Account number.
In plain English
An account number is the unique identifier for one specific account inside a bank or credit union. Paired with the bank's routing number, it tells the payment system exactly where money should go. It appears in the bottom-center of a paper check, after the routing number, and on your statements and in online banking. Account numbers are usually longer and have no fixed national length, since each institution assigns them its own way.
01Why it matters
Your account number plus routing number is all someone needs to deposit money to you or to pull a payment, so it is sensitive information worth guarding and double-checking.
02The math, step by step
When a friend pays you back by bank transfer, they need your account number and routing number. On a paper check, the account number is the middle block of digits along the bottom, sitting between the routing number on the left and the check number on the right.
03What this is NOT
An account number is not your 16-digit debit card number. The card number is tied to a card and can be replaced if the card is lost; the account number identifies the underlying bank account itself.
04Receipts
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Plain-English answers from our glossary. Receipts included. Never advice.
Educational tool. Answers come only from ClearMoneySchool's published glossary and are not advice. Why we never give advice