The National Automated Clearing House Association, better known as NACHA, is preparing its membership of U.S. banks and credit unions for updates to its same day ACH solution. “Same day” has been very popular with originators. In 2018 there were 178 million transactions and $159 billion in dollar value processed same-day, a 137% increase over the previous year. Building on that, NACHA is making enhancements to offer same day ACH more quickly, allow for larger per transaction value and add an additional processing window later in the day.
NACHA published overviews of the enhancements which will be rolling out slowly between September of this year through March of 2021. Here’s the brief explanation of what’s to come:
- Beginning Sept. 20, 2019, the availability of funds for many Same Day ACH and other ACH credits will occur sooner in the day.
- Beginning March 20, 2020, the per-transaction dollar limit for Same Day ACH will increase to $100,000.
- Beginning March 19, 2021, access will be extended by enabling Same Day ACH transactions to be submitted to the ACH Network two hours later every business day.
That seems like a very long time to rollout enhancements to an existing solution, but ACH does impact a complex web of nearly every financial institution in the U.S., processors, the Fed and also businesses.
To assist in getting all participants ready, NACHA has prepared quick overview documents:
The one for originators can be found here: Originators’ Guide
The one for receiving institutions is here: Receivers’ Guide
And the overview for processors is here: Processors’ Guide
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit and Alternative Products Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group