Everything ACH

Tomorrow – March 9, 2010 – marks the beginning of our 4th year of partnering with UMACHA (Upper Midwest ACH Association) to bring you the best darned beginner level ACH Education for Free.  And it’s FREE.  Did I mention that?  Oh, and it starts at 1:00 PM CT and should last about 90 minutes.

 It’s an entire series really.  Monthly, for 8 months we’ll cover topics ranging from a basic introduction to Returns and Unauthorized transactions to an entire session on ARC, POP and BOC.  Then to wrap up the year, we’ll tackle a couple of Check related sessions.

Each year, we have Banks, Credit Unions, Schools and Universities, Competitors, Merchants/Originators and Individuals – a great mix.

This month’s presentation is:  Introduction to ACH

Discover the basic principles of the ACH Network, the history, legal framework, participants and flow of ACH transactions.  Details on where the Originator fits into the “flow” of an ACH transaction and the route an entry takes before posting to the Receiver’s account will be discussed.

Now I know some of you are asking “What the catch?”  Here’s the deal – You have to register in advance. 

If you’re interested and I know you are, go to http://www.achdirect.com/news/events-teleseminars.asp.   

Click on the date/title of tomorrow’s presentation and you’ll be presented with the registration page. 

After you register, you’ll receive an e-mail with the log in and dial in details.

If you would like to register for multiple sessions, you will have to register separately for each one.  A bit of an annoyance I know, but what do you expect for free?  I mentioned it was FREE right?

If you would like a hard copy of the presentation, you can click on the link below the description and download a .pdf copy.

Should be a great time and I hope to hear you there.

Remember when you were a kid and your parents would say something about ‘in the good ‘ol days’? 

 In the good ‘ol days, candy bars only cost $0.15.  In the good ‘ol days, a movie cost $0.50 and popcorn was a dime.  In the good ‘ol days, a Stop Pay order was only good for one transaction.  OK, maybe that will be our ‘good ‘ol days’ line.

March 19, 2010 marks the date for another set of ACH Rules changes.  I’ve already addressed the upcoming changes to the Written Statement and now it’s time to address the upcoming changes to Stop Pay orders.

This is the order of things as we know it today;

A Stop Pay order is good for only 1 single transaction

A Stop Pay order is good until;

                The debit was stopped,

                6 months have passed without the debit being presented for payment, or

                The consumer requests removal of the Stop Pay order

This is the order of things to come – beginning March 19, 2010;

A Stop Pay order can be placed on multiple transactions

A Stop Pay order is good until;

                The debits or debits have been stopped

                The consumer requests removal of the Stop Pay order

Multiple transactions – A Receiver can now list multiple debits on the same form whereas in the good ‘ol days, we had to fill out a separate form for each debit we wanted stopped.  It is now the responsibility of the RDFI to determine what the Receiver wants. 

Does the Receiver want to only stop this month and next month’s payments and let future payments go through as usual?  Or do they want to stop all future payments?

Of course, if they want to stop all future payments, the RDFI should direct the Receiver to the Originator to revoke the authorization – in whatever manner is required by the authorization.  If the Receiver has already revoked the authorization, the RDFI has the opportunity to request a copy of the revocation provided by the Receiver to the Originator.  The RDFI has always had this opportunity, but now the Rules specify that the RDFI is permitted to make this request.

More than 6 months – Once upon a time, some Originator got a bright idea after a transaction was returned as R08 Payment Stopped; they decided to hold off on resubmitting the debit until the Stop Payment order expired.  180 days later, maybe 181 days later, they resubmitted their debit and it went through.  They were trying to bypass the Stop Pay order 6 month time-frame.  It worked, but it’s wrong.

To address this, the 6 month time-frame has been removed.  Problem solved.

That’s really about it for Stop Pay order changes. 

One of the really nice things – to me – is that these changes force communication.  OK, maybe they don’t force communication, they encourage communication…yah, that’s it, encourage.  Now I love me some communication.  I think we should all talk all the time.  The bottom line is that good communication can help avoid all sorts of problems and misunderstandings.

These changes open a path for the RDFI and the Receiver to communicate regarding the intent of the Stop Pay order.  They also open a path for the Originator and the Receiver to communicate regarding the intent of the Stop Pay order.  That is not a bad thing.

Someday, you’ll hear me say, in the good ‘ol days, after we signed an authorization, we never had to talk to the Originator again.  Maybe the good ‘ol days weren’t so good.

I cannot believe that it has taken me so long to get around to doing this…I’m almost ashamed.  Almost.

Anyone that knows me knows that when it comes to ACH, I am all about the education.  Whether it be one on one, tele-seminar, webinar, group setting, conference, tradeshow or mental telepathy, educating the world about ACH is what it’s all about.

 To that end, ACH Direct, once again joined forces with the good folks at UMACHA (The Upper Midwest ACH Association) to bring our 3^rd annual series of ACH Educational Webinars to the masses and I didn’t tell you about it.

 It’s not too late though.  These FREE webinars are available to anyone with an interest in learning more about ACH.  We began the series with an ‘Introduction to ACH’ followed by ‘Authorization Requirements’ and then ‘Exception Processing (Returns & NOCs)’. 

 I know what you’re thinking, FREE webinars, huh?  What’s the catch?

 OK, you got me.  There is one catch; you have to register in advance.  And luckily for us all, it is not too late.  The next webinar isn’t until Tuesday, June 23 at 1:30 PM CT…Unauthorized Entries and Stop Payments.  It promises to be endlessly entertaining and rumor has it that a good time will be had by all.

 I encourage you to visit http://www.achdirect.com/news/events-teleseminars.asp where you can find a full listing with descriptions of past and future webinars.  You can also click on the title of each webinar to register separately to attend.  If you would like copies of past webinars, just ask. 

 I hope to hear you there.

As you have probably figured out by now, I am all about education.  I aim to educate myself and others.  The primary purpose of this blog is to offer a place for others to learn about ACH in an easy to read and understand manner.  Education however, takes many forms, blogs like this, webinars and tele-seminars, in-person workshops, various publications and more. 

To that end, I would be remiss if I didn’t let you all know about an excellent opportunity coming up all too quickly – Payments 2009.  Check it out at http://payments.nacha.org/.   

Every year, NACHA, The National ACH Association puts on their premier conference.  It travels from year to year as they try to make it available to the widest possible audience.  This year, it happens to be in Orlando, FL from April 5 – 8.  If you are involved in ACH in any manner, you would undoubtedly already know this as they do an amazing job of marketing the heck out of this event. 

Every year a variety of sessions are offered covering a wide variety of payments related topics at taking into account all knowledge levels.  This is a fantastic opportunity to jump start your education and learn all about the latest and greatest in the payments world.

If there is any way you can make your way to Orlando for a few days of training, networking and camaraderie, I highly recommend it.

I apologize for the short notice, but fear not!  If you cannot make Payments 2009 in Orlando, there is another event on the horizon – two events to be precise.  Every year, NACHA also offers The Payments Institute – East and West.

“The Payments Institute is an intensive 5-day course aimed at helping you achieve a higher understanding of the payments system. The Payments Institute’s powerful curriculum is meticulously designed to accommodate both the novice and the experienced payments system professional. Whether you are starting from square one or have years of experience under your belt, this unique environment allows you to custom-design your learning experience to your current learning level.”

You can learn more about this event at http://www.nacha.org/conferences/TPI_2009/default.htm. 

There are many ways to get educated.  These are only a couple, but certainly the biggest.  There are many other offerings and I encourage you to get involved, participate at whatever level you are able.  Learn, learn, learn.

With the artful, Harry Potteresque flourish of a magician’s wand (though honestly, more likely the flick of a pen), WaMu has become Chase Bank. 

The recent failure of one of our largest financial institutions has raised a large number of questions such as; is my money safe, what about my credit cards, what’s the deal, what really happened, etc., etc., etc.  To put this into perspective, another recent failure (Indy Bank) that sent people reeling and caused ripples across the country was large.  WaMu was 16 times larger than Indy Bank.

While I am an expert in the ACH world and I know a great deal about banking in general, I don’t pretend to know the full story nor do I have all the answers.  However, I have had a few friends call or e-mail me with some questions of their own today, relating to their personal WaMu accounts.

With their permission, I have put together a few of their questions with answers and a link to a great article that appeared today on the CBS4 website that provides a bunch of other questions and answers.

Q1:  My payroll is deposited here, will it be safe?  Do I need to change my authorization?

A1:  By all accounts, yes, your Direct Deposit will be safe.  With JP Morgan Chase (Chase) buying the bulk of WaMu’s accounts, you should have no problems.  There is no need at this point to do anything – and you may not have to do anything, period. 

What happens when one financial institution buys another (regardless of the parties or the situation) is that the Fed (ACH Operator) can automatically redirect any incoming ACH transactions heading to one Financial Institution (FI) – identified by Routing Number(RT#) – and send onto another FI with no delay.

Then, the purchasing FI will send a Notification of Change to your employer notifying them of a change in Routing Number.  Your employer will (should) change the RT# before your next payday.  Going forward, all should be good again.

Q2:  My mortgage, insurance, gym membership, etc., payments come out of my WaMu account (Direct Payment), do I need to tell everyone to change it to Chase?

A2:  No.  Again, there is no need to do anything at this point – and you may not have to do anything, period. 

Same as above, Chase will send a Notification of Change through the ACH Network notifying your mortgage company, insurance company and anyone else you pay via your WaMu account that there has been a change to your RT#.  That company will (should) change the RT# before the next transaction is sent.  Going forward, all should be good again.

Q3:  I still have WaMu checks, will they still be good?

A3:  Whether the check is presented through the Check Collection process or converted and presented as an ACH transaction, you should be fine.  Very much like the ACH Network, the Check Collection process will allow for automatic re-routing of checks – this should happen with no delay.

As I mentioned, here is the link to the article:

http://cbs4.com/consumer/washington.mutual.failure.2.826013.html