How to Wire Funds for Closing and Avoid Fraud

To wire funds for closing, get written wire instructions from your title or escrow company, verify every digit by phone using a number you found independently, confirm your bank’s cutoff time and daily limit, then send the transfer one to two business days before your scheduled closing. Wires sent through the Federal Reserve’s Fedwire system settle the same day and are final once processed, so accuracy at each step matters more than speed.1Federal Reserve Board. Fedwire Funds Services

Get the Wire Instructions in Writing

Your settlement agent, whether a title company or an escrow officer, will send a closing instruction sheet with the exact details your bank needs. Do not accept these details over the phone alone, and do not accept them buried inside a casual email chain. Ask for a formal instruction document, and confirm you have every one of the following fields:

  • The receiving bank’s legal name and physical address.
  • The wire transfer routing number. Banks often use one routing number for paper checks and a different one for wires, so use the one labeled for wires.2American Bankers Association. ABA Routing Number – Find Your Number, and Search Database
  • The escrow account number. This is the title company’s fiduciary trust account, which keeps your funds separate from the company’s own money until closing.
  • The beneficiary name, spelled exactly as it appears on the escrow account. Even a small mismatch can cause the receiving bank to reject or hold the transfer.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I Sent Money to Someone and They Couldn’t Get the Money Because the Information Didn’t Match What I Provided
  • A reference or memo entry: your title company’s file number and the full property address. Without those identifiers, the receiving bank may park the payment in a suspense account.

Read each entry against the instruction sheet character by character before you type it anywhere. Fedwire transfers are irrevocable once processed, and recovering money sent to the wrong account is very difficult.4eCFR. 12 CFR Part 210 Subpart B – Funds Transfers Through the Fedwire Funds Service

Verify Every Detail by Phone Before You Send

Call your settlement agent and read back the routing number, account number, and beneficiary name digit by digit. Do this before you go to the bank or open the wire form online. This one phone call is your strongest protection against real estate wire fraud, which cost buyers and sellers more than $173 million in reported losses in 2024 according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.5Internet Crime Complaint Center. 2024 IC3 Annual Report

Use a phone number you found on your own. Pull it from the title company’s official website, from your signed purchase contract, or from a business card someone handed you in person. Do not call a number listed in the same email that delivered the wire instructions. Criminals who have compromised a real estate agent’s or title employee’s email account will often change the callback number too, so the “verification” call routes straight back to them.6Federal Bureau of Investigation. Business Email Compromise

Treat any last-minute change to previously issued instructions as suspicious. A genuine correction from your settlement agent will survive a callback to a known number; a fraudulent one will not.

Call Your Bank a Few Days Ahead

Before closing day, contact your bank about four things: the cutoff time for same-day wires, the daily transfer limit on your account, the wire fee, and any signer rules on a joint account.

Cutoff Times

Each bank sets its own deadline for accepting same-day domestic wires. Some cut off in mid-afternoon, others take wires into the early evening. Anything submitted after the cutoff moves to the next business day. Ask your bank for its specific time and plan to submit well before it.

Daily Limits

Many accounts have a default daily transfer limit that is far below a typical closing amount. If your closing needs $200,000 wired and your account is capped at $50,000 per day, the transfer will be rejected. Request a temporary limit increase or a one-time authorization for the exact amount. Some banks need 24 to 48 hours to process that request, so do not wait until the morning of closing.

Fees

Outgoing domestic wires typically cost $25 to $35 at major banks. Keep that amount in your account on top of the closing sum. If your balance covers only the wire itself, the bank may take the fee out of the transfer, leaving your settlement agent short.

Joint Account Rules

If the closing funds sit in a joint account, ask whether both owners must authorize a large wire or whether one authorized signer can send it alone. Some banks require a callback to a designated owner for transfers above a set dollar threshold. Sort this out early so both signers are reachable if needed.

Send the Wire

Once the instructions are verified and your bank is ready, you can initiate the transfer at a branch or through online banking.

In Person

Bring a government-issued photo ID and a printed copy of the verified wire instructions. The banker will enter the details, print an authorization form for your signature, and debit your account. Do not leave without a written confirmation of the transaction.

Online

Log into your bank’s site or app and open the wire section. Enter the routing number, account number, beneficiary name, and reference information exactly as you verified them. Expect a multi-factor authentication step, usually a code texted to your phone. After you submit, save or print the confirmation screen.

Get the Federal Reference Number

Once the wire goes out, your bank assigns a Federal Reference Number that identifies the transfer inside the Fedwire system. Ask for it before you leave the branch or close the browser tab. Send it to your settlement agent through a secure channel so they can track the incoming payment on their end.

Fedwire provides real-time gross settlement, so the transfer is final once the Federal Reserve processes it.1Federal Reserve Board. Fedwire Funds Services In practice, most wires reach the receiving bank within minutes to a few hours, depending on how quickly that bank credits the specific escrow account. Your settlement agent will let you know once the funds are confirmed.

Plan Around Weekends and Federal Reserve Holidays

Fedwire runs Monday through Friday, from 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time the prior evening through 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and does not settle on federal holidays.1Federal Reserve Board. Fedwire Funds Services No wires settle on weekends or on the 11 Federal Reserve holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

A Monday closing, or one on the day after a holiday, means sending the wire on the preceding business day. Even for a mid-week closing, wiring one to two business days early builds in a buffer if the receiving bank is slow to post the credit. Watch the late-November and late-December stretches, where holidays and weekends stack up.

If You Suspect Wire Fraud, Act Within Hours

Speed is everything. If you realize, or even suspect, that your closing funds went to the wrong account, do all of the following as fast as you can:

  • Call your bank’s wire department and request an immediate recall or reversal. Ask for a Hold Harmless Letter or Letter of Indemnity. Your bank can contact the receiving institution and try to freeze the funds.
  • File a complaint at ic3.gov with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Include the bank names, account numbers, wire date, and amount. The FBI’s Recovery Asset Team uses that report to contact the receiving bank and ask for a freeze.7U.S. Department of Justice. Domestic Financial Fraud Kill Chain Process
  • Contact your local FBI or Secret Service office. For large-dollar fraud, law enforcement can activate FinCEN’s Rapid Response Program, which coordinates with foreign financial intelligence units if the money crossed borders. The program has had greater success when victims report within 72 hours.8FinCEN. Fact Sheet on the Rapid Response Program
  • Tell your settlement agent right away so they can document the situation and pause any related disbursements.

Recovery odds fall sharply with every hour, because criminals move stolen funds quickly through a chain of accounts. Call your bank first, file the IC3 complaint next, then reach law enforcement.

Cashier’s Check as an Alternative

Not every closing has to go by wire. Some title companies accept a cashier’s check, especially for smaller amounts, though many cap acceptance somewhere between $10,000 and $50,000 and require a wire above that. A cashier’s check also takes one to two days to clear after deposit, which can push your closing timeline. Confirm in advance that your settlement agent will accept one for your specific amount, make it payable to the exact name on the escrow account, and bring photo ID when you pick it up from your bank.