Same-day ACH, which typically requires an additional fee, processes the same business day. For regular ACH payments, ODFIs generally settle at 8:30 AM the following business day for debit requests, and 8:30 AM the second business day for credits.
Most transactions post at the end of each business day but posting order and times can vary. Business days for banks are generally Monday - Friday from 9am to 5pm, excluding federal holidays. Transactions received outside of these hours, including on weekends, are usually posted on the next business day.
Bank to bank transfer times can vary across financial institutions depending on the type of transfer you make. If you're making a traditional inter-bank transfer it will take 1-3 business days. If you use NPP Faster Payments or a PayID it can be near real-time.
The night cycle processes ACH transfers, which are electronic money transfers made at night. While the day cycle for processing ACH transfers is 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST, the night cycle usually runs from 10:00 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
Bacs payments will usually go into an account between 01:00 and 07:00. This is the standard Bacs payment time, so if a payment doesn't arrive by 07:00, it may be processed the next working day.
Why does ACH take so long? The involvement of so many parties is one of the reasons ACH payment processing is so a bit slower than other payment methods. Payment data is sent to the ODFI, which then sends it to the Federal Reserve.
Are there cutoff times for ACH payments? Yes, the cutoff time for initiating same-day payments is 8:00 pm CT. If you send a payment at 8:00pm CT, the payment will process the next day.
Domestic transfers typically take up to 24 hours and are often completed the same day if initiated before the same day wire transfer cut off time. Factors like weekends, bank holidays, and processing times of the receiving bank can impact how long a wire transfer takes to show up.
The Interbank GIRO service is available 7 days a week, from 4:30am to 12:00am (midnight).
Each bank has different rules, but you can expect most direct deposits to hit your bank account at midnight. This is because some financial institutions update their accounts a few hours after midnight.
Most bank-connected accounts are set up for automatic refresh. This means your account will update once every 24 hours. The refreshes usually take place sometime between 2 AM and 6 AM, in the local time of the capital of the country where the financial institution is located.
The credit card network will verify whether the payer is within their credit limit and then approve the trade, meaning that the funds are guaranteed. ACH doesn't guarantee the funds and transactions can be rejected for a broad range of reasons, including Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) or closed accounts.
Although standard ACH transfer times can take three to five days for full processing, it's possible to pay for a same day service. Same or next day ACH transfers are processed on a per request basis by the bank.
Because ACH transfers are processed in batches, direct ACH payments typically take one to three business days to appear in the recipient's account—longer than it generally takes to process wire transfers, credit card transactions, and ATM transactions. No international payments.
If you're worried about your payment, you can contact the sending bank and request a trace on the wire transfer using the reference number¹. Many banks will do this, though you may have to pay an additional fee.
Monitoring ACH Transfers
Trace numbers, found in the transaction details on your online banking platform, are key to this monitoring process. If a payment hasn't appeared within three days, contact your bank or perform an ACH trace number lookup to pinpoint the transaction's status.
ACH transfers typically take 1–3 business days to complete, but the exact timing can depend on a few factors. Type of transfer: There's a small difference between ACH credits (pushing money in) and debits (pulling money out). Debits generally process faster than credits.
ACH is slower but more affordable, wire transfers are the fastest but most expensive, and EFT is a versatile payment method encompassing several electronic payment types, including ACH and wire transfers.
We send payments to other banks every hour between 9am and midnight every day. Payments submitted after midnight will be sent after 9am. Depending on the receiving bank's timeframes, the recipient could see the money in their account quickly after you make a payment or it may show overnight.
The short answer is that you'll typically be able to access a direct deposit by 9 a.m. on the morning of your payday and sometimes as early as midnight. ¹ That said, the exact timing of when direct deposit hits can vary.