Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
The last mile is frequently the hardest part of any journey. The U.S. Treasury Department is wrestling with that phenomenon as it attempts to eliminate its remaining 5 million monthly checks for distribution of Social Security and other federal benefits by a looming March 1 deadline. Treasury’s Financial Management Service …
Read More »The Latest Numbers Herald Checks’ Electronic Future
New data from the automated clearing house network show that ACH debit transactions for online bill payments grew 9% in the third quarter while paper checks converted into ACH transactions after being mailed to lockboxes decreased by 8%. The story behind the interrelated numbers boils down to the years-long …
Read More »Speed, Efficiency Top Fed Priorities, But Banks’ Wire Profits Hinder Faster ACH
A senior Federal Reserve official said greater speed, efficiency, and responsiveness to consumer preferences are the central bank’s top payments priorities as it plans for the next decade. But apart from promoting open communication and collaboration among industry players, Sandra Pianalto, president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank …
Read More »Transaction Growth Perks up for the ACH As Online Bill Payments Continue to Climb
The automated clearing house network’s transaction count grew by 4% in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2011, according to the latest figures from NACHA, the regulatory body for the network. Transactions totaled 4.15 billion, worth approximately $9.1 trillion in value, according to the NACHA statistics. Transactions …
Read More »ACH Bill-Pay Council Floats Plan To Bring QR Codes to Bills
A group that promotes electronic bill payment through the automated clearing house network is proposing guidelines for use of Quick Response (QR) bar codes on bills that backers hope will encourage more consumers to pay bills online. The Council for Electronic Billing and Payment is taking comments on its proposal …
Read More »NACHA Proposes a WEB Credit for P2P Payments Over the ACH Network
In an effort to bring some order to the Wild West of person-to-person payments over the automated clearing house network, ACH governing body NACHA-The Electronic Payments Association is proposing a new credit version of its WEB code for online person-to-person payments that would include standardized formatting for the transactions. Herndon, …
Read More »Same-Day ACH Idea Could Stage a Comeback, Despite Big-Bank Opposition
A proposal to change the rules of the automated clearing house network to allow faster clearing times, which last Friday fell short of the votes needed to be enacted, is likely to be resurrected in some form, experts polled by Digital Transactions say. “I don’t think it’s dead, but it’s …
Read More »In a Blow to Faster Settlement, NACHA Members Nix Same-Day ACH Bid
A proposal that would have changed network rules to dramatically speed up automated clearing house transactions fell short on Friday of the votes needed to be enacted by NACHA, the ruling body for the ACH system. The vote on the proposal, which would have provided for same-day instead of next-day …
Read More »ACH Transaction Volumes Might Be Headed for a ‘New Normal’
Driven by fast growth in “native payments” that dispense entirely with paper checks, total automated clearing house network volume increased 4.4% in the first quarter over the year-earlier period, the ACH network’s highest quarterly increase since 2008’s fourth quarter. Michael Herd, managing director of network rules at ACH governing body …
Read More »ClearXchange Goes National But Faces Rivalry from PayPal, Fiserv
A year after its birth announcement, the clearXchange person-to-person payments platform finally is set for its first national rollout through a new service called Send & Receive Money from one of its three big-bank owners, Wells Fargo & Co. But clearXchange, whose other owners are Bank of America Corp. and …
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