NACHA is investigating use cases and potential transaction volume of a ubiquitous same-day settlement capability across the ACH Network.  

The features of this capability could be that there will be two new same-day settlement times each banking day (in addition to the existing overnight settlement capability). For the purpose of answering the questions respondents are being asked to, assume the following: 

   New settlement window # 1 - 9:00 a.m. ET – deadline for Originator to submit ACH files to ODFI

• 10:00 a.m. ET – deadline for ODFI to submit ACH files to ACH Operator
• 11:00 a.m. ET– latest time RDFIs’ receive ACH files from ACH Operator
• 12:00 noon ET – inter-bank settlement occurs

  New settlement window #2 - 2:00 p.m. – deadline for Originator to submit ACH files to ODFI

• 3:00 p.m. – deadline for ODFI to submit ACH files to ACH Operator
• 4:00 p.m. – latest time RDFIs’ receive ACH files from ACH Operator
• 5:00 p.m. – inter-bank settlement occurs

Additionally:

• All SEC codes, including credits and debits, would be eligible for same-day settlement except IAT.
• Same-day ACH transactions would be limited to $25,000 per transaction.
• Funds availability for same-day ACH credits would be no later than 5:00 p.m. RDFI’s local time.

Respondent questions 

The NACHA network users were asked:

Given the features described above, for what types of payments would you and your organization use same-day ACH?

For each type of payment identified in Question 1, please provide an estimate of your potential annual volume of same-day ACH transactions.

What would be the benefits and costs to your organization of using same-day ACH?

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CTMfile take: Some form of same-day ACH system is coming to the USA. As in the UK initially, this will probably not be available from all banks. Nevertheless, it will change the consumer and business habits dramatically, e.g. many SMEs in UK now don’t use cheques - see, and neither do many consumers.