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An Automated Clearing House (ACH) is a computer network that’s used for processing financial transactions. It’s used primarily for transferring low-value fiscal payments, including domestic transfers. ACH can be used for direct debits as well as credit money transfers.
The most popular example is the Automated Clearing House in the US, which is used by American individuals to receive and send money.
ACH transfers are all payments that are sent over the ACH network. An example of an ACH transfer is a direct deposit, when you receive your payments in a bank account. Bill payments made online are another example of ACH transfers.
Business owners can use the ACH network to make payments to vendors, or to receive incoming transfers to their accounts. In 2020 alone, the ACH network was responsible for processing $61.9 trillion in payments, which included a mix of Direct Deposits, Direct Payments, and B2B payments.
The first automated clearing house was actually set in the United Kingdom, and was known as BACS. It began processing payments in 1968. Around the same time, in the United States, a consortium of banks joined together to set up the first automated clearing house, which began operations in 1972.
There are automated clearing houses being used around the globe now, processing trillions in payments.
ACH Payments are electronic payments made between the banks of 2 parties which are carried out across the ACH network. These payments are not made via any credit card network. There are 2 main types of ACH payments, Direct Deposits and Direct Payments.
ACH direct deposits are essentially any kind of electronic money transfer, made either by a business or a government to a consumer. 96% of American workers are paid using direct deposits.
ACH Deposits that fall within this category include:
Any monies transferred for payment are considered ACH direct payments.
Transfers done through the automated clearing house (ACH) offer a variety of benefits, some of which are discussed below.
Automated clearing house (ACH) transfers are generally settled within one or two business days, which means that transfers are considerably quick. For businesses processing large sums of money, this makes it easy to receive and send out payments.
Depending upon the financial institution or the type of transfer, most ACH transfers are completely free. Most banks generally don’t charge any fee for moving money, especially if you’re moving it from a checking account to a savings account.
If you’re transferring a large sum to another entity, the cost is also relatively affordable, coming out to around a few dollars at most.
Compared to wire transfers, ACH transfers are generally much more cost-efficient to process. In comparison, a wire transfer can cost up to $75 to process for international transfers.
As mentioned above, most ACH transfers carry a nominal charge, so it’s much more cost-effective. In general, ACH transfers cost around 29c, which is a far cry from the $3 charge for each check.
SoftCoPay provides a centralized, secure channel for all vendor payments through one single payment file. The seamless process, from receipt of invoice to vendor payment, delivers control and transparency with straightforward reconciliation through the ERP and a fully auditable payment process. SoftCoPay is part of the SoftCo ecosystem and includes dashboards that provide comprehensive reporting to simplify administration for both vendors and the AP team. SoftCoPay integrates seamlessly with the ERP and is bank agnostic.