Customers in the US are increasingly willing to pay by bank, a payment method enabled by open banking. A 2024 study found that 11% of US adults had conducted at least one open banking payment transaction over a 12-month period, and Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers have increased year over year. Peer-to-peer (P2P) apps like Zelle, Venmo, and Cash App have also helped normalize bank account linking. Customers might still have reservations—such as unfamiliar user experience (UX), the perceived absence of card rewards, and concerns about bank account access—but each can be addressed.

Below, we’ll explain where pay by bank makes sense for businesses, what’s slowing full adoption, and what businesses should consider when deciding whether to add pay by bank to their checkouts.

Key takeaways

• Customer familiarity with bank-linked payments has grown due to widespread P2P app adoption. Pay by bank is now a less foreign concept at checkout.

• Pay by bank makes sense in recurring billing, utilities, and high-ticket retail where the value of avoiding card fees is visible.

• Some big barriers to adoption are poor UX and the perceived lack of consumer protection, but both are solvable with better implementation.

What are current bank payment trends in the US?

Open banking has enabled the rise of direct account-to-account payments. Pay by bank was commonly used for bank-to-bank transfers between individuals, but it’s also growing in popularity as a payment method businesses can incorporate into their checkouts. It deposits funds directly into the business’s bank account. In the US, the payment generally initiates as an ACH transfer or a real-time payment through the FedNow or Real-Time Payments (RTP) network.

Which customers are most receptive to pay by bank?

Not all customers are equally likely to choose to pay by bank when it’s offered. Research has found that millennials, Gen Zers, and high-income customers are more willing to use bank-based payment options. It also tends to be a more attractive option for customers who make large purchases where a credit card surcharge would matter.

Beyond that, behavioral data suggests that existing P2P app users and frequent online shoppers with stored credentials might be more likely to select pay by bank. These are sizable groups: Venmo has over 100 million active accounts, Cash App has a comparable footprint, and Zelle processed $1.2 trillion in payments in 2025. Customers who already use these products have normalized the idea of linking a bank account to move money and they’re comfortable with a bank-linked payment flow. Similarly, customers who already have accounts with a given business might be more willing to add a bank account as a payment option when the interface is familiar.

Where does pay by bank make sense?

Pay by bank makes sense as a checkout option for businesses with recurring or high-value transactions, platforms, and marketplaces. Here are the payment scenarios where it best fits:

• Subscriptions: This category has strong potential. When a customer is setting up a repeating payment, such as a software subscription or gym membership, bank account linking fits naturally into that flow. Once it’s set up, it doesn’t expire. That can minimize involuntary churn.

• Utilities and insurance: These categories have historically run on ACH transfers. Moving that experience into a cleaner checkout interface with better authentication is an upgrade over the old “enter your routing number” flows.

• Marketplaces and platforms with strong user relationships: When a customer trusts a platform or marketplace, linking a bank account can feel less risky. That relationship is already established so asking that customer for bank account access can convert better than asking the same of a first-time visitor on an unfamiliar site.

• High-value transactions: Pay by bank can be appealing to customers who want to spend large amounts above credit card limits or avoid credit card surcharges.

Products like Stripe Financial Connections let customers link verified bank accounts through a polished, recognizable interface. When a customer has already linked their bank account through Link by Stripe, that verified account can be reused across businesses, which substantially compresses the checkout flow.

What holds customers back from pay by bank?

Here are the most common barriers to pay by bank adoption for customers:

• Bank account access feels riskier than card access: Customers generally understand that a compromised card can be canceled and a chargeback can be filed. Bank account access feels more direct and perception drives behavior. You should display protections clearly rather than bury them in terms.

• The checkout option can feel unfamiliar: Many customers haven’t seen pay by bank as a checkout option before. Novelty can create hesitation, not because the method is suspicious but because customers aren’t used to it. This is a diminishing barrier as more businesses offer it, but it’s still relevant.

• There’s a perceived absence of rewards: Card payments come with points, miles, and cashback. Bank payments don’t. This is a genuine trade-off for customers who actively maximize their card rewards. The response is to make the alternative value proposition concrete enough to compete.

• Inconsistent UX: Bank payment flows that require customers to navigate clunky institution search interfaces or click through multiple redirect screens are likely to see abandonment. The gap between a polished card checkout and poorly built bank payment flow can make the difference.

What does this mean for businesses considering pay by bank?

A payment method that appeals to the 100+ million Venmo and Zelle users presents real potential, and early positioning still matters. Card networks have decades of brand equity, while pay by bank is still building that familiarity. Businesses that offer it now, and offer it well, shape their customers’ first experiences with the method—an advantage that won’t be available once pay by bank becomes as standard as card acceptance.

The infrastructure is more capable than it was years ago, thanks to factors such as FedNow’s 2023 launch. Products like Stripe’s bank payment tooling simplify implementation, and the customer experience is significantly better compared to earlier pay by bank options.

How Stripe Payments can help

Stripe Payments provides a unified, global payment solution that helps any business—from scaling startups to global enterprises—accept payments online, in person, and around the world.

Stripe Payments can help you:

• Optimize your checkout experience: Create a frictionless customer experience and save thousands of engineering hours with prebuilt payment UIs, access to 125+ payment methods, and Link, a wallet built by Stripe.

• Expand to new markets faster: Reach customers worldwide and reduce the complexity and cost of multicurrency management with cross-border payment options, available in 195 countries across 135+ currencies.

• Unify payments in person and online: Build a unified commerce experience across online and in-person channels to personalize interactions, reward loyalty, and grow revenue.

• Improve payment performance: Increase revenue with a range of customizable, easy-to-configure payment tools, including no-code fraud protection and advanced capabilities to improve authorization rates.

• Move faster with a flexible, reliable platform for growth: Build on a platform designed to scale with you, with 99.999% historical uptime and industry-leading reliability.

Learn more about how Stripe Payments can power your online and in-person payments, or get started today.