More same-day ACH enhancements (with big perks) in the works

Same-day ACH will soon help your company pay others – and get paid – even more efficiently and securely.

Recently, NACHA – The Electronics Payment Association outlined some proposed changes that it’s exploring and looking to implement soon.

And not only would these developments mean faster, more secure payments – they’d also make things a whole lot easier for your staffers in A/P, A/R and Payroll.

4 major changes

Here are some advancements in the works with same-day ACH:

1. Payment processing later in the day. A new processing window would let finance staffers send same-day payments later and those payments would clear in the evening hours. This would come in handy on occasions when you need to get a last-minute payment out to meet a payroll deadline or capture a key discount in A/P.

2. Quicker access to funds. Within the existing processing windows, NACHA plans to make funds available to recipients earlier in the day for both same-day and regular ACH transactions. That’s good news for your own A/R department and could boost your vendor relationships, too.

3. The ability to send and receive higher-dollar payments. NACHA wants to increase the dollar limit per ACH transaction to $100,000 (currently, it’s $25,000). That would allow your company to expand its ACH scope to include more customers and vendors with higher invoice amounts.

4. The chance to pay or get paid days that were previously unavailable. Lastly, NACHA’s looking into weekend and holiday payment processing. In a pinch, your company would be able to send and receive funds on these days, helping you stay timely and compliant.

Getting ready now

Final rules on all these proposed changes are coming, so stay tuned.

For now, it’s vital that staffers know the benefits of what’s coming and take advantage of the wait time. Check with your finance teams to see that:

• A/R’s equipped to receive ACH payments from as many customers as possible
• A/P’s reaching out to more vendors (to highlight the benefits and get them onboard with
  e-payments), and
• Payroll’s primed to use these features to their benefit (i.e., for last-minute direct deposits).