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What is the difference between FedNow and Fedwire?

The primary difference between FedNow and Fedwire is that FedNow is available 24/7/365, whereas Fedwire operates weekdays only. Both payment methods employ real-time gross settlement.

The following text illustrates this key distinction between FedNow and Fedwire.

FedNow:

24 hours per day, 7 days a week, and 365 days per year, including holidays

Fedwire:

Weekdays only, from 9 pm the prior calendar day to 7 pm Eastern Time, excluding holidays

Connie Theien, SVP at the Federal Reserve System, explains the differences between FedNow and other payment rails. Watch the full conversation here.

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FedNow is a new payment rail that enables faster bank payments for financial institutions of any size, in any community, 365 days of the year.

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FedNow will be used by any bank or credit union that chooses to adopt the service. Individuals, businesses, and government entities with accounts at participating banks will have access to FedNow.

The FedNow charge per transaction for sending money will be $0.045 for each credit transfer, paid by the sender. The charge per transaction to receive money will be $0.01 for each request for payment (RfP) message, paid by requestors.

The primary difference between FedNow and RTP is that they are distinct payment rails managed by separate parties. FedNow (releasing in July 2023) is managed by the Federal Reserve and RTP (originally released in 2017) is overseen by The Clearing House.

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The FedNow service will work with those financial institutions that adopt it to facilitate faster payments for individual, business, and government use cases.

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FedNow will not officially replace PayPal or other instant payment services including Venmo, Zelle, or RTP.