How long does a wire transfer take?
A domestic wire sent before your bank’s cutoff normally arrives the same business day, often within hours. An international wire usually takes one to five business days, depending on the countries, the currencies and how many banks sit in between.
Domestic: same day, if you beat the cutoff
Behind a US domestic wire is the Federal Reserve’s Fedwire Funds Service. It opens at 9:00 p.m. Eastern the evening before each business day and accepts customer transfers until 6:45 p.m. Eastern. Your bank’s own cutoff is earlier:
| Bank | Online cutoff for a same-day domestic wire |
|---|---|
| Wells Fargo | 3:00 p.m. Pacific |
| Bank of America | 5:00 p.m. Eastern |
| Citibank | 6:45 p.m. Eastern |
| PNC | 6:00 p.m. Eastern |
| U.S. Bank | 4:30 p.m. Central |
| USAA | 4:00 p.m. Central |
Many banks, Chase among them, do not publish a cutoff at all. Full cutoff table.
What slows a wire down
- Missing the cutoff. The wire goes out the next business day.
- Weekends and holidays. Fedwire does not run on Saturdays, Sundays or Federal Reserve holidays.
- Review. Banks hold large wires, first wires to a new recipient and wires that look unusual. Some call you back to confirm, and the wire waits until they reach you.
- For international wires, the route. Your bank may pass the payment through one or more intermediary banks on the SWIFT network before it reaches the recipient’s bank, and each can add time and take a fee. The recipient’s bank then has its own processing hours and holidays.
When it has to arrive today
Send in the morning, from your bank’s app or website if it allows it, after you have confirmed the instructions by phone. For a home closing, ask the title company whether it will take the wire the day before.
Sources: Federal Reserve Financial Services, Fedwire Funds Service operating hours; banks’ published wire terms, linked from each bank page.
Questions people ask
Do wire transfers go through on weekends?
Not domestic ones. The Federal Reserve's Fedwire service treats every Saturday, Sunday and Federal Reserve holiday as a non-business day, so a wire sent Friday night goes out when Monday's business day opens.
Why is my wire taking longer than a day?
The usual causes are missing your bank's cutoff, a fraud review or call-back on a large or first-time wire, a holiday, or, for international wires, an intermediary bank and the recipient's own processing.