NACHA Membership approves Same Day ACH

The rule enables same-day capability for any ACH transaction, creating options for the businesses, governments and consumers who want to move their money faster. Same Day ACH will build upon existing, next-day ACH Network capabilities and establish a new option for same-day clearing and settlement via ACH. Under the rule, two new same-day settlement windows will be added to the ACH Network, increasing the movement of funds between financial institutions from once each day to three times each day.

The rule also requires that all Receiving Depository Financial Institutions (RDFIs) receive same day transactions and provide faster funds availability to customers. Additionally, the rule establishes the methodology for a Same Day Entry fee as a mechanism for RDFIs to recover some of their costs for enabling and supporting mandatory receipt of same-day ACH transactions.

The final rule mirrors the proposal outlined in the industry Request for Comment (RFC). With broad ACH Network user support for that proposal, modifications to the final rule were predominantly technical and operational in nature. Specifically, there were three key changes, reflecting feedback from the RFC process. First, the morning same-day window was modified to allow for more time to process transactions, with settlement occurring at 1:00 p.m. ET. This new settlement time would become effective in Phase 1 instead of Phase 3, as originally proposed.

Secondly, the rule creates an option for an additional method for ODFIs to use, at their discretion, with their Originators to determine intent for same-day settlement. Finally, there was an adjustment to the methodology for calculating the Same Day Entry fee to exclude opportunity costs from its calculation. Same Day ACH will be implemented in a phased approach. In Phase 1, ACH credit transactions will be eligible for same day processing, supporting use cases such as hourly payroll, person-to-person (P2P) payments and same-day bill pay. In Phase 2, same-day ACH debits will be added, allowing for a wide variety of consumer bill payment use cases like utility, mortgage, loan and credit card payments.

Phase 3 introduces faster ACH credit funds availability requirements for RDFIs; funds from Same Day ACH credit transactions will need to be available to customers by 5 p.m. RDFI local time. Phase 1 is scheduled to begin September 23, 2016. NACHA estimates Same Day ACH payments will be generated from 10 primary use cases, and 63 sub-use cases, including same-day payrolls, expedited bill payments, business-to-business (B2B) payments, and account-to-account (A2A) transfers. The majority of Same Day ACH payments are expected to enhance existing ACH applications, giving consumers and businesses the choice of speed.