NACHA released new figures on the growth of the most ubiquitous form of faster payment we have in the U.S.; same-day ACH. Although not the fastest form of payment, same day ACH does have the advantage of reaching all domestic accounts, being supported by financial institutions and businesses and is relatively inexpensive in comparison to other payment forms. Some of the details regarding same day ACH were spelled out in the press release:
In the second quarter of 2018, there were nearly 41 million Same Day ACH transactions, including 21 million credit and nearly 20 million debit transactions. Compared to the same time period in 2017, when there were only credit payments available, there were 11.9 million transactions (Same Day ACH credits have been available since September 2016 and Same Day ACH debits went live in September 2017). Overall, Same Day ACH payments volume in the second quarter of 2018 represents a 243 percent increase year-over-year.
“More people than ever before are enjoying the benefits of Same Day ACH,” Larimer continued. “As the adoption of Same Day ACH continues to grow, NACHA will seek to continue to expand the capabilities of Same Day ACH and the ACH Network.
The expansion of ACH capabilities most likely refers to the current proposal in increase the allowable per transaction dollar limit to $100,000 and the addition of additional ACH windows which will lead to even faster transaction posting.
Detailed use cases around second quarter’s same day ACH activity were not provided, but if they mirror the activity from 2017’s same day transactions, then most credit transactions were used for payroll and other B2C disbursements and same day debits were used for consumer bill pay and account to account transfers.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit and Alternative Products Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
