How to Find Your Routing Number (5 Places to Look)

A direct deposit form, a tax refund, a new payroll system or a transfer from a brokerage all ask for the same two things: your routing number and your account number. The account number you probably know. Here is how to find your routing number in five places, how to tell which of your bank’s numbers to use, and how to confirm it is right before the money moves. The routing number validator checks the format of whatever you find.

1. The bottom of a check

The row of numbers printed along the bottom edge of a check, in the squared-off magnetic ink font, holds three numbers. The routing number is the first group of nine digits, on the left, between two symbols that look like a colon with a vertical bar. The account number follows, then the check number, which also appears in the top right corner.

Read it carefully: the MICR font makes 1 and 7 easy to confuse, and some checks print the account number first for business accounts. If the first group is not nine digits, it is not the routing number. Deposit slips from the same checkbook carry the same routing number, but counter deposit slips from the branch may carry an internal number instead, so use a check.

A voided check is what most employers ask for with a direct deposit form, because it carries both numbers in a form they can read by machine.

2. Your bank’s website or app

Log in, open the account, and look for account details, account and routing numbers, or direct deposit information. Most banks show the routing number next to the full account number, and many offer a pre-filled direct deposit form or a letter as a PDF. This is the most reliable source, because it shows the number for the account’s own region and, at banks that separate them, labels the ACH and wire numbers.

If you cannot find it in the app, the bank’s public website lists routing numbers by state on a help page; search the site for “routing number”.

3. A paper or PDF statement

Statements show the account number, and many show the routing number in the header or the “how to make a deposit” section. If yours does not, the statement still tells you the state where the account is held, which you need for the next method.

4. The ABA routing number lookup

The American Bankers Association runs a free lookup at routingnumber.aba.com that returns a bank’s routing numbers by name and location, limited to a few searches a day. The Federal Reserve’s E-Payments Routing Directory does the reverse: enter a routing number and it returns the bank. Both are useful for checking a number a payee gave you, and for finding your own when you know the bank and state but have no check and no app access.

5. Call the bank

The number on the back of your debit card reaches a representative who can read the routing number to you after verifying your identity. Ask specifically for the number for ACH or for wires, depending on what you are setting up. This is slower than the other methods but it is the right one when the first four have produced two different numbers.

Which number to use: ACH or wire

Many banks have one routing number for everything. Some, mostly large national banks, publish one number for ACH (direct deposit, bill pay, app transfers) and another for domestic wires, and some have a legacy number on older checks from a merged bank. All of them are valid routing numbers; the difference is which system they are set up for.

Use the ACH number for direct deposit forms, tax refunds, payroll, brokerage links and anything described as an electronic transfer. Use the wire number only on wire instructions. Using the wire number for an ACH usually works, since most banks accept either, but using the ACH number for a wire can delay or return the wire with a fee. When the bank’s app shows only one number, that is the number for both.

The what is a routing number guide explains why one bank ends up with several.

Confirming the number before you use it

Enter the nine digits in the routing number validator. It checks that the first two digits fall in a valid Federal Reserve range and that the ninth digit matches the checksum of the first eight. A number read correctly from a check or an app will pass. A number that fails was misread or mistyped: go back to the source and look again at 1 versus 7, 3 versus 8, and the order of adjacent digits.

Then match the number to the bank. The Fed directory returns the bank name for any valid number; if it names a bank you do not use, you have the wrong number, perhaps from an old account or a different family member’s check.

Finally, for anything large, send a small test. Most payroll systems and brokerages do this themselves with a micro-deposit of a few cents that you confirm. For a one-off wire, a $10 transfer first costs a fee and saves a week of recovery if the numbers were wrong.

Common errors and what they cost

A wrong routing number with a valid check digit is rare; most typos fail the checksum and are rejected at entry. The errors that get through are a valid number for the wrong bank, the ACH number on a wire, or a correct routing number with a wrong account number. A transfer to a non-existent account is returned in a few days. A transfer to someone else’s valid account is harder: the receiving bank can reverse it only with the account holder’s cooperation, and recovering a wire that landed in the wrong account can take weeks. That is why employers ask for a voided check rather than a hand-written number, and why confirming the number from the bank’s own app is worth the two minutes.

If you bank with an app-only or fintech account

Accounts opened through a payment app or a neobank are usually held at a partner bank, and the routing number shown in the app is the partner bank’s. It is a valid ABA number and works for direct deposit, but the bank name returned by the Fed directory will be the partner’s, not the app’s, which confuses payroll departments. Mention the partner bank’s name on the form if there is space. Some of these accounts do not accept wires at all, or route them through yet another number, so check the app’s help pages before giving wire instructions.

For payees you are paying

The same five methods apply to a vendor’s number, with one difference: a routing number on an invoice should be confirmed by calling the vendor at a number you already have, not the one on the invoice, before the first payment and after any change. Invoice fraud works by substituting a real bank’s routing number and a fraudster’s account. Validate the routing number for format, confirm the account by phone, and format-check the vendor’s tax ID with the EIN validator while you are at it. For a check payment, the check amount in words tool fills the words line. All the tools are on the homepage.

FAQs