How to Send an eCheck or Pay a Bill by eCheck

An eCheck is an electronic payment pulled straight from your bank account. If you're new to it, what an eCheck is and how it works covers the basics. You can only pay by eCheck where the business offers it, and it usually works with U.S. bank accounts only. The business picks how you pay. You'll see one of four setups:

Paying online or from an invoice, step by step:

1. Choose eCheck or bank account as the payment method. Some pages call it "ACH" or "pay from bank."
2. Pick the account type. Checking or savings, and personal or business if it asks.
3. Enter the name on the account exactly as your bank has it.
4. Enter your routing number and account number. Many forms ask for the account number twice to catch typos.
5. Read the authorization text before you tick the box. It should say the amount, the date, and whether it will repeat.
6. Save the confirmation page or email. It's your record if anything goes wrong.

Paying by phone. The business should read back the amount and date before it takes the payment. Nacha, the body that sets the ACH network's rules, says a one-time phone payment needs either a recording of your "yes" or a written notice confirming it. Ask for the written notice if you want your own record.

Signing a form. Common for rent, tuition, memberships and payment plans. Keep a copy. The form should name the business, the amount (or how it's worked out), the dates and how to cancel. For what a good one includes, see our ACH authorization form guide.

One thing to expect: an eCheck isn't approved in seconds like a card. The money usually leaves your account within a few business days, and the business may not treat it as paid until it clears.

The easiest place is your bank's app or website: look for "account details" or "direct deposit info." If you have paper checks, both numbers are printed in the row of digits along the bottom. The routing number is the 9-digit number, usually on the left. It identifies your bank. Your account number usually sits to its right. The check number is the short number, so leave it out. If your bank lists separate routing numbers for wires and for ACH or electronic payments, use the ACH one. A wrong digit is the most common reason an eCheck comes back unpaid, so check both numbers before you submit.

When you tick the box or sign the form, you're giving the business permission to take money from your account. That permission is called an authorization. Read it for three things:

• One time or recurring? A single payment, or a charge every month until you cancel.
• How much? A fixed amount, or a variable one, like a utility bill.
• How to cancel. Who to contact and how much notice they need.

Recurring payments from a personal account have extra protection. Regulation E is the federal rule that covers electronic payments from consumer accounts. Under section 1005.10(b), recurring debits from your account can be authorized "only by a writing signed or similarly authenticated" by you, and the business must give you a copy. Online, a checkbox or electronic signature can count. Either way, you should end up with a copy you can keep.

If the amount changes. Under section 1005.10(d), when a recurring payment will differ from the last one or from the amount you authorized, you must be sent written notice of the amount and date at least 10 days before it's taken. The rule also lets you agree up front to get notice only when the amount falls outside a range you set.

The business also picks a code for how you authorized the payment, such as online, phone, a signed form or business-to-business. You don't need to know these codes to pay. If you're curious, see SEC codes and ACH authorization.

Yes, for recurring payments from a personal account. Regulation E, section 1005.10(c), says you can stop payment of a recurring debit by telling your bank, by phone or in writing, "at least three business days before the scheduled date of the transfer."

1. Tell the business first. Cancel the plan or subscription in writing and keep a copy. This stops future charges at the source.
2. Call your bank at least 3 business days before the next payment date. Give the business's name, the amount and the date.
3. Follow up in writing if your bank asks. A bank may require written confirmation of a phone request within 14 days. If it asks and you don't send it, the phone request stops being binding after 14 days.
4. Watch your next statement to make sure the payment didn't go through.

Withdrawing permission entirely. The CFPB's official commentary on section 1005.10(c) says that once you tell your bank you've revoked the business's authorization, it must block all future payments from that business for that debit. The bank may ask for proof you told the business, so the written notice from step 1 helps.

A one-time payment is harder to stop. It's often taken within a day or two of your approval, so call the business and your bank right away. Stopping a payment doesn't cancel what you owe. If the bill is still due, sort it out with the business. Your bank may also charge a stop-payment fee.

Report it to your bank as soon as you see it. For personal accounts, Regulation E sets the timing:

• 60 days. Under section 1005.6(b)(3), report an unauthorized transfer within 60 days after your bank sends the statement that shows it. Report within that window and you aren't liable for that debit. Miss it and you can be liable for later unauthorized debits that timely notice would have stopped.
• The bank investigates. Under section 1005.11, your bank generally has 10 business days to decide. It can take up to 45 days if it gives you a provisional credit for the amount within those 10 business days.
• Expect a form. To send an unauthorized debit back to the business's bank, Nacha's rules have your bank get your written statement that you didn't authorize it.

A payment you agreed to but now regret is different. If you authorized it, the fix is a refund from the business, not a fraud claim.

Business accounts are different. Regulation E covers consumer accounts only. A business account runs on Nacha's rules and your account agreement, and the window to return an unauthorized debit is much shorter. Call your bank the same day you spot it. Many banks also offer debit blocks or filters that only allow ACH debits from companies you approve.

If a vendor asks your business to "pay by eCheck," you have two ways to pay from your own bank:

• Let the vendor pull it. Pay on the vendor's invoice link or checkout with your business checking details. Business-to-business debits use a code called CCD.
• Push it yourself. Send an ACH credit from your bank's business online banking. You enter the vendor's routing and account numbers and the amount, and your bank sends it. Nothing about your account goes to the vendor.

Watch for changed bank details. If a vendor emails new payment instructions, call them on a number you already have before you pay. Once sent, a payment to a fraudster's account is hard to recover, by ACH or wire. For a fuller comparison, including cards, see eCheck vs ACH vs wire transfer.

Strictly speaking, you don't write an eCheck. The business you're paying creates it from the bank details and permission you give. If a business accepts eChecks, paying on its checkout or invoice page is the direct route.

When people search for how to write an eCheck, they often mean services that let you fill in a check online. They tend to work in one of two ways:

• A printable check. You fill in a check on screen, and the recipient prints it and deposits it like a paper check. It's still a check, with the same deposit and clearing time.
• An electronic payment. The service sends the money from your account as an ACH payment on your behalf.

Either way, you're handing your bank details to another company. Check who runs the service, what it charges and how it protects your data. Your bank's own online bill pay is another way to send a payment to someone who doesn't take eChecks. Depending on the payee, the bank sends it electronically or mails a paper check for you.