Newsroom

NAFCU and other trade associations, including the Clearing House Payments Company LLC, raised concerns about the Same Day ACH proposal by NACHA – The Electronic Payment Association in a joint letter.

"This letter emphasizes our shared belief that without the interbank fee, implementation of same day ACH would not be economically viable for [Receiving Depository Financial Institutions] and, to the extent that was the case, it would not be possible to achieve ubiquitous, same day ACH service," the letter said.

The trades said that without an interbank fee, institutions would not be able to recover costs in order to implement and operate the proposed same-day ACH service. NAFCU, in its own comment letter on the proposal, raised similar concerns about the inequity for receiving-only institutions of a mandatory same-day program without interbank fees.

"Resolving this inequity will be a key for participation moving forward," NAFCU Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt wrote. While Hunt noted NAFCU's support for faster payments, she advocated that "any solution that speeds up payments should thoroughly involve all business, operations, risk, technical, fraud and innovation teams."

Earlier this month, NACHA said it planned to issue a final Same Day ACH rule in the second quarter. It said the rule would provide, in addition to the current early morning settlement, two new same-day ACH clearing and settlement windows at mid-day and the end of the business day. NACHA says the same-day clearing would be available for virtually any ACH transaction.