Bank of America’s Automated Clearing House (ACH) is an electronic payment delivery system that allows you to pay or collect funds electronically through the ACH network — one of the world’s safest, most reliable payment networks. With greater speed, accuracy and efficiency, ACH offers more control over the timing of payments posting to your bank accounts. Use ACH to help improve forecasting, reduce exposure to check fraud, cut expenses and get faster access to funds.
Automated Clearing House (ACH)
Reliable, efficient and predictable electronic payments
Fraud prevention with ACH
Switching from checks to ACH can greatly help reduce risks. Our fraud prevention tools can protect you against unauthorized transactions to your accounts.
ACH Positive Pay with mobile approvals
Take control of ACH transactions received in your accounts. Automatically accept authorized transactions from trading partners, decide whether to pay or return ACH exceptions in real-time, and update your ACH authorizations. Exceptions that require either primary or secondary approval, or both, can also be approved using your mobile device.
Account Validation
Prior to initiating electronic credits or debits in the U.S., our Account Validation service can help you validate whether a bank account is open and if it belongs to the person authorizing payment to or from the account. The service can also help you to comply with the Nacha WEB Debit Account Validation rule that went into effect on March 19, 2021. With this new rule, ACH Originators of WEB debit entries are required to use a “commercially reasonable fraudulent transaction detection system” to screen WEB debits for fraud. The supplemental requirements apply to the first use of an account number, or changes to the account number. Please visit Nacha.org for full rule details and/or rule modifications.
Ways to use ACH
Make and receive a wide range of recurring and nonrecurring payments.
Direct deposit: Pay employees and other consumers
Consumer receipts: Collect utility bills, insurance premiums, mortgage payments and more
Business payments: Send funds to suppliers and other B2B counterparties
Tax payments: Make federal, state and local tax payments
Cash concentration: Consolidate funds from various locations
Cross-border: Connect in Canada, Mexico, Panama and Europe
How ACH works
While most ACH transactions post on the following day, we offer same-day posting for eligible transactions destined for accounts at Bank of America and other Receiving Depository Financial Institutions.
Learn more about Same-Day ACH >
It’s easy to ACH payments and receipts via CashPro® ACH, CashPro® Connect and CashPro® API. You can create and deliver a standard ACH-formatted file using your business software, a payroll vendor or our ACH service.
Nacha Operating Rule Changes
See below for a summary of upcoming Nacha Operating Rule changes. For more details on the new and amended Rules, visit nacha.org/newrules
Effective June 21, 2024
Minor Topics - These changes will amend the Rules to address a variety of minor topics. Minor changes to the Rules are expected to have little-to-no impact on ACH participants and no significant processing or financial impact.
Minor topics included within these Rules:
- General Rule for WEB Entries
- Definitions of Originator
- Originator Action on Notification of Change
- Data Security Requirements
- Use of Prenotification Entries
- Clarification of Terminology – Subsequent Entries
The following new and amended Nacha Operating Rules address credit push fraud and scams that result in money being sent out of accounts using ACH credit:
Effective October 1, 2024
- Codifying Expanded Use of Return Code R17
- Additional Funds Availability Exceptions
- Timing of Written Statement of Unauthorized Debit
- RDFI Must Promptly Return Unauthorized Debit
Effective April 1, 2025
- Expanded Use of ODFI Request for Return/R06
Effective March 20, 2026
- Fraud Monitoring Phase I
- Fraud Monitoring by ODFI’s, as well as Originators, TPSPs, and TPSs with 2023 origination volume of 6 million or greater
- ACH Credit Monitoring by RDFI’s with ACH receipt volume greater than 10 million
- New Company Entry Descriptions – PAYROLL and PURCHASE
Effective June 22, 2026
- Fraud Monitoring Phase 2
- Fraud Monitoring for all other Originators, TPSPs, and TPSs
- ACH Credit Monitoring by all other RDFI’s
Speak with your Bank of America representative to learn more.
