Nacha Wants to Hear from You on Rules Proposals and New Ideas on Same Day ACH and Other 'Faster ACH' Topics

October 08, 2024

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October 08, 2024

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Same Day ACH has been live since September 2016 and since its debut Nacha has consistently made enhancements to meet the needs of ACH end users. Nacha now has a proposal to better serve Same Day ACH customers in the West, plus a proposed change that would provide faster funds availability for some non-Same Day ACH credits.

The Same Day ACH enhancement would create a fourth daily window with an estimated additional 3 1/4 hours to aligning with the end of the business day in the Pacific time zone.

"One thing Nacha hears consistently from ACH end users is that those in the western U.S. need a later opportunity to submit Same Day ACH payments," said Mike Herd, Nacha Executive Vice President, ACH Network Administration. "The current deadline of 1:45 p.m. in the Pacific time zone limits the adoption of Same Day ACH by businesses, organizations and consumers in the western U.S."

This would not be the first time that Same Day ACH operating hours have been extended. In 2021 the third window was added, which gave ODFIs an additional two hours to submit same-day payments.

Nacha also is seeking comment on another proposal, which would accelerate funds availability for certain next-day ACH credits. This proposal would eliminate the current 5 p.m. local time receipt condition, so that funds availability would be required on settlement day at 9 a.m. in the RDFI's local time for all non-Same Day ACH credits.

Beyond these two proposed Nacha Rules amendments, Nacha is asking the payments community to provide information and perspectives on two additional topics.

One is a question of whether the Nacha Rules should be amended to eliminate the availability of two-day ACH credits. Instead, all ACH credits would have to be sent to settle either on the same banking day or the next banking day. The other poses this question: What steps can the industry take to better utilize the same-day processing of ACH returns?

While these two topics are not being put forth as proposals to amend the Nacha Rules, industry feedback could form the basis for future Rules proposals.

Both the requests for comment and the requests for information are due Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. Visit Nacha.org for more information and to submit comments.