The bank routing number identifies a financial institution where a deposit. It’s used for making direct deposits and for sending money out of your account via a check or automated clearing house (ACH) payment. The number can be found in documents from your bank, by contacting your bank or online.
Bank ACH Routing Number Lookup
The American Bankers Association makes an ACH routing number lookup tool available online. The tool is there for individuals to use to look up the routing number of their financial institutions. Because the tool is intended for individual use, the ABA tool for looking up routing numbers can only be used two times per day by one person, and a total of ten times per month. Users who need to look up more numbers are directed by the ABA to a paid service, called Accuity.
Finding a Bank Routing Number on a Check
If you have one of your checks handy, finding the bank routing number on a check is often one of the fastest ways to get the information. The routing number is found in the lower left corner of a check. It’s a nine-digit numerical code that’s used to make sure funds are directed to and paid out by the correct financial institution. To read the number, look beside the vertical dash and colon symbol. When you have read nine digits, and reached the second vertical dash and colon symbol, you’ve read the entire routing number. The account number is second batch of numbers on the lower left side of the check.
Bank Documents to Check for Your Routing Number
Bank ABA routing numbers can be found in some documents provided to you by your financial institution. These include the paperwork you sign when you open the account. Some banks also print this information in monthly statements that are mailed or delivered online to bank patrons who are account holders. While account numbers may be partially hidden in these documents due to the personal nature and privacy standards, the routing number does not and cannot disclose any of your personal information. It identifies only the bank.
Contacting Your Bank to Get the Routing Number
Another way to get your bank routing number is to make contact. You can do this by calling and asking the person who answers the phone for the routing number of the institution. Going to the location and requesting the number is an option. Emailing a bank worker is a third alternative. The routing number is information that is typically freely given by institutions because it identifies only the institution and is not an identifier used for bank patrons.
Accounts That Have Routing Numbers
The institutions that are able to acquire a routing number are Federally chartered and State-chartered financial institutions that maintain Federal Reserve Bank accounts. While routing numbers were originally only used for check transfers, as of 2019, routing numbers are used for ACH transfers, online banking and electronic funds transfers.
