BACS

BACS is the UK’s batch bank-transfer scheme — the rail behind Direct Debit (pulling money in) and Direct Credit (pushing money out, like payroll). It’s cheap and dependable, but it runs on a fixed three-working-day cycle rather than in real time.

How it works

• Payments follow a three-day rhythm: submitted day one, processed day two, settled day three.
• Direct Debit lets an approved biller collect from a payer; Direct Credit sends money out in bulk.
• Because there’s a window before settlement, timing is predictable but never immediate.

It’s the UK’s rough equivalent of ACH: the low-cost, batched workhorse for regular, non-urgent money movement.

Why it matters

BACS is built for scheduled, recurring volume — salaries, supplier runs, subscription collections — where a few pence per payment beats speed. The three-day cycle is the catch: you have to fund and schedule ahead, and a payment initiated too late slips to the next window. For urgent money you reach for a faster rail; for predictable money BACS is hard to beat on cost.

How Fynex does it

Fynex uses batch rails like BACS for scheduled, non-urgent UK payouts and switches to Faster Payments or CHAPS when a payment needs to move now — so you pay for speed only when it’s worth it. See Faster Payments vs BACS vs CHAPS.