NACHA Approves Expansion Of Same Day ACH

NACHA — The Electronic Payments Association — announced that its membership has approved three new rules that will expand Same-Day ACH for all financial institutions and their customers.

The first rule will allow Same-Day ACH transactions to be submitted to the ACH Network for an additional two hours every business day, while the second boosts the Same-Day ACH per-transaction dollar limit to $100,000, and the third rule increases the speed of funds availability for certain Same-Day ACH and next-day ACH credits.

“Since the initial adoption of Same-Day ACH, business users of ACH have been asking for enhancements,” Jane Larimer, chief operating officer of NACHA, said in a press release. “NACHA and its members are now delivering those enhancements.”

Just last week NACHA revealed that ACH Network volume surpassed 2 billion transactions in August, an increase of more than 10 percent compared to the previous year. The value of the payments was $4.5 trillion, an increase of 12 percent compared to last year.

The expansion of Same-Day ACH will be made possible through the creation of a new Same-Day ACH processing window by the two ACH Network operators. Funds from Same-Day ACH credits processed in the existing first window will be made available by 1:30 p.m. local time, while funds from certain other ACH credits will be available by 9 a.m. local time.

“NACHA continues to expand ACH Network offerings to make it easier to use the ACH,” continued Larimer. “With these enhancements to Same-Day ACH, the ACH Network will have a comprehensive set of faster payments capabilities available to all financial institutions and their customers.”

The faster funds availability rule will go into effect on September 20, 2019; the increase in the per-transaction dollar limit will begin on March 20, 2020; and the new Same Day ACH processing window with expanded hours will start on September 18, 2020.