A trial deposit is a small test transfer, always under $1, that a company sends to your bank account to confirm you actually own it. You’ll see two of them land within a few business days, and the company asks you to type the exact cent amounts back into its app or website. If your numbers match, the account is verified and ready to send or receive money. The whole process runs over the ACH network and exists because the cheapest way to prove account ownership is to check that you can see what’s happening inside the account.
How the Verification Runs
The company requesting verification sends two ACH credits to your bank account, each less than a dollar. Under NACHA’s Micro-Entry rule, those two credits are paired with a single debit equal to their combined amount, and everything settles at the same time, so your balance doesn’t actually move.1Nacha. Micro-Entry Rule A typical set might look like $0.12 in, $0.36 in, and $0.48 out, all on the same day.
The credits usually show up within one to three business days. You log back into the platform that started the verification, enter the two cent amounts on the confirmation screen, and the link goes live. Most services give you somewhere between five and 14 days and only a handful of tries before the verification expires and you have to start over.
Business days matter. The ACH network doesn’t run on weekends or Federal Reserve holidays,2Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Holiday Schedule so a Thursday afternoon start before a Monday holiday can stretch the wait to four or five calendar days.
What You Have to Provide
To start verification, you give the platform two numbers: your bank’s nine-digit routing number and your account number. The routing number identifies the bank; the account number identifies your specific account inside it. Both sit at the bottom of a personal check, routing number on the left and account number next to it.3American Bankers Association. ABA Routing Number If you don’t use paper checks, both numbers live in your bank’s online portal or mobile app under account details.
Get one digit wrong and the whole thing fails. Typos are the single most common reason trial deposits don’t arrive, so slow down and check before submitting.
Finding the Deposits and Entering the Amounts
NACHA requires the sending company to label the transaction with “ACCTVERIFY” or something very close to it, so that’s what you’re scanning your recent activity for.1Nacha. Micro-Entry Rule The name of the platform requesting verification often appears alongside it. You want the exact cent amounts of the two credits, not the offsetting debit.
Go back to the platform, find the confirmation screen, and enter the two amounts. Some services also email you when the deposits post. Enter the wrong numbers too many times and most platforms lock you out and make you restart from scratch.
Where You’ll Run Into Trial Deposits
This process is behind a lot of routine account linking:
- Payment apps like Venmo, PayPal, and Cash App when you connect a checking account.
- Bank-to-bank transfers, such as linking a savings account at one bank to a checking account at another.
- Payroll and direct deposit setup with a new employer or payroll provider.
- Investment and brokerage accounts that pull funds from your bank.
- Mortgage servicers and lenders setting up automatic monthly payments.
Standard consumer checking accounts don’t charge you for receiving these micro-entries. The Federal Reserve’s per-item ACH fee is fractions of a penny and is paid by the bank, not passed to you.4Federal Reserve Services. FedACH Services Fee Schedule
When Verification Fails
Typos in the routing or account number top the list. If the numbers don’t match a real account at the receiving bank, the entry bounces back and you get a notice to try again. A few other causes come up:
- The account was recently closed, so the bank rejects the entry outright.
- The account is frozen because of a legal action or a bank dispute.
- The account type doesn’t accept ACH micro-entries. Some savings, money market, and business accounts have this restriction, and it’s where people get stuck most often after confirming their numbers are right.
Rejected deposits return through the ACH network within a couple of business days. The platform usually tells you the verification failed without saying why. If your numbers are correct and the account is open, call your bank and ask whether there’s a restriction on incoming ACH transactions.
Faster Alternatives
The multi-day wait is the main downside, and the industry has been working around it. Instant bank verification services connect through a secure login: you enter your online banking credentials through a service like Plaid and the platform confirms ownership and pulls your routing and account numbers in seconds.5Plaid. Auth – Instant Bank Account Verification API This covers more than 12,000 U.S. financial institutions and is now the default at many fintech companies.
Real-time payment rails are a second path. The Federal Reserve’s FedNow service, launched in 2023, moves funds between participating banks instantly, and companies are building account verification tools on top of it that confirm an account in seconds. The Clearing House’s RTP network offers similar speed. As more banks join, instant verification is likely to replace the ACH version for most consumers.
Deposits You Didn’t Ask For
If small deposits show up and you didn’t start a verification anywhere, treat them as a warning sign. Fraudsters sometimes send micro-deposits to test whether an account is live before trying larger unauthorized withdrawals. An “ACCTVERIFY” entry from a company you’ve never dealt with is a red flag.
Federal law gives you a clock. Under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, you have 60 days from the date your bank sends the statement showing an unauthorized transfer to report it,6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC Chapter 41 Subchapter VI – Electronic Fund Transfers and how fast you move determines what you might owe:
- Report within 2 business days and your liability is capped at $50 or the amount of unauthorized transfers, whichever is less.
- Report after 2 business days but within 60 days and your liability can reach $500.
- Report after 60 days and you can be responsible for all unauthorized transfers that happen after the 60-day window closes.7eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.6 – Liability of Consumer for Unauthorized Transfers
When you report, give your name, account number, the approximate date and amount of the suspicious entries, and why you think they’re unauthorized. The bank can ask for written confirmation within 10 business days of a phone report. It then has 10 business days to investigate; if it needs more time, it must provisionally credit your account while it keeps working, for up to 45 days.8Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Procedures for Resolving Errors