To send a bank transfer, you need the recipient’s full legal name, their bank’s name, the routing number, the account number, and whether the account is checking or savings. Sending money internationally adds a SWIFT/BIC code, an IBAN in most destination countries, and usually the recipient’s physical address. Get any of these wrong and the payment can bounce back, sit in compliance review, or land in the wrong account, and a domestic wire processed through the Federal Reserve is final and irrevocable once it settles.1Federal Reserve Board. Fedwire Funds Services
What You Need for a Domestic Transfer
For any transfer within the United States, collect five things about the person or business receiving the money:
- The recipient’s full legal name, matching the name on their bank account. A nickname, a shortened first name, or a small misspelling can trigger a fraud flag or cause the receiving bank to reject the payment.
- The name of the receiving bank.
- The nine-digit routing number for that bank. On a personal check it is the first string of digits along the bottom left. Most banking apps show it under account details.
- The recipient’s account number. On a check, that is the second string of digits after the routing number.
- The account type: checking or savings. Picking the wrong type can bounce the transfer back.
The routing number is where mistakes concentrate. The same bank can use different routing numbers for different regions, and often a different one for wires than for ACH payments. If the recipient’s bank gave them a routing number specifically for incoming wires, use that one rather than the number printed on their checks. When in doubt, the recipient can call their bank or check their online banking portal for the wire-specific number.
What International Transfers Add
Foreign banks do not use ABA routing numbers, so cross-border transfers rely on a different set of identifiers.
SWIFT/BIC Code
The SWIFT network assigns a Business Identifier Code to every participating bank. The code is either eight or eleven characters. The first eight identify the bank, country, and city; an optional three-character suffix points to a specific branch.2Swift. Business Identifier Code (BIC) Your recipient can find it through online banking, on a bank statement, or by calling their branch.
IBAN
The International Bank Account Number combines a country code, two check digits, and the recipient’s bank and account information into a single string of up to 34 characters.3Swift. IBAN Registry PDF IBANs are used across Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Africa and Latin America. The United States does not use them, so money coming into a U.S. account relies on the routing and account number instead. When sending to a country that uses IBANs, ask your recipient for theirs rather than trying to build one yourself.
Physical Address
Many international wires require the recipient’s full street address. The rule comes from anti-money-laundering requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act, which require financial institutions to verify identity using a residential or business street address rather than a P.O. box.4Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Customer Identification Program Rule – Address Confidentiality Programs An incomplete address can hold a transfer up in compliance screening.
Intermediary Bank Code
When your bank has no direct relationship with the receiving bank, the transfer passes through an intermediary, sometimes called a correspondent, that bridges the two. This comes up often with smaller banks or less common currencies. If an intermediary is needed, you supply its SWIFT/BIC code alongside the recipient’s. Your bank will typically tell you during setup, and the recipient’s bank can provide the correct intermediary code on request.
Purpose Codes
Some countries, including the United Arab Emirates, China, India, and Russia, require a standardized purpose code that categorizes the payment. Common categories include salary, family support, goods purchases, and investment income. The format varies by country. If the destination requires one, your bank’s international wire form will show a purpose code field, usually with a dropdown of valid options.
Transaction Details You Enter Yourself
The amount has to be exact to the cent. For international transfers, you can typically choose whether to specify the amount in U.S. dollars or in the recipient’s local currency. Specifying the recipient’s currency locks in what they receive; specifying dollars locks in what leaves your account. Either way, banks usually mark up the exchange rate by roughly two to five percent above the mid-market rate you would see on a financial news site. That markup sits on top of the flat wire fee and can add up quickly on larger transfers, so it is worth comparing rates at online foreign exchange services and credit unions before sending.
The memo or reference field is optional for most domestic transfers but critical when the payment is tied to an invoice, loan, or account. Include whatever identifier the recipient needs to match the payment: invoice number, customer ID, case number. Skipping it on a business payment creates a reconciliation problem on the other end.
Fees to Budget For
Domestic outgoing wires at major banks typically run around $25, sometimes more when initiated by phone or in a branch rather than online. Incoming domestic wires often cost $10 to $15 at the receiving bank. International outgoing wires generally run $25 to $50, the recipient’s bank may charge its own receiving fee, and any intermediary bank may deduct a fee from the funds passing through. Check your bank’s current schedule before initiating so your source account can cover both the transfer amount and the charges.
How Long the Transfer Takes
Speed depends on the system your bank uses.
Fedwire is the Federal Reserve’s real-time gross settlement system. Transfers sent through Fedwire settle within hours, often minutes, and the system runs from 9:00 p.m. ET the previous evening through 7:00 p.m. ET on business days.1Federal Reserve Board. Fedwire Funds Services When a wire is described as arriving same-day, it usually moved through Fedwire, and each processed transfer is immediate, final, and irrevocable.
ACH (Automated Clearing House) is the batch alternative. It is cheaper, sometimes free, and clears in one to two business days because transfers are grouped and settled together rather than one by one. Most payroll direct deposits, recurring bill payments, and bank-to-bank transfers between your own accounts move through ACH.
International wires generally take one to five business days, depending on time zones, the number of intermediary banks involved, and compliance screening in the destination country. Transfers to major financial centers in Western Europe or Japan tend to clear faster than those routed through smaller banking systems.
Verify Before You Send
Once a wire settles, getting the money back is extremely difficult. The Federal Reserve describes Fedwire transfers as “immediate, final, and irrevocable once processed,”1Federal Reserve Board. Fedwire Funds Services and no federal law gives you an automatic right to reverse a completed domestic wire. International remittances carry one narrow exception: federal rules give you 30 minutes after payment to cancel and receive a full refund of the transfer amount, fees, and taxes, so long as the recipient has not already received the funds.5eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.34 – Procedures for Cancellation and Refund of Remittance Transfers That rule does not apply to domestic wires.
Because reversal is so limited, treat the details you enter as one-way. Confirm the account and routing numbers with the recipient through a phone number you already trust, especially for large payments like a real estate closing. The Federal Trade Commission warns that wiring money “is like sending cash — once you send it, you usually can’t get it back.”6Federal Trade Commission. Wire Transfer Scams After the bank accepts the transfer, keep the confirmation number. It is how your bank traces the payment if something goes wrong.