What is ACH?

• 01.

  Automated Clearing House or ACH, is the electronic alternative to paper checks. The concept took shape in the early 1970s, and has been gaining acceptance and sophistication ever since. The Federal Reserve Banks in the regions usually provided the backbone of the new system, except in New York and Chicago, where private clearinghouses do the work.

• 02.

  The National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) came into being in 1974, paving the way for standardized regulations and certification. The nationwide networks came into effect in 1978. Today, a second, private network called the Electronic Payments Network (EPN) competes with the Federal Reserve ACH network.

• 03.

  Today, ACH is a normal part of daily life and is taken for granted. More than 70% of Americans get their paycheck deposited directly to their bank accounts by ACH. Now, with internet commerce so pervasive, individual businesses can employ ACH themselves, for collecting payments from customers, and for making payments to agents, associates, and vendors.

• 04.

  Total ePay is a member of Internet Council of the National Automated Clearing House Association.

Where is ACH used?

ACH direct money transfer are most commonly used for direct deposit of paychecks. But there is an entire universe of business applications where using ACH makes terrific sense. It really is only limited by your imagination, but here is a starter list of uses:

The challenge is to find a way to make ACH work in your business. The rewards are better customer loyalty, better audit trail of all payments made, greatly reduced costs for all transactions in and out, better cash flow, and more/better use of your website investment.

Let Total ePay tell you how automated electronic payments can be made to work for your business. Simply Register, and a Total ePay representative will call you to make the system work for you.