Tagada
Payments4 min readUpdated October 15, 2026

What Is an On-Us Transaction?

On-us transaction meaning: same bank on both sides. On-us vs off-us for cards, ATMs and checks, Visa's definition, and the on-us field on a check.

Nick Bonnassies, CMO at Tagada · checked against 6 sources

Article summary

TL;DR

An on-us transaction is a payment where one bank sits on both sides: it issued the card and acquired the merchant, or it holds both the payer's and the payee's accounts. The money never has to leave that bank. When two different banks are involved, the transaction is off-us, also called not-on-us.

  • On-us means one institution on both sides of the payment. Off-us, or not-on-us, means two different banks.
  • Visa defines an on-us transaction as a domestic transaction where one member both issued the card and acquired the volume.
  • An on-us card payment is still a Visa transaction under Visa's rules, and it still counts in the member's reporting to Visa.
  • The term is just as common for ATMs and checks: your own bank's ATM, or a check drawn on the bank where you deposit it.
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You saw "on-us" or "not on us" on a statement, an ATM screen or a fee schedule. It only describes where the money sits: at one bank, or at two.

What an on-us transaction is

An on-us transaction is a payment where the same institution is on both sides. For a card, the bank that issued the card is also the merchant's acquirer. For a check or a transfer, the bank holds both the payer's and the payee's accounts. The transaction can stay on that bank's own books, instead of going to another bank through a network.

Visa uses the term in its rules. It defines an On-Us Transaction as "a Domestic Transaction where an individual Member, represented by one Visa Business ID (BID), both: holds an issuing license and has issued the Card used in the Transaction; holds an acquiring license and acquired the corresponding volume" (Visa Core Rules, April 2026, ID# 0024907).1Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, April 18, 2026 So for Visa, a cross-border payment is never on-us, even at a bank that issues and acquires in both countries.

The Federal Reserve uses the same idea for bank transfers. It calls ACH entries that "do not clear through the FedACH settlement and distribution process" on-us and on-we entries, and offers banks a way to report them next to cleared entries.4Federal Reserve Financial Services, On-us Inclusion Interface Guide, FedPayments Reporter Service for FedACH (read October 14, 2026)

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On-us vs off-us: cards, ATMs and checks

On-usOff-us (not-on-us)
Card paymentYour card's issuer is also the store's acquirerIssuer and acquirer are different banks, linked by the card network
ATM withdrawalYour own bank's ATM. Chase: $0 at Chase ATMsAnother bank's ATM. Chase: $3 per withdrawal in the U.S., plus the ATM owner's surcharge
Check deposit (U.S.)Check drawn on the bank where you deposit it: funds by the next business dayCheck drawn on another bank: usually by the second business day, with exceptions
Bank transfer (ACH)Both accounts at one bank, no FedACH clearingSent through an ACH operator to the other bank

The ATM fees come from Chase's Total Checking fee page, read today.2Chase, Chase Total Checking fees, ATM fees (read October 14, 2026) The check rows come from Regulation CC: next-day availability for a check "deposited in a branch of the depositary bank and drawn on the same or another branch of the same bank" in the same state or check processing region (12 CFR 229.10(c)(1)(vi)), second business day for a local check (229.12(b)). Large deposits and new accounts have exceptions.312 CFR 229.10 and 229.12, Regulation CC, and Appendix E commentary, eCFR (read October 14, 2026) On the check itself, the "on-us" field of the MICR line, the magnetic ink numbers at the bottom, is the part reserved for the paying bank, usually your account number.5Federal Reserve Board, Frequently Asked Questions about Check 21 (read October 14, 2026)6TROY Group, MICR Glossary (read October 14, 2026)

What the card rules say about on-us payments

Staying inside one bank does not take a card payment out of the network's rules. Visa's April 2026 rules say:

  • It is still a Visa transaction. "A Transaction completed with an Affinity/Co-Branded Card (including an On-Us Transaction) must be processed and treated as a Visa Transaction" (4.1.5.8, ID# 0027370).
  • It must still reach VisaNet. Domestic transactions not otherwise cleared through VisaNet, including those processed "as an On-Us Transaction", must be submitted as Collection-Only, with regional exceptions (7.1.1.2, ID# 0027827).
  • It still counts in reporting. A member's Operating Certificate includes "Domestic Transactions (including On-Us Transactions)" (1.1.4.1, ID# 0027829).1Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, April 18, 2026

For an online merchant, on-us is not something you pick at checkout. It depends on which bank issued each customer's card and which bank acquires for you. Whether your acquirer prices those payments differently is set in your contract, not in the rules above. For the fees on a normal card payment, see credit card interchange fees. For the bank work behind each side, see acquirer processing, issuer processor, clearing and settlement.

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Updated on October 15, 2026

Nick Bonnassies

CMO at Tagada

CMO at Tagada. Before Tagada, Nick built direct-to-consumer brands that generated over $115M in sales, raised over $25M in crowdfunding and sold two of them. He also works as a fractional CMO on marketing operations and AI systems.

Frequently asked questions

What does not-on-us (off-us) mean?

Not-on-us, or off-us, means the two sides of a payment sit at different banks. Your card was issued by one bank and the store's acquirer is another, you use another bank's ATM, or you deposit a check drawn on another bank. The payment then has to cross a network, such as Visa or an ATM network, or a clearing system.

What is the on-us number on a check?

It is the on-us field of the MICR line, the magnetic ink numbers at the bottom of the check. The Federal Reserve says that line holds the routing number of the bank the check is drawn on, the account number and the check serial number. The on-us field is the part reserved for that bank, usually your account number, followed by the on-us symbol. On business checks, an auxiliary on-us field at the far left often carries the check number.

Is an on-us transaction the same as a closed loop payment?

No. In a closed loop network like American Express, one company runs both sides by design. An on-us transaction happens inside an open network like Visa when the issuer and the acquirer turn out to be the same bank. The next card from another bank is off-us.

Sources

Checked October 15, 2026
  1. Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, April 18, 2026
  2. Chase, Chase Total Checking fees, ATM fees (read October 14, 2026)
  3. 12 CFR 229.10 and 229.12, Regulation CC, and Appendix E commentary, eCFR (read October 14, 2026)
  4. Federal Reserve Financial Services, On-us Inclusion Interface Guide, FedPayments Reporter Service for FedACH (read October 14, 2026)
  5. Federal Reserve Board, Frequently Asked Questions about Check 21 (read October 14, 2026)
  6. TROY Group, MICR Glossary (read October 14, 2026)

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