2005-2024 Form

I cannot tell if you are a developer creating an online payment form or a consumer asking about the check-out and payment process in general. I will answer for the consumer's perspective: Short answer: debit cards issued by your bank offer the best compromise between directness, convenience, and security when paying online. If the website doesn't offer fields to input bank account and routing information, you cannot directly charge your bank account for a purchase from an online check out form. This is usually a good thing. Do not provide your bank account information to arbitrary merchants online. You may compromise your security by doing so because many banks have little protection against fraud from direct withdrawals. If you must pay using your bank account, try calling the company. Their phone representatives might have access to payment methods that are unavailable online, and they can process your order over the phone. Again, do this only if you trust the company. Although PayPal enables you to "connect" your bank account, you never directly pay from that account when you check out with PayPal. The merchant never accesses your account themselves. PayPal withdraws the order amount from your account and disburses your payment to the merchant.Similarly, debit cards provide what seems to be direct access to you bank account, but there is still a layer in between: the debit processing network. Some debit card providers offer similar protection against fraudulent transactions as the protection credit cards typically include.Arguably, payments by check (cheque) and "direct debit" can be considered indirect as well (in the US, at least), because these transactions must pass through the ACH network. Withdrawing the cash at your own bank in person would be the only true direct method. Similar wire transfer systems of payment exist as well that enable transfer of money electronically. However, ACH and wire transfers are seldom used for online payments unless the value of the product is quite large. Both offer almost no protection against fraud. Here's a quick, (very) simplified illustration of the path of these payment methods: Merchant > Check (ACH) > Your Bank