ACH Network
In the United States, the ACH Network is the national automated clearing house for electronic funds transfers. It processes financial transactions for consumers, businesses, and federal, state, and local governments. ACH processes large volumes of credit and debit transactions in batches. Short for "Automated Clearing House", 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.
Rules and regulations that govern the ACH network are established by National Automated Clearinghouse Association. In 2018, the network processed 23 billion transactions with a total value of $51.2 trillion. Credit card payments are handled by separate networks.
The Reserve Banks and the Electronic Payments Network are the ACH operators.
History
The ideas that would lead to the ACH were first developed in the late 1960s. One of the early predecessors 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 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 to them join together to form National Automated Clearinghouse Association 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. This year also saw internet payments go into effect which would go on to be 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
SEC codes
| Code | Name | Description |
| ARC | Accounts receivable conversion | A consumer check converted to a one-time ACH debit. The difference between ARC and POP is that ARC can result from a check mailed in whereas POP is in-person. |
| BOC | Back office conversion | A single entry debit initiated at the point of purchase or at a manned bill payment location to transfer funds through conversion to an ACH debit entry during back office processing. Unlike ARC entries, BOC conversions require that the customer be present, and that the vendor post a notice that checks may be converted to BOC ACH entries. |
| CCD | Corporate Credit or Debit Entry | Used to consolidate and sweep cash funds within an entity's controlled accounts, or make/collect payments to/from other corporate entities. |
| CIE | Customer Initiated Entries | Use limited to credit applications where the consumer initiates the transfer of funds to a company for payment of funds owed to that company, typically through some type of home banking product or bill payment service provider. |
| CTX | Corporate trade exchange | Transactions that include ASC X12 or EDIFACT information. |
| DNE | Death notification entry | Issued by the federal government. |
| IAT | International ACH transaction | This is a SEC code for cross-border payment traffic to replace the PBR and CBR codes. The code has been implemented since September 18, 2009. |
| POP | Point-of-purchase | A check presented in-person to a merchant for purchase is presented as an ACH entry instead of a physical check. |
| POS | Point-of-sale | A debit at an electronic terminal initiated by use of a plastic card. An example is using your debit card to purchase gas. |
| PPD | Prearranged payment and deposits | Used to credit or debit a consumer account. Popularly used for payroll direct deposits and preauthorized bill payments. |
| RCK | Represented check entries | A physical check that was presented but returned because of insufficient funds may be represented as an ACH entry. |
| TEL | Telephone-initiated entry | Oral authorization by telephone to issue an ACH entry such as checks by phone. |
| WEB | Web-initiated entry | Electronic authorization through the Internet to create an ACH entry. |
| XCK | Destroyed check entry | A physical check that was destroyed because of a disaster can be presented as an ACH entry. |