In 2025, the most meaningful banking changes for consumers are faster bank-to-bank payments, checkout payments authorized directly from a bank account, and more flexible recurring payments. They are not universally available: FedNow is U.S. payment infrastructure that banks may use to build customer features, while the open-banking and variable recurring payment figures discussed here are specific to the United Kingdom. Before choosing a method, check whether your bank offers it and what its authorization, fee, and dispute rules are.
What is FedNow?
FedNow is a U.S. bank-to-bank payment service operated by the Federal Reserve. Participating financial institutions can use it to send and receive payments in seconds, at any time of day and any day of the year. A consumer uses the feature through their own bank or credit union if that institution makes it available; consumers do not enroll with the Federal Reserve directly.
That distinction matters: participation in the network does not establish that a bank offers customer-facing transfers, or whether customers can send, receive, or do both. Availability is expanding gradually. As the service approached its second anniversary in 2025, Federal Reserve Financial Services reported approximately 1,400 participating banks and credit unions across all 50 U.S. states. That is a network participation count, not a count of institutions offering consumer send functionality. Federal Reserve Financial Services, June 2025.
In June 2025, the network transaction limit increased from $500,000 to $1 million. The Federal Reserve also announced configurable account-activity thresholds institutions could use for customer segments as a risk-management tool. These are network and institutional settings, not a promise that a customer can transfer that amount. Federal Reserve Financial Services.
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Instant rails can help with urgent payments and faster access to incoming funds, but the recipient’s actual access depends on the service and receiving institution. FedNow is not a central bank digital currency and does not replace cash. The Federal Reserve says it cannot access individual bank accounts through FedNow. Its FAQ states: “The FedNow Service is neither a form of currency nor a step toward eliminating any form of payment, including cash.” Federal Reserve FedNow FAQ.
Will there be a FedNow app for me to use?
No. The Federal Reserve says there is no consumer FedNow app. Look in your bank’s own app or ask the institution whether it offers FedNow-enabled features, including whether you can send payments, receive them, or both. The Federal Reserve’s consumer FAQ was last updated July 17, 2024. Federal Reserve FedNow FAQ.
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What is Pay-by-Bank?
Pay-by-Bank is a payment that starts in a customer’s bank account and goes to a merchant’s account over a payment rail such as ACH or an instant-payment network. It is an alternative checkout route to paying with a card, not a single universal product. In the United States, most Pay-by-Bank solutions described by the Federal Reserve in July 2025 settled over ACH; some deployments were expected to use instant payment rails. Federal Reserve, July 2025.
How a typical Pay-by-Bank checkout works
- Select Pay-by-Bank at checkout, then choose your bank from the available options.
- Authenticate through your bank’s app or website and review the requested access or consent.
- Check the merchant or payee and payment amount, then authorize the transaction.
- Keep the confirmation and check your bank or provider’s terms for payment timing, errors, disputes, and reversals.
An open-banking provider may facilitate the connection between the merchant and bank. The Federal Reserve explains that APIs can enable this connection without requiring the customer to hand bank login credentials to the third-party provider. Still, read the consent screen: determine which organization receives permission, what information or payment access it requests, and for what purpose. Federal Reserve, July 2025.
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Is Pay-by-Bank common in the United States?
It was an emerging rather than dominant consumer payment method in the evidence cited by the Federal Reserve. Its July 2025 note relayed a 2024 study, Consumer Sentiment About Open Banking Payments, in which about 11% of U.S. adults said they had made at least one open-banking payment in the previous year. This is a statistic from that underlying 2024 study—not a 2025 survey result. Federal Reserve, July 2025.
What should you check before paying this way?
Pay-by-Bank’s features and safeguards depend on the specific bank, provider, and payment rail. Do not assume that card protections, reversal options, or dispute procedures carry over unchanged. Before authorizing, check what happens if a payment is unauthorized, duplicated, sent to the wrong recipient, or disputed, and whether you can cancel or revoke any ongoing authorization.
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The Federal Reserve discusses lower card-network fees as a possible merchant incentive, but warns against treating savings as automatic: provider, setup, processing, subscription, and receiving-bank fees can all affect the economics. A merchant’s potential savings do not guarantee a discount for you; compare any price difference, consumer fee, or card reward you might give up. Federal Reserve, July 2025.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What are variable recurring payments?
Variable recurring payments (VRPs) use open-banking technology to let a customer authorize a trusted third party to manage recurring transactions. Compared with a traditional direct debit, the intended benefit is more flexibility and control over payment schedules—potentially useful for bills that vary or for people with irregular income. The exact controls, eligibility, and protections depend on the service and market; the UK-specific figures and rollout below should not be read as describing U.S. banking.
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The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority’s page, published December 16, 2025 and updated February 12, 2026, reports more than 16 million users benefiting from open banking and a 53% year-on-year rise in open-banking payments. It also reports that VRPs accounted for 16% of all U.K. open-banking transactions in the figures it cites. These are U.K. statistics, not global adoption figures, and their denominators and methods differ from the U.S. study cited above. U.K. Financial Conduct Authority.
The FCA said the U.K. industry was working toward commercial VRP services for payments such as utilities, with initial live payments under the UK Payments Initiative scheme expected in the first quarter of 2026. That was an expectation stated in the update, not confirmation that every service launched on schedule. Check the provider’s current service details before relying on a VRP for a bill. U.K. Financial Conduct Authority.
How to compare payment options
If your bank or a merchant offers more than one way to pay, compare the practical details rather than assuming a faster or account-based payment is automatically better.
- Availability: Does your bank support the feature, and can you send, receive, or both?
- Speed and access: Is the payment instant, same-day, or delayed—and when can the recipient actually use the funds?
- Authorization and control: Which bank or provider receives consent? For recurring payments, can you set limits, change the schedule, or revoke authorization?
- Protection and recourse: What are the specific procedures for unauthorized, mistaken, duplicated, or disputed payments?
- Cost and rewards: Are there consumer fees or different prices, and would you lose card rewards? Merchant fee savings do not necessarily become a consumer discount.
- Privacy: What account data is requested, who receives it, why is it needed, and how long does access last?
These questions are especially important when a payment is set to recur: understand the authorization before approving it, and know how to manage or stop it through the relevant bank or provider.
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