but both sides may incur legal costs fighting over the deposit.