Nacha’s new WEB Debit Account Validation Rule effective March 19

Nacha’s WEB Debit Account Validation Rule kicked in on Friday. However, if you’re not completely ready, you catch a break.

Under the rule, if you rely on automated clearinghouse (ACH) debits from customer accounts, you now have to take another step to guard against fraud.

As the originator of the ACH, your company must verify that the account to be used is a “legitimate, open account to which ACH entries may be posted at the [Receiving Depository Financial Institution] RDFI.”

And you’ll have to do it both the first time a customer uses an account and anytime an account changes.

The good news? Nacha recently announced that it won’t be enforcing the rule for an additional year. That’s as long as you’re working in good faith to comply but still need more time.

What will satisfy the WEB Debit Account Validation Rule requirements

So just what might those solutions be? Nacha provides a list of examples on its FAQ page on the new WEB Debit Account Validation Rule.

While other options may also work, Nacha’s list offers a great jumping off point, and they’d definitely keep you in compliance:

• Prenotification Entry
• ACH micro-transaction verification
• a commercially available validation service provided by either an Originating Depository Financial Institution or a third-party, and
• account validation capabilities or services enabled by application programming interfaces (APIs).