The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced prices for 2027 for payment services that Federal Reserve Banks provide to banks and credit unions, and changes to streamline and adjust their check services. The pricing takes effect January 1, 2027, the Board said.
The announcement covers services such as the clearing of checks, automated clearing house (ACH) transactions, instant payments, and wholesale payment and settlement services.
By law, the Federal Reserve must set fees to recover the costs, including imputed costs, of providing payment services over the long run. The Federal Reserve said it expects to recover 101.5 percent of actual and imputed expenses in 2027, including the return on equity that would have been earned if a private-sector firm provided the services. Overall, price changes for 2027 will result in an estimated 1.4 percent average price increase for established, mature services, according to the Board.
The Federal Reserve Banks also announced changes to streamline and adjust their check services. As described in last year’s request for information on check services, the volume of checks processed by the Federal Reserve Banks is declining, but checks remain an important payment instrument for many consumers and businesses. The Board said the adjustments include optimizing check processing windows during low-volume periods, increasing fees that banks and credit unions pay to process checks, and other operational updates. It said these changes do not impact consumers’ and businesses’ ability to pay with or receive checks and only affect how banks and credit unions process checks with Federal Reserve Banks.
The Board said the entire 2027 fee schedule for all Federal Reserve payment services is published on FRBservices.org. It said additional information on the Federal Reserve’s payments services, including service usage statistics, is available on the Board’s website.