Echecks and Automated Clearing House Network
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by Elizabeth Murrow
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<font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Echeck
processing will not be complete if not for the Automated Clearing
House network or ACH. All echecks are cleared through the ACH
network. Before, only a limited number of organizations including
banks are allowed to access the ACH network but recently, it has
opened its doors to banks, as they became the only institution that
offered echeck services. However, since the popularity of the
Internet has increased over the years, this has changed. Today, there
are now third party merchants, alongside a bank, who provide echeck
services. </font></font>
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<font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">The
Automated Clearing House network is a secure and private system that
connects banks to one another through the Federal Reserve Board or
other ACH operators. The ACH processes large volumes of credit and
debit transactions including the following: direct deposit of
payroll, social security and other government benefits, and tax
refunds; direct payment of consumer bills; business-to-business
payments; echeck; eCommerce payments and federal; state and local tax
payments. </font></font>
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<font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">One
of the automated clearing house operators in the world is the Federal
Reserve Bank. In 2006, it has processed more than eight billion
interbank ACH transactions. ACH transactions are then governed by the
operating rules of the National Automated Clearinghouse Association
or NACHA. Transactions are sent in batches for processing one or two
days before settlement dates. Afterwards, transactions are delivered
to the receiving institutions. ACH networks charge transaction fees
to the originating and receiving institutions. </font></font>
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<font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Echecks
can refer to several types of electronic transactions. These can
range from ACH-based electronic check electronic network echeck,
internet or telephone-initiated payments and catch. Features of
echeck enable a bank elec payment solution suitable for all bank
customers. Likewise, it provides banks an additional choice of
payment that they can offer to their customers. </font></font>
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(<font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Elizabeth
Murrow currently works for a payment processing solution company.
Being in the business for quite a long time now, she has been
continuously sharing her knowledge through various lectures and
blogging, including <a href="http://allaboutecheck.wordpress.com/">http://allaboutecheck.wordpress.com</a>
and http://www.echeckprocessing.biz. Born and raised in California,
Elizabeth now lives in Australia with her husband and two kids. She
likes to travel during her free time.)</font></font>
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