That is the central tension explored in Reality Check: Fact vs. Fiction in Real-Time Payments Fraud, the August 2025 report from PYMNTS Intelligence and The Clearing House.
The study found that while real-time payment rails such as the RTP network and the Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service continue to post extremely low fraud rates, fear of fraud is intensifying among banks and slowing adoption. The disconnect between experience and belief is now one of the most significant barriers to scaling instant payments in the United States.
The report shows that financial institutions increasingly cite fraud as a reason to limit real-time payments to receive-only services.
Many banks worry that faster settlement leaves less time to detect scams and intervene. Those concerns persist even as data consistently shows that real-time payments are safer than many legacy rails.
The result is a paradox. Banks are restricting access to a payment method that already incorporates strong controls, while continuing to rely on older systems that expose them to higher fraud losses.
The anxiety is real and rising. A large majority of U.S. payments professionals expect fraud to increase as instant payments become more common, according to survey data cited in the report. Larger institutions are especially wary of instant options, viewing their scale as a magnet for criminals. Fraud has climbed sharply in rankings as an obstacle to implementation, overtaking several operational and technical challenges that once dominated planning discussions. This shift suggests banks are moving past questions of infrastructure and confronting perceived risk head-on.
The data, however, paint a different portrait.
- 63% of firms reported check fraud in 2024, compared with just 2% reporting fraud on RTP or FedNow. Checks remain one of the most widely used payment methods despite being among the most vulnerable.
- Only 3% of financial institutions describe fraud losses on real-time payments as significant. Most report impacts that are slight, moderate or nonexistent, indicating that existing safeguards are working.
- 96% of banks support tools such as Confirmation of Payee to reduce authorized push payment fraud. Support rises even higher among small and mid-sized institutions, showing broad consensus on preventive measures.
Beyond the headline figures, the report underscores why real-time payments tend to attract less fraud. These rails are built around push payments, which require an account holder to initiate a transaction.
That design eliminates entire categories of unauthorized debits common to ACH and checks. Real-time networks also operate in modern, API-driven environments that enable continuous monitoring, identity checks and rapid information sharing across institutions.
The persistence of fraud fears has practical consequences. Many banks plan to roll out real-time payments in receive-only mode, limiting consumer and business use cases and slowing network effects. That caution may feel prudent, but the report argues it ultimately constrains value for customers and institutions alike. Fraud does not disappear when banks sit on the sidelines. It simply migrates to weaker channels.
The study also highlights growing momentum behind coordinated defenses. Both The Clearing House and the Federal Reserve have introduced new fraud mitigation initiatives, including shared data frameworks and real-time monitoring tools.
Banks are prioritizing investments in multifactor authentication, real-time detection and advanced analytics. These efforts reflect a recognition that managing fraud is less about slowing payments and more about strengthening collaboration.
Real-time payments have reached a moment of reckoning. The tools to manage risk are already in place and widely supported. What remains is closing the gap between perception and reality. Adoption will accelerate when facts, not fear, shape decision-making.
