In the United States, the ACH Network is the national automated clearing house (ACH) for electronic funds transfers established in the 1960s and 1970s. It processes financial transactions for consumers, businesses, and federal, state, and local governments. ACH processes large volumes of credit and debit transactions in batches. ACH credit transfers include direct deposit for payroll, Social Security and other benefit payments, tax refunds, and vendor payments. ACH direct debit transfers include consumer payments on insurance premiums, mortgage loans, and other kinds of bills.
The rules and regulations that govern the ACH network are established by National Automated Clearinghouse Association (Nacha). In 2018, the network processed 23billion transactions with a total value of $51.2trillion. Credit card payments are handled by separate networks.
The Federal Reserve's FedACH and The Clearing House Payments Company's Electronic Payments Network (EPN) are the two ACH operators in the United States.
History
The ideas leading to the ACH arose in the late 1960s. One early predecessor was a US federal initiative used to help United States Air Force personnel get their paychecks on time. The success of this initiative led to an expansion to other employees and the government adopted it as a major payroll standard.
Separately in 1968 a group of check clearinghouse associations set up The Special Committee on Paperless Entries (SCOPE) to build an automated payment system after concerns for the number of checks being cleared for payrolls.
This led to the first ACH association, formed in California in 1972. Other regional ACH associations followed. The difficulty in compliance between different organizations led them to join to form National Automated Clearinghouse Association (Nacha) in 1974.
Nacha consolidated and added new rules which led to ACH. As computer and telecommunication technology advanced over the next few years, the system continued to develop. By 1978, electronic funds transfers were available.
From the late 1980s through to the 2000s, the system continued to develop with a number of enhancements. In 2001, there was a major reorganization of Nacha which led to financial institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation becoming direct members making it much easier for the ACH network to be used by banks; that same year internet payments also went into effect which would go on to be a big part of ACH payments.
Uses of the ACH payment system
Bank treasury management departments sell this service to business and government customers Business-to-business payments Direct debit payment of consumer bills such as mortgages, loans, utilities, insurance premiums, rents, and any other regular payment Direct deposit of payroll, Social Security and other government payments, and tax refunds E-commerce payments Federal, state, and local tax payments Non-immediate transfer of funds between accounts at different financial institutions (when a real-time transfer is required, a wire transfer using a system such as the Federal Reserve's Fedwire is employed instead)
Types of ACH transactions
For each ACH payment from a payor's bank account to a payee's bank account, there are effectively two ACH transactions created and transmitted, namely an ACH Debit transaction and an ACH Credit transaction. In the case of a payor and payee having an account at the same financial institution, there is only one ACH transaction, which is often called an "on-us" transaction.
ACH Debit transaction
The payee's sending institution creates, batches, and transmits an ACH Debit transaction to the payor's receiving institution. The ACH Debit transaction instructs the receiving institution to withdraw and transmit the funds from the payor's bank account to the sending institution.
The receiving institution must send the return to the sending institution by the end of the following business day if it is unable to debit the funds from the payor's account, such if the account was not found, the account was closed, or the account was frozen.
For an ACH Debit transaction, the sending institution may be a third-party bank, rather than the payee's bank.
ACH Credit transaction
The payor's sending institution creates, batches, and transmits an ACH credit to the payee's receiving institution. The ACH Credit transaction instructs the receiving institution to credit the funds to the payee's bank account.