Will change of address affect direct deposit?

Question

A direct deposit from my employer hasn't made it into my account yet but should have by now. I have a copy of the paystub which has my previous address (I just moved.) Could this be a reason for it not being deposited into my account, or should the deposit be successful as long as the company has my routing number and account number?

Answer 1

No, a change of address should not affect direct deposit. In fact, most direct deposit forms don't even ask for your personal mailing address. Your assumption is correct that the routing and account numbers are sufficient for the payment to go through. If the deposit is more than 2 days late I would contact your HR department to confirm if the payment was made (and to the correct account number), and you might as well also let them know your new mailing address.

Answer 2

I agree it should not make a difference. As long as the bank routing number is unchanged, and your account number is unchanged the direct deposit should be successful.

I would do 3 three things:

• Ask co-workers if their direct deposit worked. It may have impacted multiple employees.
• Inform payroll/HR. It might have just been your paycheck, or multiple people could be impacted, or just people using one bank.
• Contact your bank. It could have been a bank problem. And everybody getting paid that day no matter what payroll processor they use.

Answer 3

Another possibility, although unlikely, is fraud.

I had a co-worker who recently very nearly missed a direct payroll deposit. A scammer contacted our HR Department, pretending to be the employee, requesting a change of routing and account numbers for the employee's direct deposit. The scam looked good enough that it almost made it through. An alert HR employee reached out to my co-worker to get in-person confirmation. The change was aborted mere hours before the payroll was processed.

So, among the other suggestions ... check with your HR Department to make sure they haven't recently changed the routing or account numbers for your direct deposit registration.

Answer 4

It is more likely that your company made a finance change of some sort and are having difficulty making the automated deposit.

They probably mailed you a notice of this and it was not delivered to the new address. A quick contact to HR will resolve. Also make sure to give them the current mailing address. It is the only way to make sure any legal documents the company is required to give you are delivered.