US Bank now offers free instant transfers between banks?

I just made a transfer from my US Bank checking account to my Bank of America account and noticed a new option for “Instant Transfer.” It was free, so I tried it. I guess it depends on the bank you’re sending money to, but when I selected my BofA account, the option appeared.

I expected it to work like other quick transfer services and take up to an hour. Instead, I hit submit, got a “transfer completed” screen, and within 10 seconds, my BofA account received the funds. I even got an alert text about the deposit right after.

When I logged into my BofA account, the $5k transfer was there, fully available. The entire process took less than 20 seconds. I’m not commenting on whether US Bank or BofA are the best banks, just sharing because I didn’t know this feature existed, and I thought it was interesting.

This is likely part of the RTP network.

BillSmith said:
This is likely part of the RTP network.

Yes, US Bank and BofA are both on the instant payments network.

BillSmith said:
This is likely part of the RTP network.

Agreed. It’s interesting how banks implement RTP differently. For example, when I transfer from BofA to Capital One, it’s instant, but when I initiate from Capital One to BofA, it takes 3-5 days.

This is part of the RTP system. It’s a newer payment network similar to systems in Europe. Funds are push-only, meaning there’s no risk of insufficient funds. However, it still uses account numbers like ACH, which some people find less secure.

@DolphGabbana
Can you only push funds to accounts you own? And why is using account numbers a problem?

Misha said:
@DolphGabbana
Can you only push funds to accounts you own? And why is using account numbers a problem?

You can push funds to any account, depending on your bank’s policies. In Europe, sharing account numbers isn’t seen as risky because you can only push money to an account, not pull from it.

This feature is part of FedNow. My credit union is in the implementation phase now. It’s expensive for banks to support and carries high risks, but the infrastructure is being rolled out.

Stormy said:
This feature is part of FedNow. My credit union is in the implementation phase now. It’s expensive for banks to support and carries high risks, but the infrastructure is being rolled out.

That makes sense. The options I saw were “Instant Transfer - FREE” or “1-3 Days - FREE.” I suspect the instant option is free temporarily to encourage people to use it. Once trust is built, they’ll likely introduce a fee.

@James
I’ve seen vendor contracts, and the costs are significant. It does feel like they might start charging once adoption increases.

Chase offers something similar.

Sutton said:
Chase offers something similar.

Yes, but it depends on whether both banks are part of the network. It works seamlessly with banks like US Bank, BofA, and Chase.

That’s great! Instant transfers are so convenient, especially when they’re free. Thanks for sharing!

It’s funny how Truist charges $3 for ACH transfers, but you can pull money from Truist to another bank like PenFed for free.

Is this similar to Zelle?

Dru said:
Is this similar to Zelle?

It seems like it, but with higher limits. The instant option only appeared for transfers between US Bank and BofA for me, not my other accounts like USAA. It’s likely dependent on whether both banks support the program.

There are two instant transfer systems now: FedNow (recently introduced) and the Clearing House (around for about a decade). Both allow real-time transfers 24/7. Zelle isn’t a true instant transfer system—it just credits accounts immediately while the actual funds settle later.

Here’s a list of financial institutions participating in the RTP network:

https://www.theclearinghouse.org/payment-systems/rtp/RTP-Participating-Financial-Institutions