Staffed by payments professionals holding recognized credentials in ACH, Check, Deposit Operations, Risk Management, and Regulatory Compliance, the Payments Hotline (855-NEACH-QA) is available to members who have questions about the NACHA Operating Rules, federal regulations, and other payments topics. The Hotline provides members with timely and accurate answers to help you process ACH transactions efficiently and correctly, meet return deadlines, as well as get resolutions to other payments questions.

Below are definitive answers to recent Rules questions from the previous quarter. For additional information on the answers given below, or to ask your own Rules question, call the Payments Hotline at 855-NEACH-QA. 

Stop Payment vs Revocation

A transaction posted to a consumer's account a month ago that he did not authorize.  The consumer should complete a written statement of unauthorized debit, and the financial institution should return the transaction to the ODFI as an R10, never authorized, and credit the consumer’s account.

A customer notified his gym that he was cancelling his membership effective next month.  The customer requested that a stop payment be placed on the transaction should it post again.  The transaction posted the following month.  The financial institution returned the transaction as an R08, stop payment.

Incomplete Transaction

A consumer made a rent payment online to his landlord.  His landlord never received the payment.  This ACH payment is considered to be an incomplete transaction, since, although the payment was debited from the consumer account, the landlord did not receive the payment.  The consumer will sign a written statement of unauthorized debit and the financial institution will return the transaction as R10.

Unauthorized CCD Transaction Posted to a Consumer Account

A consumer reported to his financial institution that an unauthorized corporate entry posted to his account a week ago.  The financial institution will return this entry as an R05, an unauthorized corporate debit to a consumer account. Although this entry is a corporate entry, it is afforded the extended return timeframe, because it posted to a consumer account.

An Unauthorized CCD Transaction Posed to a Corporate Account

A corporate customer reported that an unauthorized corporate transaction posted to his business account yesterday.  The financial institution can return this entry as R29, corporate customers advises not authorized, because the return timeframe is two banking days.  If this transaction posted to the account past the two days, it does not receive the extended return timeframe that consumer transactions do.  The financial institution can return the transaction if it receives permission from the ODFI as an R31, permissible return entry (CCD and CTX only), or it can request a copy of the authorization from the ODFI.