Is there a quick and relativly easy way to transfer money electronically from my bank account into somebody else’s(with their knowledge)? I have a friend who may need a quick influx of cash because one of her paychecks is late due to the holidays.
Thanks
Yeah, you can call your bank for a wire transfer. It has a cost – perhaps around $10 or $15 – and you’ll need the various account numbers, bank numbers, etc.
Note that a bank-to-bank wire transfer will take between one and three business days to process, normally. If you need to send money faster, then wire services like Western Union are much faster, delivering within minutes. If you do decide to use a wire transfer to your friend’s account, you’ll need her bank’s routing number and her account number. If she has a checking account, the routing number is the 9-digit number normally found on the bottom left of a check, and the account number is the longer number after that.
There’s also the classic method of going to their bank with cash and saying that you want to deposit it into their customer’s account.
If you do a wire transfer, remember that it will not only cost you $10-$15 to send it, but also on her end it could cost the same (usually a little less) to receive the wire. So if you’re sending only $100 or something, I’d find a cheaper way to send the money.
Now if you are looking at a wire transfer, if it is domestic within the US, you need the bank’s ABA number, your friend’s account number, and your friend’s name exactly as it is stated on the account. (If it is international or domestic within another nation, you may want to contact the bank for assistance – there are SWIFT codes involved, etc. I’m not very familiar with wire transfers outside the US.)
I hate to repeat the wire mantra when it sounds contradictory, but a check is not wiring instructions. (Many times it does very often match wiring instructions, but some banks will have separate aba numbers or wiring instructions for funds on the fedwire system as opposed to check processing. It’s not that it’s wholly inaccurate, it’s just that you don’t want to take the risk of the wire being rejected for improper wiring instructions.) You or your friend will need to contact the bank and make sure you have proper wiring instructions.
Although sometimes people expect a wire transfer to be instantaneous, it isn’t always that way. If you send the wire at 10 am, it may not credit your friend’s account until 3 pm. With some banks, the wire credit may not show up until the next business day, although usually funds are available same day with wires. If it takes longer than overnight, I would contact the bank to see if funds have been credited. (If something goes wrong and the funds end up floating in the wrong bank or such, since you are the sender, your bank can trace the funds, but a trace will likely cost more money, and it often takes 3-5 business days. Best to get things right the first time.)
Good luck!
More info is needed:
Are you both banking with the same Bank?
How much money does she need?
By when does she absolutely have to get the money?
If it’s only like a hundred dollars, you can deposit money into her ATM and it will be immediately available. Many banks have limits on how much is immediately available and how much will be “held”. For my bank, the limit is 100 bucks.
But if I need 200, and I have two days before The Bill hits my bank, I can deposit 100 today, and then 100 tomorrow. So by the time that bill deducts money from my account, the 200 bucks will be there!
If you’re talking about A LOT of money, then I have no clue. When banking, I never have to deal with money greater than, say, 300 bucks 
/Poor
If you’re both members of the same bank, you should be able to transfer money between accounts immediately.
If you and the recipient live in Canada, you may be able to transfer money by Interac Email Money Transfer.
To the sender, it looks like any other online bill payment, but you have to provide a destination email and arrange a security question and answer with the recipient.
The recipient gets an email referencing a pending transfer in the Interac system, and chooses what account to deposit it to. When depositing to an account in the big 5 banks, the deposit is immediate. You can deposit to any Canadian bank account by providing that information separately, but that takes longer.
The next choice for speed would be Western Union money transfer or similar, though those are expensive.
Wire transfers, as stated above, are expensive as well, and you need a fair amount of information. I once wired 2000 dollars to a friend; I needed to provide not only the destination bank account, but also the street address of the bank branch that held the account. I paid $25 to send it; I’m not sure whether the recipient had to pay a fee to receive it. I think it took a couple of days.
I did an international wire transfer, Canada to Finland, once. That was fun.
Another option might be sending a postal money order by courier or express mail, perhaps two or three days to cross the country. If you send it to a post office General Delivery (or however they do this), the recipient can pick it up at the post office, and I think that you can redeem the postal money order for cash right there in the post office. (I once had to do this for a friend who was living rough.)
When I have had occasion to transfer money between accounts at the same bank it has taken overnight to make the credit to the secondary account. No difference among cash, check, or phone request.
Some banks offer overdraft protection by charging to your credit card.
At my bank, at least, if you make the transfer request through online banking, the transfer is immediate. It’s also irrevocable, so make sure you get it right. 
Most other transactions, such as paying bills, can be cancelled up to 6PM that day.
The bank routing number is always 9 digits. The account numnber can be any number of digits – my checking account number is 6 digits. You should also see the check number at the bottom. If the check has been processed, the amount will be there too.