Accepting bank transfers is integral for businesses moving serious volume or operating across markets. Cross-border corporate payment flows total about $23.5 trillion annually and generate an estimated $120 billion in associated costs. While bank transfers are reliable, they’re also manual and often clunky. But better tools and smarter infrastructure are changing that.

Below, we’ll explain how bank transfers work, their benefits, what to watch out for, and how to make them easier to manage at scale.

What’s in this article?

• What do businesses need in order to accept bank transfers as payments?
  
• What are the main types of bank transfers, and how do they differ?
  
• Why do some businesses choose bank transfers over card payments?
  
• What are the challenges of accepting bank transfers?
  
• How can businesses reduce complications with bank transfers?
  
• What payment confirmation models exist for bank transfers?
  
• How Stripe Payments can help
  

What do businesses need in order to accept bank transfers as payments?

Bank transfers move money electronically over a banking network from one bank account to another. They’re attractive to businesses because they have a trusted, long-established infrastructure and international reach. They also have lower fees than cards, especially at higher transaction volumes.

Here are some common use cases for bank transfers:

• Invoice payments: Customers pay by initiating a transfer, which is especially common in business-to-business (B2B) transactions.

• Payroll and vendor payouts: Bank credit transfers—particularly those processed in bulk via systems such as the Automated Clearing House (ACH) in the US or Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) in the EU—handle mass disbursements with speed and minimal risk compared with traditional methods such as checks.

• High-ticket purchases: These include anything too large for a credit card, such as real estate, tuition, and equipment.

What are the main types of bank transfers, and how do they differ?

Bank transfers are classified by who initiates the payment and which network processes it. Here are the different types of transfers.

Credit vs. debit transfers

At a high level, bank transfers fall into two categories:

• Credit transfers: The payer sends funds from their bank to the payee’s (i.e., the recipient’s) bank.

• Debit transfers: The recipient withdraws funds from the payer’s bank account with the payer’s authorization.

Networks such as ACH, SEPA, Bacs Direct Debit in the UK, and Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS) in Australia facilitate both credit and debit transactions.

Domestic vs. international transfers

• Domestic transfers: These move through domestic clearing houses such as ACH in the US or real-time networks, such as Real-time Payments (RTP) in the US, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in India, and Pix in Brazil.

• International transfers: These move through payment networks designed for cross-border payments, such as SEPA (used for euro-denominated payments across Europe) and Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, or SWIFT, (used for payments globally).

Payment networks vary in scope: ACH primarily operates domestically in the US, while SEPA operates regionally across Europe, and SWIFT functions as a global network for cross-border transfers. Real-time payment systems are gaining traction worldwide, but adoption varies by market and bank.

Understanding these mechanics can help you choose the right payment method for each use case, whether you’re invoicing an enterprise client, collecting subscription payments, or expanding into new markets.

Why do some businesses choose bank transfers over card payments?

Accepting bank transfers is an important part of the financial structure for businesses thinking long-term across markets, margins, and models. While card payments are built for speed, bank transfers are built for scale and efficiency. If you’re deciding whether to use bank transfers versus card payments, here are some factors to consider.

Lower fees

Card processing fees are often around 1.5%–3.5%, which can add up fast for businesses handling large sums. For a $10,000 invoice, that’s $150–$350 in fees. Bank transfers usually cost less, which makes them attractive for large or recurring transactions.

Finality

Card payments can be reversed through chargebacks. Bank transfers generally can’t. Once the money lands in your account, it stays there unless you send it back. That certainty makes reconciliation easier and removes the risk of funds being withdrawn weeks later.

Lower fraud risk

With cards, a stolen number can be used instantly. With bank transfers, the customer has to log in to their bank or pre-authorize the payment, which makes fraud more difficult. That means fewer disputes, fewer write-offs, and tighter security for your business.

No spend limits

Unlike credit cards, bank transfers don’t have caps. Individual banks might have transfer limits, but they’re usually much higher than credit card limits. Cards might not even be an option for high-value payments such as for real estate, equipment, and enterprise deals.

Global coverage

Bank transfers play a major role in everyday payments in many markets. Supporting bank transfers creates necessary access, especially if you’re serving global customers.

What are the challenges of accepting bank transfers?

Bank transfers seem straightforward: a customer sends money, it shows up, and you’re paid. But it’s more complicated in practice. Teams handling bank transfers often deal with delays, ambiguity, and a surprising amount of manual work.

Here are some of the common difficulties with bank transfers.

Unpredictable payment timing

Depending on the type of bank transfer, funds might arrive in hours or in several days. Your operations team is stuck waiting, unsure of how long it will take. This can leave you with ambiguity, such as whether to ship or hold an order, and that uncertainty doesn’t help your business scale.

Messy reconciliation

Bank transfers don’t come with built-in metadata. If a customer forgets to include the invoice number or uses a nickname instead of their registered business name, someone on your team has to figure it out. That can mean checking spreadsheets, emailing customers, and guessing at context, which can be unmanageable at scale.

Customer-side errors

If a customer types the wrong amount, applies an unauthorized discount, or forgets to confirm the transaction, you’re left waiting or reviewing for errors. Each mismatch requires human review, and you won’t have proof that the funds were even sent until they hit your account.

No native support for recurring billing

Unlike cards, you can’t “store” a bank transfer for next time. Direct debit systems can automate recurring payments, but other types of bank transfers don’t work as well on repeat. Businesses with subscription or usage-based models need additional tools or infrastructure to make recurring transfers reliable.

How can businesses reduce complications with bank transfers?

With the right setup, bank transfers can run as efficiently as card payments. Payment providers such as Stripe can make everything from checkout to reconciliation easier as you integrate bank transfers into your payment flow.

Here’s how you can modernize your setup.

Make instructions clear and actionable

Customers shouldn’t have to guess. Spell out exactly what they need to include: account numbers, bank name, payment reference, and amount. To reduce errors, use hosted payment pages or invoices that automatically fill in these details.

Use virtual account numbers or unique references

Assigning a unique bank account or payment reference to each customer or invoice is the best way to automate reconciliation. With virtual bank account numbers (VBANs), your system knows who paid the moment the funds arrive.

Automate payment confirmation

Use tools that monitor incoming funds and reconcile payments in real time. Stripe, for example, sends webhooks for payment events, automatically matches incoming transfers to the correct customer or invoice, and adjusts balances to account for overpayments or shortfalls.

Integrate bank transfers into your checkout

Let customers pick “Pay by bank transfer” at checkout, just like they’d choose a card or any other payment method.

Plan for refunds

Refunds via bank transfer often require sending a new outbound payment. Choose a provider that allows you to issue refunds directly in the dashboard or via the application programming interface (API).

What payment confirmation models exist for bank transfers?

A traditional bank transfer can take hours or even days to settle, and you only know the transfer is paid when the funds arrive. And while customer-submitted receipts are common in B2B, this form of payment confirmation is manual and can lead to errors. But the landscape is changing. Solutions such as Stripe can alert your system when funds are received and automatically reconcile them, and instant payment methods and open banking flows can confirm receipt within seconds.

How Stripe Payments can help

Stripe Payments provides a unified, global payments 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 payments 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.