An RTP Request for Payment is a digital message a biller or payee sends through The Clearing House’s Real-Time Payments network to ask you to pay, delivered straight to your banking app for you to approve, decline, or ignore. Money only moves when you tap approve, and when you do, the funds land in the payee’s account within seconds, any hour of any day. The network currently connects more than 950 financial institutions and carries individual transactions of up to $10 million.1The Clearing House. Real Time Payments
How the Request Reaches You and How the Money Moves
A Request for Payment (often abbreviated RfP) inverts the usual flow of a real-time payment. Most RTP transactions are “push” payments started by the sender. RfP adds a step first: the payee’s bank sends a structured message through the network to your bank asking for a specific amount, and your bank surfaces that request to you for a decision.2Cross River. The New Way to Get Paid: Request for Payments (RfP) Explained
If you approve, your bank initiates the credit transfer back through the network to the payee’s bank. Settlement is instant and runs on the RTP network’s 24/7/365 infrastructure. There is no batch window, no business-day delay, and no waiting for the funds to clear. The moment the transfer posts, it is final.1The Clearing House. Real Time Payments
What You See When a Request Arrives
Your bank notifies you through its app or online banking portal, not by email or text. The request itself carries a defined set of information: the payee’s name, the dollar amount requested, an execution date, a reference number, and account details.2Cross River. The New Way to Get Paid: Request for Payments (RfP) Explained
Senders can attach remittance data too, like an invoice number or a biller reference. That means the reason for the payment travels alongside the payment itself. You see what the charge is for before you approve, and when a business receives the funds, they can match them to an open invoice automatically. This structured data rides on the same ISO 20022 messaging framework the RTP network uses for its other traffic.3The Clearing House. Technical Documentation
Your Three Options: Approve, Decline, or Ignore
Once the request is in your app, you can approve it, decline it, or do nothing. Approving triggers the credit transfer immediately, and the funds are in the payee’s account within seconds. Declining sends a response back to the payee’s bank saying you will not pay. Ignoring works too: the requesting party sets an execution date on the message, and if that date passes with no action, the request lapses.
The point worth holding onto is that no one can pull money from your account through an RfP. An ACH direct debit lets a company withdraw funds from your account once you’ve given standing authorization. An RfP only asks. Each payment requires its own explicit approval from you, and until you give it, the money stays put.
Limits and Cost
The Clearing House raised the per-transaction ceiling on the RTP network to $10 million in early 2025, up from a previous cap of $1 million.4The Clearing House. RTP Network $10 Million Transaction Limit Spurs High-Value Payments That is the network maximum. Your bank almost certainly sets a lower ceiling on your specific account based on account type and risk. A retail checking account might cap out at a few thousand dollars per transaction; a corporate treasury account can run much higher. If you plan to use RfP for large collections, ask your bank what limit applies to you.
On cost, The Clearing House charges banks $0.045 per credit transfer and $0.01 per Request for Payment message.5Alacriti. TCH RTP Network FAQ Hub Those are wholesale rates paid by financial institutions, not what you see on a statement. What your bank passes through, if anything, depends on the bank. Consumers responding to a request generally pay nothing beyond ordinary account fees. Businesses sending high volumes of requests may see charges on the send side.
How RTP Request for Payment Differs From ACH Direct Debit
The closest comparison people reach for is ACH direct debit. Both let a biller start the billing conversation. That is where the similarity ends.
- Control of the money: ACH direct debit lets the biller’s bank actually withdraw funds from your account once you’ve authorized the arrangement. An RfP never touches your account without your explicit, per-transaction approval.
- Speed: ACH transactions usually settle the next business day, and even same-day ACH is measured in hours. An approved RfP triggers a credit transfer that settles in seconds, any day of the year.6Alkami. ACH, Wire, RTP and FedNow: A Guide to Todays Payment Transfer Types
- Reversibility: ACH payments can be returned or disputed within defined windows. RTP payments are final and irrevocable once settled. There is no chargeback mechanism on the RTP network.1The Clearing House. Real Time Payments
- Data quality: RfP messages carry structured remittance data on the ISO 20022 standard, which makes reconciliation cleaner than matching a generic ACH debit to an open invoice.
For billers, RfP fixes a persistent cash-flow problem: they know the instant they’ve been paid and can use the funds right away. For payers, the trade is that you gain control over each transaction but give up the ability to unwind a mistake afterward.
Once You Approve, the Payment Is Final
This surprises most people the first time they hear it. When you approve a Request for Payment and the credit transfer settles, that payment is final. The sending bank cannot revoke or recall it. Settlement on the RTP network is irrevocable.1The Clearing House. Real Time Payments
The network does include a message a bank can send to request that funds be returned, but the receiving bank is under no obligation to comply. There is no dispute process comparable to a credit card chargeback or an ACH return. If you approve an RfP for the wrong amount or to the wrong party, your only real option is to contact the payee directly and ask for a voluntary refund. Treat the approve button the way you would treat handing someone cash.
Fraud Risk and Consumer Protections
Finality raises the obvious question: what happens if a scammer tricks you into approving a fraudulent request? The answer turns on how the fraud happened.
Regulation E, the federal rule for electronic fund transfers, protects consumers when a third party gains access to their account without permission and initiates a transfer. The CFPB has clarified that when someone fraudulently obtains your login credentials or account access and uses them to send money, that transfer counts as an unauthorized electronic fund transfer, and your bank must follow Regulation E’s error-resolution process.7Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Electronic Fund Transfers FAQs
The harder case is when you personally review a request and approve it because you were deceived about who sent it. A scammer impersonating your utility company could send an RfP that looks legitimate on its face. Because you tapped approve yourself, your bank may take the position that the transfer was authorized. This kind of fraud, sometimes called authorized push payment fraud, is a growing problem across all real-time payment systems, and consumer protections in this area are still developing.
A few practical habits go a long way. Before approving an unexpected RfP, verify the sender independently. Call the company using a number from their official website, not any contact information in the request itself. Once the payment settles, the money is gone.
Where You’ll Actually Encounter It
The Clearing House has approved several categories of RfP use on the network:8TabaPay. Request for Payment (RfP) via RTP by TCH
- Consumer bill pay from utilities, insurers, and subscription services, arriving in your app when a bill comes due instead of by paper statement.
- Business-to-business invoicing, where suppliers and contractors request payment from corporate clients. Payroll providers can also send an RfP so a company funds payroll the same day employees are paid, rather than pre-funding days ahead.
- Account-to-account transfers between your own bank and brokerage accounts, so a broker can request funding and have money available for trading within seconds of your approval.
Gig and freelance work fits the pattern too. A contractor finishing a project can receive an RfP from a client’s bank and have payment in hand the same day, skipping the wait for a check or an ACH deposit.
One caveat on availability. More than 950 institutions connect to the RTP network, but not all of them support Request for Payment. Many joined to receive credit transfers without building the systems to send or receive RfP messages. If you’re a business considering RfP for collections, confirm with your bank that it specifically supports RfP send. If you’re a consumer, check whether your bank’s app actually surfaces incoming payment requests. Both sides of the transaction need banks that participate in the RfP flow for it to work.
A related boundary worth knowing: the Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service also offers a Request for Payment feature using similar ISO 20022 messaging, but the two networks are not yet interoperable for RfP.9Federal Reserve. Request for Payment Is a Powerful Instant Payments Tool For an RTP Request for Payment to reach you, both the payee’s bank and your bank need to be RTP participants.