All About ACH Transactions

By Jake Cole


The Automated Clearing House, (ACH), is a system of financial establishments that conduct a substantial amount transactions in the United States. These ACH transactions are performed in an electronic format and are a very trustworthy way to move money between individuals, companies and financial institutions. In 2009, there were 18.76 billion ACH transactions that accounted for tens of trillions of dollars.

Nowadays, ACH transactions are extremely crucial to our economy. They make e-commerce possible and provide cashless options. This makes them among the most dependable and most secure ways to move funds.

Listed here are ACH transaction forms:

-Direct deposits -Debit card purchases -Automated online bill payments -Business-to-business payments (B2B) -E-commerce payments

ACH Transaction Processing

The transaction process begins when the receiver authorizes the originator to issue a purchase. This can be, for instance, a debit or credit transaction and the originator might be a retail store, an employer, a utility company or even a regular person just like you or me.

After that, an Originating Depository Financial Institution, or ODFI, which is a bank or some other standard bank, acts for the originator and submits the financial transaction into the ACH network. The ODFI then sends the originators purchase data to the operator.

The operator then directs the ACH purchase to the correct Receiving Depository Financial Institution, or RDFI. This RDFI acts on the part of the receiver, which might be a major company or even an individual, to issue a debit or credit to the receiver's account. And, thus, the ACH financial transaction process is complete.

ACH Transaction Fees

The ruling body of the Automated Clearing House is the National Automated Clearing House Association, (NACHA). NACHA charges a fee for every transaction an ACH operator makes along with an additional annual fee. At present, NACHA charges $.000133 per ACH transaction as well as an annual fee of $144.

The fees were put in place to help fund upgrades to the ACH network. Right now, the ACH transaction fees support NACHA's ACH network administration services, including:

-ACH network risk management applications -ACH network top quality enhancements -Maintenance and enforcement of the NACHA operating regulations -Development of rules for first time ACH applicants -ACH network communications, research and statistics -Administration of the National ACH marketing plan

Ever since the transaction fees were set up in 2008, they've gradually climbed. However, they're small in comparison to the amount of money that ACH operators are able to move per year. There isn't any doubt that the future of the ACH network will only continue to grow as more and more individuals are transitioning to electronic systems to take care of their transactions.




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