Answer

How to wire money, step by step

Updated October 2026. Evergreen page — refreshed in place as facts change.

Core details

4 items

Name, account, routing number, amount

International adds

SWIFT/BIC

Plus an IBAN where the country uses one

Domestic fee

$25–$35

Major US banks, 2026

Bank cutoff

3–5 p.m. ET

Common for domestic online wires

Online limit

$10K–$100K

Typical consumer daily cap, 2026

Arrival

Same day

Domestic, sent before the cutoff

Your receipt

IMAD or UETR

The reference that traces the wire

Bank records

$3,000+

Transfers banks must keep records of

Learning how to wire money takes five minutes; nearly all the risk sits in the details you collect before you start. This guide walks through the whole job — the information to gather and how to verify it, submitting online, by phone or in a branch, the cutoff to beat, what to check on the confirmation, and the habits that stop the costly mistakes. It also covers wiring from a business account, where one person typically enters a wire and another approves it, and when an instant payment is the better way to send.

What do you need before you send a wire?

Wires fail or stall on missing details far more often than on anything else. Collect everything first:

• The recipient's full legal name, exactly as it appears on their account — banks screen for name mismatches.
• Their account number, and for domestic wires the receiving bank's wire routing number — note that many banks use a different routing number for wires than for ACH, so confirm it is the wire one.
• For international wires: the receiving bank's SWIFT/BIC code, and in much of the world an IBAN in place of a plain account number.
• The recipient's address, and sometimes the receiving bank's address — many sending banks require both.
• The purpose of the payment — a routine compliance question; a plain, accurate answer keeps the wire moving.
• A reference the recipient will recognize — an invoice, order or file number — for the wire's reference field.

How do you send a wire transfer, step by step?

The flow is the same in an app, on the web, or at a counter:

• Open your bank's wire or external-transfer section (or bring ID to a branch for larger amounts).
• Enter the recipient's details and the amount, and select domestic or international.
• Review the fee, and on international wires the exchange rate and who pays intermediary charges.
• Verify every digit of the account and routing numbers against details you confirmed through a trusted channel — a wire is final once processed.
• Submit before the cutoff and save the confirmation. Domestic wires carry an IMAD reference, international ones a UETR — either lets a bank trace the payment definitively.

Should you wire online or in a branch?

Online is cheaper and faster to initiate: many banks discount online-initiated wires in 2026, and there is no line. Branches earn their keep for amounts above your online limit — banks commonly cap consumer online wires somewhere between $10,000 and $100,000 per day — and for first-time wires where you want a banker double-checking the details.

Either way, the money moves over the same network at the same speed once released. Paying the branch premium does not buy a faster wire; submitting earlier in the day does.

What time do you need to send it by?

Banks set wire cutoffs commonly between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern for domestic consumer wires, with international cutoffs usually earlier; the Fedwire operating day itself closes at 7 p.m. ET. Miss the cutoff and the wire processes the next business day — the single most common reason a same-day wire lands tomorrow.

Submit in the morning when timing matters. It leaves room for a verification callback or a compliance question without losing the day, and wires do not move on weekends or US federal holidays regardless.

For a payment with a hard deadline — a closing, a purchase, a tax payment — plan backwards across the week rather than the day. Title and escrow companies commonly want funds the day before, a first-time wire may trigger a callback, and a holiday Monday removes a business day you were counting on.

How much does it cost to wire money?

Domestic outgoing wires typically cost $25–$35 at major US banks in 2026, with many online banks charging $0–$25. International wires run $35–$50 before currency conversion and intermediary deductions, which routinely add more than the flat fee. Our full breakdown of wire transfer fees covers the hidden costs and the ways to cut them.

How do you wire money from a business account?

The mechanics are the same; the controls are not. A business wire is usually entered by one person and approved by another, sent to a payee saved and verified in advance, and released under a security procedure the business agreed with its bank — a token, a callback or an approval rule. Those controls matter legally as well as practically: under Article 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code, a payment order your bank verified with the security procedure you agreed to is generally treated as yours, even if an employee was deceived into sending it.

So the protections have to live inside the business. Require a second approver above a set amount, verify every new payee and every change to a saved payee by phone, and never let an email change bank details on its own. Anytime Capital business accounts show each rail's expected arrival and the fee before anyone confirms, and Anytime Capital enterprise accounts add approval rules and an audit trail across operating accounts and sub-accounts.

How do you wire money safely?

From our own compliance desk, the failures we actually see are almost never network problems — they are verification problems. The wire system did its job; the details were wrong or the request was fraudulent.

• Confirm payment instructions by calling a number you already trust — never one supplied in the email that asked for the money. 'Updated' account details at the last minute are the classic business-email-compromise move.
• Send a small test wire first when the recipient and rail are new, then the balance once it lands.
• Be suspicious of urgency and secrecy — both are pressure tactics, not payment requirements.
• Match the account name to the invoice. Paying a company invoice into a personal account deserves a hard stop.
• Confirm receipt with the recipient after the wire lands, using the same trusted number — it closes the loop and catches problems while a recall can still help.

What should you check on the wire confirmation?

The confirmation is your proof of payment and your tool for tracing it, so read it before you close the screen. If anything is wrong, call your bank's wire department immediately — a wire caught before release can often be stopped, and our page on cancelling a wire covers what happens after.

• Amount and currency — especially on international wires, where a USD wire and a euro wire behave differently.
• Recipient name and the last digits of the account — they should match your verified details, not the email.
• Receiving bank and routing number or SWIFT code.
• Value date — the business day the bank intends to send it.
• Fee charged, and for international wires the exchange rate and charge option (SHA or OUR).
• The trace reference: an IMAD for a domestic Fedwire payment, a UETR for a SWIFT payment. Send it to the recipient so their bank can find the wire.

Is there a faster or cheaper way than a wire?

Often. If both banks support instant payments, a FedNow or RTP transfer arrives in seconds at any hour, and since 2025 both networks accept single payments up to $10 million — though banks set lower customer limits, and FedNow's default participant limit is $100,000. If the payment can wait one to three business days, ACH is usually free. And for a supplier abroad, paying over their country's own instant rail avoids the correspondent chain that makes international wires slow and expensive.

A wire is still the right answer when the recipient asks for one by name — closing agents and many counterparties do — or when you need a payment that every US bank can receive the same day.