Same-Day ACH Payment Cap Rising To $1 Million Next Year

The same-day ACH payment limit is scheduled to increase tenfold — to $1 million from $100,000 — on March 18, 2022, according to a Monday (April 5) announcement by the group that oversees the network.

Nacha, which used to stand for the National Automated Clearing House Association, said in its news release that its members approved the change. The new higher limit will apply to all eligible same-day ACH payments, including credits and debits for both businesses and consumers, the group said.

ACH payment uses include payroll, business-to-business transactions, tax payments and insurance settlements, according to the group.

“Nacha has made a significant enhancement to Same Day ACH every year since it was introduced in 2016,” Nacha President and CEO Jane Larimer said in a prepared statement. “This enhancement reflects our commitment to see that the modern ACH Network meets the nation’s needs for fast and efficient payments.”

The nonprofit organization said it also recently increased operating hours for same-day payments by two hours and now settles transactions four times each business day.

Nacha marketing materials state that its network can conduct financial transactions with all U.S. banks and credit unions and that in 2020, it facilitated almost 27 billion transactions totaling “close to $62 trillion.”

The latest changes follow a series of amendments to its operating rules that the organization approved in October 2020.

Those amendments concerned same-day ACH and new ways of making ACH payments easier to use, the group said at the time. Two of the rules provided a new framework for businesses, financial institutions, payment providers and technology firms to authorize consumer ACH payments.

In announcing the 2020 decisions, Nacha said, “Other components of the new rules include … reducing several administrative requirements associated with obligations to obtain or provide payment-related documentation, and adopting a specific timeline for financial institutions to handle claims of unauthorized payments. Lastly, the new rules define and make explicit the scenarios in which reversing ACH payments are not valid; and enhancing Nacha’s authority to enforce the rules for egregious violations.”