The term "wire transfer" refers to the early days of quickly moving money from one person to the next, when actual telegraph wires were used to transfer funds. Today's wire transfers happen electronically, going from the sender to the recipient after passing through the Federal Reserve. The process should happen instantaneously, but you can track it either using the authorization number your sending authority gave you, or the wiring service you used can help trace it using the IMAD/OMAD number, which is short for input/output message accountability data, issued by the Federal Reserve.
Video of the Day
When you wire money to someone, you have a variety of options. Your bank is one option, but fees may be cheaper through other sources, such as Walmart and Western Union. Services like PayPal and Venmo offer electronic funds transfers for free. When you use one of these services, you'll be given an authorization number you can use to track your account, if you can't just log in and see the status on the list.
