This article only describes the ACH in the United States. Many countries in the world have an ACH or ACH system that functions differently from that of the US. The article should be restructured with a genenric decription of what an ACH is and does, then have subsections on business, governance, and processing models etc., before then describing the US ACH (and prefferably others too) as one example. --LippyTheLip 12:57, 26 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I don't understand the issue with the 60 and 90 day overlap. --Gbleem 22:13, 3 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
This section starts with a garbled sentence: "Time day 60. However..." Mdz (talk) 16:37, 13 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
"EPN and the Reserve Banks rely on each other for the processing of some transactions in which either the Originating Depository Financial Institution (ODFI) or Receiving Depository Financial Institution (RDFI) is not their customer. These interoperator transactions are settled by the Reserve Banks." I don't understand these two sentences. --Gbleem 22:13, 3 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Reg E doesn't deal with ACH transactions, only POS/EFT transactions; transactions that are originating with a card. State your source or an example. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Flavious27 (talk • contribs) 17:31:46, August 19, 2007 (UTC).
Heres how the bank responded:
Thank you for your inquiry dated 9/24/07 regarding the transaction. We sincerely apologize for the delay in replying to your e-mail. We will be happy to assist you.
Note that the transaction was sent via the Automated Clearing House system, also know as ACH. As such, the transaction is listed only within the account statements after it has posted. This type of payment is a contractual agreement between you and the merchant.
To cancel all future payments, we recommend contacting the payee or merchant in writing. You can also make a stop payment request.
The stop payment can be placed on future payments to the vendor. Please provide the following information: - Exact date - Exact amount - Specific payee or merchant name of the payment
If these items are not exact, the item may be paid.
A stop payment fee of $20.00 will be deducted from your account. A stop payment will be effective for six months. We are unable to place a stop payment within three business days of the specified transaction date. If you would like us to place a stop payment, please send us a message with your request. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
We value you as a customer and appreciate your business. If we may be of further assistance, please contact us again by e-mail. Thank you for choosing Bank of America. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mkfarnam (talk • contribs) 17:37, 26 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The ACH is one of the American banks' systems for processing checks. There are two groups that actually manage the ACH system - The Federal Reserve Banks (part of the U.S. Government's Treasury Department) and the EPN (Electronic Payments Network which is owned by The Clearing House Payments Company which in turn is owned by a group of banks that operate in the U.S. - [1]). Some banks do not subscribe to the Federal Reserve's ACH system, they only use the EPN's. Other banks only subscribe to the Federal Reserve's, and not EPN's. So when an EPN-subscribing bank needs to process a check issued by a Fed-subscribing bank, the EPN needs to hand off the transaction to the Fed. When a Fed-subscribing bank needs to process a check for an EPN-subscribing bank, the Fed actually takes care of the transaction as well. This is what the "These interoperator transactions are settled by the Reserve Banks." means.
As for the "worldwide" note at the top - I'm not aware of "The Automated Clearing House" being a global term used to describe anything generic or a group of systems that operate internationally. "The Automated Clearing House" is an American system setup and managed by the U.S. Federal Reserve Banks and commercial banks that operate in the U.S. (both international and American headquartered) for use in transactions involving American bank accounts. Why would this article need to be expanded to cover the worldwide view of the ACH when it doesn't exist outside of the U.S.?
How about a subsection on ACH transfers vs. wire transfers?
Yes, I agree. From the two wikipedia posts I gather the difference is ACH is scheduled and batch, whereas wire is a single transaction requiring id and authorization each time. Is this correct?
Also it seems that ACH is a system between banks that doesn't charge anything extra to the transferers whereas a Fed wire is via the Federal Reserve and incurs additional fees. Banks are eager to provide their customers with direct deposit accounts presumably because of the steady inflows they can expect (and more efficient processing than that of paper checks). Both are subject to Fed regulations, but there is obviously more direct involvement with a Fed wire. It would help Wikipedia readers tremendously if these "FAQs" could be answered amidst the article's more technical info. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.61.165.98 (talk) 12:45, 10 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
"Also it seems that ACH is a system between banks that doesn't charge anything extra to the transferers whereas a Fed wire is via the Federal Reserve and incurs additional fees."
One of the most important features of a payment system is the amount of time it takes transactions to clear. When a business collects payment via ACH, how fast do the funds hit their account?Cadwallader (talk) 02:50, 9 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
This article really muddies the waters when it comes to the distinction between the technical vs. social aspects of the ACH system. Some paragraphs, like the one quoted below, make it sound like ACH could be conducted on paper directly between people:
Once authorization is acquired, the Originator then creates an ACH entry to be given to an Originating Depository Financial Institution (ODFI), which can be any financial institution that does ACH origination. This ACH entry is then sent to an ACH Operator that passes it on to the Receiving Depository Financial Institution (RDFI), where the Receiver's account is issued either a debit or credit.
Imagine how hard the article on [HTTP] would be to understand if it was written that way:
...the Web user first prepares a GET or POST request, then gives the request to the Web page author's Internet Service Provider (ISP), who then retrieves a page for them and sends it back in the HTTP response...
75.186.5.185 (talk) 13:47, 2 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]