In the first installment of our periodic series on money management, we’ll explore the Automated Clearing House network, how it works and how it may help your business.

Looking to gain more control over your organization’s financial transactions and cash flow? Consider tapping into the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network. ACH is a secure payment transfer system that acts as the central clearing facility for Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) transactions nationwide by connecting all U.S. financial institutions. If you’ve ever used Direct Deposit or Bill Pay services, you’ve used ACH.

ACH Services offer a quick and more cost-effective way to make or receive payments. The National City system allows you to easily transfer funds electronically from your account to a recipient’s deposit account, such as an employee, vendor or customer, at a fraction of the cost of a wire transfer or paper check. You no longer have to write checks or submit drafts, and you can accurately control and plan for settlement dates instead of waiting to see when a check or draft will post. ACH Services also allow you to:

• Manage direct deposits, electronic debits, and corporate-to-corporate, consumer and tax payments.
• Date transactions to occur automatically in the future, ideal for instances, such as vacations and business travel, when you need to be out of the office.
• Transfer funds between accounts within the bank.
• Automate cash collection for receivables.

In addition, ACH transactions can reduce the risk of fraud and error. For example, to protect your accounts from unauthorized debits, National City offers the ACH Positive Pay program. ACH Positive Pay allows you to designate which incoming debit transactions should be settled automatically and which should be blocked until you review them. Items that pass through the rule filters you set will be accepted and applied. Items that fail to pass through the filters will be presented to you or your designated administrator for review. Then you decide whether to accept or return the transaction. Even when you initiate an ACH transaction for a withdrawal from your own account, there are fraud controls in place, such as security token authentication, before the funds can be released.

All of these processes are accessible via a Web-based ACH solution, which enables you to initiate electronic transactions quickly, efficiently and securely online. ACH transactions can also be originated manually, using database templates and an import function.

If your business generates less than $5 million in sales, click here for more information or call 866-874-3675. If your company is larger, visit our Global Treasury Management page.

Click here to go back to the main page.