According to the plan engineered years ago, same day ACH debit transactions through the ACH system have been launched, joining same day credit transactions which became available last year. As NACHA announced in their press release:
“After a successful year of Same Day ACH credits, we are excited to implement Same Day ACH for debits and continue to expand this faster payments option in the U.S.,” said Janet O. Estep, president and CEO of NACHA. “With debits accounting for almost 60 percent of overall ACH volume, we expect that use of Same Day ACH debits will grow and become a faster payments method that benefits all users of the ACH Network, from financial institutions, businesses of all sizes, to governments and consumers.”
All U.S. financial institutions must now process ACH transactions with the current date in the effective date field that arrive within a specified timeframe within a single processing day. Financial institutions are not required to originate same-day ACH transactions, however, most will to remain competitive:
According to a survey conducted by NACHA, 92 percent of NACHA’s top originating depository financial institution members will be ready to originate Same Day ACH debits beginning today, and 100 percent of all U.S. receiving depository financial institutions are required by the rule to be ready to receive the payments.
“Same Day ACH for debits expands on the innovative solutions that began with Same Day ACH for credits, supporting the demands to move money and information faster,” said Estep. “With Same Day ACH debits, consumers and businesses will start to have an additional option for faster payments, and will be better able to track their finances with a clearer sense of their bank account balances.”
In the next few weeks, Mercator Advisory Group will publish a report regarding the current environment with same day credits and debits and the impact on other payment types.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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