RTP Network Logs Record Single-Day Transactions of $8.6 Billion

The Clearing House’s RTP network has recorded new single-day payment records.

The records were set on May 1, when the network processes 2.27 million transactions worth $8.62 billion, The Clearing House (TCH) announced Thursday (May 14).

This volume growth, “is driven by consumers looking for instant access to their funds to help balance household budgets,” The Clearing House said in a news release provided to PYMNTS.

“For example, tax refund disbursements for federal, state, and local taxes enabled by financial institutions and tax preparation firms increased 78% in the first four months of 2026, compared to the same period in 2025.”

That 78% figure, the release added, reflects a consumer preference for immediate access to money, whether that means households dealing with expenses between paychecks or a small business scheduling vendor payments around tax refunds.

“By receiving refunds in seconds rather than days or weeks, consumers and businesses are better equipped to make time-sensitive financial decisions,” The Clearing House said.

The release adds that the new single-day value record comes as financial institutions and corporate treasury teams increasingly turn to RTP for higher-value, time-sensitive transactions.

The new records surpass the ones set by RTP in February. On Feb. 13, the network processed 2.05 million payments, the first time it has met or surpassed 2 million payments per day. Six days later, RTP marked a new single-day value record of $8.36 billion.

This latest milestone comes at a time when real-time payments “are moving from novelty to necessity,” as PYMNTS wrote recently.

However, that report added, “their future will depend less on speed and more on whether providers can persuade consumers to make them habitual.”

This tension rests at the heart of the April 2026 Real-Time Payments Tracker, a PYMNTS Intelligence and TCH collaboration, which argues that instant payments are transforming from tools simply designed to speed transactions to a way to manage household cash.

The report shows that real-time payments are increasingly linked with specific financial needs: covering short-term expenses, shifting funds between accounts, accessing earned wages and managing income from gig work.

“That functional role, however, also exposes limits,” PYMNTS wrote. “When immediacy is not required, consumers often revert to traditional payment methods.”

The research also found that demand is strongest among consumers facing irregular income or tight liquidity constraints, such as gig workers, freelancers and households living paycheck to paycheck. Nearly a quarter of Americans struggle to keep up with monthly bills, “making access to funds a matter of timing rather than convenience,” PYMNTS added.