Are you using a US bank account to send or receive domestic or international wire transfers? Don’t know what your ABA routing number is? Always use the right routing number to avoid delayed transfers, and payment cancelations.
In the US, banks and other financial institutions use routing numbers to identify themselves. They're made up of nine-digits, and depending on the purpose they serve, name differently:
Bank routing numbers are used to process check and electronic transactions such as funds transfers, direct deposits, digital checks, and bill payments.
The Federal Reserve Banks use routing transit numbers to process Fedwire funds transfers. The Automated Clearing House (ACH) network needs them to facilitate electronic transfers – like salary, and pension payments.
Your bank routing number can be found at the bottom left corner of a check. Here’s how to find your routing number and account number on any check issued by your bank.
Here are some of the ways to find your number online:
To make sure the bank can process your payment securely and quickly, you should always check routing numbers – including numbers on this page – with your bank or your recipient.
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Banks use different routing numbers for different types of transactions. For this reason, the routing number printed on your checks might not be the same number you need for an ACH transfer, or direct debit.
If you’re not sure which routing number you’ll need for a particular transfer type, you should check with your bank beforehand. Careful. Using the wrong number can lead to delays in processing the transfer.
Sending domestic payments with your bank can be easy enough. But international transfers are a different story. Thanks to high SWIFT and cross-border fees, they can be very expensive and time-consuming.
To get the best deal, it pays to look for specialist services. Many of which take a new approach, and skip the usual costs of sending money around the world.
Try TransferWise for fast, secure and cheap cross-border payments. All over the world.
Bank account numbers and routing numbers are used in conjunction, but are different. The former identifies a bank or a financial institution, whereas the latter - an account number, is a unique number between eight and 12 digits representing any account you hold at your bank.
Routing numbers, on the other hand are used to identify banks when processing domestic check, and electronic payments or wire transfers in the United States.
Banks use bank transit numbers for all sorts of financial transactions. You might need one if you want to do any of the following:
You’ll need a few details to send or receive a wire transfer – either here in the US or internationally.
Routing numbers help identify banks when processing domestic ACH payments or wire transfers. But only in the United States. You don't need one to make a payment to your friend in France, for example.
SWIFT codes, like routing numbers, also identify banks and financial institutions. This time for international payments. They're sometimes known as BIC codes (Bank Identification Codes)
IBANs (international bank account numbers) identify individual bank accounts. They're issued by many banks in Europe, but banks elsewhere in the world are starting to adopt them as well.
Bank transit number is just another name for a routing number. Your bank transit number is the nine digit code that your bank or a financial institution is using for identification when clearing paper checks, or electronic transfers in the United States. Read more about routing numbers here.
Similarly to ABA routing number, ACH routing number, is a nine digit code that a financial institution or a bank is using to clear electronic transfers (that are processed by the Automated Clearing House). All ACH routing numbers are ABA routing numbers, but not all ABA routing numbers are ACH routing numbers (although some are).
For some institutions ABA and ACH numbers are one and the same, but not for all. It varies from bank to bank, that’s why it is important to check whether this is the case. ABA should be listed as “check routing numbers” and ACH as “electronic” or “direct deposit” numbers on your official bank’s websites.
The error means that the account or routing number provided at the time of payment submission was incorrect, and the payment was not processed. To eliminate the error, please make sure you are using a valid routing number (your check routing number might be different from ACH number). You can check our list of US bank routing numbers here
