How long does it take for a bank transfer to go through?

It is an important piece of information, especially because it will help you to plan your transactions and your financial commitments.

Making bank transfers is one of the most common financial movements in today’s life. We use them to make payments, to pass money between family members, to receive payroll and even to settle some goods and services.

But have you ever noticed how long it takes to make a transaction once you made it? It is an important piece of information, especially because it will help you to plan your transactions and your financial commitments.

In all banks in the United States, a bank transfer takes about 24 hours to complete, that is done electronically and if it is two accounts from the same country, it does not matter if they are from a different bank.

In international transfers the matter changes, here the times can take from one to five business days.

It all depends on various variables, there are some that are within the control of the banking institution, but there are others that are completely out of it.

However, to give you a better understanding of how they work, the Go Banking Rates site has listed the factors that influence the speed of a transfer.

  1. The time you made the transfer

    This will depend on the time set by each institution as the limit for making a transfer. If your transaction is made after the time they have established, then it will surely happen until the next day.

  2. Place of residence of the person who will receive the money

    It is not the same for a person to live in Houston as for someone to live in Mexico.

  3. The fact that the transaction is between the same banks or in different institutions

    When it is done between the accounts of the same bank, the transactions generally take a few minutes, but if it is from one bank to another, even if the transfer is national, then it can take a few more hours.

  4. How the bank transfers funds

    According to the Go Banking Rates site, there are three ways to do this:

    • The FedWire transfer system, which was designed and operated by the United States Federal Reserve. Although it is the fastest method that currently exists, it is reserved only for making transactions of significant amounts. In addition, it only makes national transfers.
    • The system known as CHIPS, (Clearing House Interbank Payments System). What it does is group the transactions and carry them out as such. They tend to be more delayed compared to FedWire.
    • Swift, which is the one used mainly when making international transfers. The way it works is by using banks as intermediaries, before it reaches its final destination. Therefore, the process may be much slower than expected.

If you have already made your transfer and you want to track it, you can do so using a federal reference number, which is unique and unrepeatable.

So since you know the process well, we advise you to be very careful when making transfers, since once made, it will be very difficult for you to cancel them.