Instructions to Send Bank Wires or Instant Payments for Direct Deposit

In this article:

• How to send a bank wire or instant payment for direct deposit
• Important information about running payroll with a bank wire or instant payment
• Fees associated with instant payments or bank wires
• Important details

If you use direct deposit with Patriot Software and have missed your normal deadline to run payroll, you may wire or send funds via an instant payment to Patriot as late as 1 banking day before the employee’s pay date.  

Background:

With Patriot,  you can fund your direct deposit payroll by sending a traditional bank wire or by using Instant Payments by the Real-Time Network. 

What Are Instant Payments by the Real-Time Network (RTN)?

Instant payments by the Real-Time Network (RTN) are transactions where money moves from one bank account to another in real time, meaning the payment is processed instantly. This fast turnaround means funds are settled quicker than with traditional bank wires. With Patriot, you can rely on a seamless payroll process and peace of mind knowing that your employees will be paid as quickly as the next banking day.

Bank wire vs Instant payments
A bank wire is a way to send money between banks, but it’s much slower than instant payments or FedNow. A bank wire might take several hours or even days to complete, depending on when you send it and which banks are involved. They often involve higher fees too, which isn’t ideal for quick, low-cost transfers:

How to send a bank wire or instant payment for direct deposit

On Payroll Step 1, you can choose to send a bank wire or instant payment to our bank if your pay date does not allow enough time for direct deposit. 

When you finish running the payroll in Step 3, you will see specific instructions to send money to Patriot Software, including Patriot’s bank information. You can also see the instructions on your Dashboard and Payroll Overview page after you have run a payroll.  If you do not see instructions, please contact our support team and they can send you instructions with the account number.

Important information about running payroll with a bank wire or instant payment

Deadline #1: You must complete (approve) payroll by 3:00 p.m. ET the day before your pay date with either instant payment or bank wire.

Deadline #2: Initiate wire transfers from your bank by 3:00 p.m. ET the day before your pay date. Depending on your bank, it may take up to 3 hours for Patriot to receive a bank wire vs. instant payments which are within minutes. 

Deadline #3 Funds must be received by 7 p.m. ET the day before the pay date to guarantee payments are deposited on time.

Fees

• BANK WIRE FEE: Patriot will charge a $15.00 wire transfer payroll funding fee. 
• INSTANT PAYMENT FEE: Patriot will charge a $5 instant payment funding fee. 
• Fees from Patriot will appear on your next monthly software fee invoice.
• Your bank may also charge a fee for sending funds.

Important details

• Instructions for sending an instant payment or bank wire are in your software account immediately after running payroll (on step 3). 
• If you need to send money for more than one payroll run, you may send a single wire transfer or instant payment totaling all of your payroll runs.
• Please send the exact amount of your direct deposit.  Unfortunately, not all of your employees will be paid if you do not send enough.  
• After you have sent your funds, please email escrow@patriotsoftware.com with your company name, Patriot ID, and the amount sent in the subject line.
• Patriot cannot accept ACH direct transfers, Zelle, or Venmo for direct deposit.  A wire or instant payment must originate from a financial institution, not a money transfer service such as Western Union.
• The ability to send Instant Payments is being continually added by banks across the U.S. Two networks provide Instant Payments:
  • Supported by Patriot: Real-Time Payment Network (RTP^Ⓡ) 
  • Not Supported by Patriot: FedNow^Ⓡ 

• Make sure your bank supports instant payments through the Real-Time Network. If it does not, you can still send us a bank wire in place of an instant payment. 
• You will receive an email confirmation once we have received the funds from your bank;
  • Bank Wires: It may take up to three hours for Patriot to receive the funds through bank wires. If you have not received an email and are concerned about your wire transfer status, please contact our Customer Care team with your Fedwire number. The Fedwire number is a 16-20 digit number after the words “Fed Number” or “Federal Number.” We will be able to investigate and trace the wire with that information.
  • Instant Payments: Will be received in minutes, however, sending the email is crucial to ensure our team is able to locate and apply the payment to your payroll. 
• If you later choose not to send a wire or instant payment for this payroll, you can disregard the message to send the wire, or you can contact our Support team and we can remove the message.  You can continue to run additional payrolls as needed.
• Instant payments are used from your bank to ours. Instant payments are NOT used to send employee direct deposit, which are sent via traditional ACH at this time. 

Any wire amount we receive that cannot be confirmed to a matching payroll will be returned by 7 PM Eastern Time.  The funds will be available in your bank account the next banking day.

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