How long does a Bacs payment take?

A Bacs payment typically takes three business days to be processed. Bacs payments are used for direct debits and direct credits in the United Kingdom. They were also used for one-off phone and Internet payments until replaced by an almost-instantaneous system called Faster Payments.

Faster Payments was launched in 2007 as online and telephone banking systems became more popular. As of January 2015, this new system is available 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. Bacs is still used for direct debits and for payments of government benefits and salaries. Also some accounts are not compatible with the Faster Payments system, so these use Bacs for direct transfers.