Real-time payments are bank-to-bank transfers that are sent, cleared and settled within seconds, any time of day. Funds are available to the recipient immediately and can’t be reversed. That includes nights, weekends and holidays. In the US, real-time payments run on two networks: the Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service and The Clearing House’s RTP Network.
For businesses, that means no more waiting days for a payment to clear. Customers can pay an invoice and the money lands in your account before you’ve closed the email. Suppliers get paid the m
oment a bill is due. Here’s how it all works, and why it matters for your cash flow.
How are real-time payments different from ACH, wires and cards?
The short answer is speed and certainty. Traditional payment methods work on banking hours and batch processing, so money spends time in limbo.
Checks can be lost or stolen. ACH payments are cheap but slow. Card payments feel instant, but the money takes days to reach your account, and processing fees eat into every sale. Real-time payments combine the speed of a card with the low cost of a bank transfer.
Which real-time payment networks operate in the US?
There are two, and most banks connect to at least one of them.
FedNow Service
The Federal Reserve launched the FedNow Service in July 2023. Adoption has grown quickly since then. It’s now live at more than 1,800 banks and credit unions (Digital Transactions), and it settled 6.4 million payments worth $370.9 billion in the third quarter of 2026 alone (Federal Reserve Financial Services). Many of its participants are community banks and credit unions, which brings instant payments to businesses outside the big national banks.
RTP Network
The Clearing House launched the RTP Network in 2017, making it the first new US payment rail in decades. It handles payments up to $10 million each, and set a record of 2.27 million transactions worth $8.62 billion on a single day in May 2026 (The Clearing House). RTP also supports request for payment and detailed remittance information, which makes it useful for B2B invoicing.
For a closer look at the Fed’s network, read our breakdown of the benefits of FedNow for small businesses.
How do real-time payments work?
The whole process takes seconds, but there are five steps behind it.
Initiation: the payer sends a payment request through their bank or payment platform, with the recipient’s details and the amount.
Authorization: the payer’s bank checks the details and confirms there are enough funds.
Processing: the request travels over the FedNow or RTP network to the recipient’s bank.
Settlement: funds move from the payer’s bank to the payee’s bank immediately and irrevocably.
Confirmation: both sides get instant notification that the payment is complete.
What are the benefits of real-time payments for businesses?
The biggest benefit is better cash flow, but it’s far from the only one.
Faster access to cash. Money arrives in seconds, not days. You can pay suppliers, cover payroll or take on a new project as soon as a customer pays. That matters when 59% of US small businesses have invoices overdue by 30 days or more (QuickBooks). We dig into what late payments really cost in the hidden cost of delayed payments.
Always on. There are no cut-off times, so a customer paying at 9pm on a Saturday still gets you paid on Saturday.
Certainty. Instant confirmation means no guessing whether a payment went through, and no checks bouncing a week later.
Less admin. Faster payments mean fewer follow-up emails and less time spent matching deposits to invoices.
Lower costs. Instant bank payments typically cost far less than card processing, without the chargeback risk.
How much do real-time payments cost?
It depends on your bank or payment provider. Some charge a flat fee, others a percentage with a cap. Receiving banks rarely charge anything extra. For larger invoices, real-time payments are usually much cheaper than paying a percentage on a card transaction.
How can your business start using real-time payments?
You don’t need a new bank account. Forwardly connects to the bank you already have and sends and receives instant payments through both the FedNow Service and the RTP Network, so money lands in about 60 seconds.
Payments between businesses on the Forwardly Network are free, and invoices flow straight into each other’s accounting systems. Every transaction updates your books through 2-way sync with QBO, Xero, NetSuite, Sage and MS Dynamics. With Auto Payments, you can even collect from customers or pay bills automatically on the due date.
There are no monthly fees. You only pay per transaction, based on how fast you want the money to move.
Real-time payments are quickly becoming the standard for how businesses move money. The sooner you switch, the sooner you stop waiting on your own cash. Start your free Forwardly trial and send your first instant payment today.
By:
Maninder Sidhu
Published
