Nacha Rules Changes

 

Current Nacha Rules Updates 

2023 Nacha Rules Update

March - Micro-Entries Phase II

Effective March 17, 2023, Micro Entries Phase II. This phase of the Rule requires Originators of Micro-Entries to use commercially reasonable fraud detection, including the monitoring of Micro-Entry forward and return volumes.

Note: Additional information on recent rules can be found here: https://www.nacha.org/newrules

2022 Nacha Rules Updates

September: Micro-Entries

Effective September 30, 2022 Third Party Sender Roles and Responsibilities. This Rule clarifies the roles and responsibilities of Third-Party Senders (TPS) in the ACH Network by addressing the existing practice of Nested Third-Party Sender relationships, and making explicit and clarifying the requirement that a TPS conduct a Risk Assessment.

Effective September 16, 2022, a new Nacha ACH rule goes into effect for small dollar payments used to verify a receiver’s bank account.  If your payments were used for this purpose these ACH rules apply

Effective on September 16, 2022, Phase I of the rule requires all originators to use the standard Company Entry Description of ACCTVERIFY in their instructions.

2021 Nacha Rules Updates

June – Supplementing Data Security Requirements for Large Originators, Third-Party Service Providers (TPSPs) and Third-Party Senders (TPSs)

Effective on June 30, 2021, this change to the Rules is intended to enhance quality and improve risk management within the ACH Network by supplementing the existing account information security requirements for large-volume Originators and Third-Parties. Participants are required to protect deposit account information collected for or used in creating ACH transactions by rendering it unreadable when it is stored electronically. 

This change will be implemented in two phases:

  • The rule initially applies to ACH originators, TPSPs and TPSs with ACH volume of 6 million transactions or greater annually. An ACH originator, TPSP or TPS that originated 6 million or more ACH transactions in calendar year 2019 would need to be compliant by June 30, 2021.
  • The second phase would apply to ACH originators, TPSPs and TPSs with ACH volume of 2 million transactions or greater annually in the 2020 calendar year and compliance is required by June 30, 2022.

June – Limitation on Warranty Claims

Effective June 30, 2021, this change to the Rules limits the length of time in which an RDFI is permitted to make a claim against the ODFI's authorization warranty

  • For an entry to a non-consumer account, the time limit is one year from the settlement date of the entry. This is similar to the one-year rule in UCC4-406 that applies to checks charged to accounts.
  • For an entry to a consumer account, the limit covers two time periods. Two years from the settlement date of the ACH entry. This period exceeds the one-year in the EFT Act (Regulation E).

June – Reversals

Effective June 30, 2021, this Rule change addresses improper uses of reversal and provides for enforcement capabilities in the event of egregious violations of the Rules. The Rule also spells out that beyond the current use of 'REVERSAL' in the ACH batch description field, the format of the reversal must be identical to the original entry including the amount. Originators are allowed flexibility to accommodate minor variations in the batch header Company Name field for tracking purposes. The RDFI is permitted to return of an improper REVERSAL using return code R11 for consumer accounts and R17 for non-consumer accounts and expands returns to be permissible due to 'wrong date'.

September – Meaningful Modernization

Effective September 17, 2021, this is a grouping of five Rules, which:

  • Explicitly define the use of standing authorization for consumer ACH debits. Standing Authorization is a new term defined by Nacha as an advance authorization by a consumer of future debits at various intervals. Under a Standing Authorization, future debits can be initiated by some further action of the consumer for a one-time entry that is separate from the recurring entries. A Standing Authorization can be obtained from the consumer either orally or in writing and the one-time entry or entries initiated by the further action are known as 'Subsequent Entries'. Individual subsequent ACH entries can be initiated in any manner as identified in the Standing Authorization.
  • Define and allow for oral authorization of consumer ACH debits beyond telephone calls.
  • Clarify and provide greater consistency of ACH authorization standards across payment initiation channels.
  • Reduce the administrative burden of providing proof of authorization.
  • Better facilitate the use of electronic and oral written statement of Unauthorized Debit
Previously Published Nacha Rules Updates

Important Legal Disclosures & Information

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