Banks That Joined FedNow (And How Instant Payments Work)

FedNow is an instant-payment service backed by the Federal Reserve. It gives financial institutions the ability to let customers make payments that can be sent any time and received within seconds, with funds immediately available for use. But FedNow isn’t a consumer-facing service, so you’d need to check your bank’s transfer services to see if you can benefit. And you won’t see FedNow branding in a bank mobile app like you do with Zelle transfers.

Where FedNow fits in the instant payment space

• There are only two instant payment networks in the U.S.: FedNow and the privately owned RTP (Real-Time Payment) network by The Clearing House. The Clearing House is owned by 21 banks, mostly the biggest in the U.S. Your bank may use neither, one or both.

• FedNow’s getting bigger but far from universal: About 20% of U.S. banks have joined. Approximately 1,900 banks and credit unions (out of about 8,500 in the U.S.) have joined the FedNow network as of late August 2026. Adoption has sped up since NerdWallet first covered FedNow in early February 2024, when there were only 474 FedNow participants. FedNow initially launched in July 2023.

25 notable banks and credit unions in FedNow’s network

A quarter of the nearly 100 financial institutions NerdWallet has reviewed are participants in the FedNow network. We’ve listed institutions by type. Click each institution to see our review.

Online banks

• Axos Bank

• Capital One

• First Internet Bank

• Forbright Bank

• Newtek Bank

• OMB Bank

• Peak Bank*

• Salem Five Direct*

• SoFi

*These online banks are divisions of parent banks which are FedNow participants.

Traditional (brick-and-mortar) banks

• Amalgamated Bank

• Associated Bank

• Chase

• Citibank

• Climate First Bank

• Customers Bank

• PNC

• U.S. Bank

• Wells Fargo

Credit unions

• Connexus Credit Union

• Consumers Credit Union

• First Tech Federal Credit Union

• Golden 1 Credit Union

• Navy Federal Credit Union

• SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union

• Service Credit Union

To see the full list, check the Federal Reserve’s FedNow participants page.

But Zelle is more common for consumer instant transfers

Zelle offers near-instant transfers in many banks’ apps. The peer-to-peer payment service Zelle has a bigger list of banks in its network than FedNow, and more importantly, it’s available and clearly branded as Zelle in banks’ mobile apps.

While Zelle itself isn’t an instant transfer network, relying on the RTP network or traditional ACH transfers between banks behind the scenes, consumers can experience transfers as instant. You can send money to friends and family within seconds as long as you and your recipient belong to a Zelle network bank. See our list of banks that use Zelle.