How Do I Find My Bank Routing Number?
by Bank Routing
2018-04-24
Today each person should possess basic financial literacy and know about everyday bank transactions. Everybody has credit cards, and sometimes it is necessary to transfer money to someone else’s account. In this case, you should know some specific information if you want to use Wire transfer or ACH – for example, a bank routing number of a beneficiary.
What Is a Routing Transit Number?
A routing transit number is a special code that each bank within the United States of America must have. This code is a sign of identification with the help of which a person can determine the bank’s location. This system of identification was created at the beginning of the 20th century by the American Bank Association to speed up checks of bank transactions. However, this system turned out so comfortable that it is still used for Wire transfers and ACH technologies.
So, how may a routing transit number help to identify the location of a bank? It has a rather simple scheme. Each bank routing number consists of 9 characters, for example, XXXXYYYYC. This row of figures can be determined as follows: XXXX – Federal Reserve Routing Symbol, YYYY is ABA Institution Identifier, and С is the Check Digit. With the help of all these numbers united in one code, one may easily find a certain location of a bank where the account was opened.
Where to Find a Bank Routing Number?
You can easily find a bank routing number on each check. Usually, this code is at the bottom of a check on the left side near your account number.
You may ask why it is necessary to learn the bank routing number. A routing transit number is a good way to identify a particular bank where the account of the user was opened. Therefore, the bank routing number is usually used for different financial transactions and online payments. Although it may seem strange, a bank routing number is not confidential information. Therefore, it is possible to find routing transit numbers of different banks at their sites in the Internet, and even on Google Maps.
Although at the very beginning of the use of this system, each bank had one routing transit number, today one institution may have up to five different routing transit numbers as a result of mergers or for different operations.
When do you need a bank routing number? You will need this code exactly in case of any online payments or payments by phone. In this case, you will require your bank routing number and the number of your personal account in this bank. If you want to transfer money internationally, you will need a bank routing number as well.
However, one peculiarity of this number is that your bank may have different routing transit numbers for different operations. Therefore, it will be much better to go at the site of your bank first or to call it by phone.
