User:Wayneerickson1/sandbox

Automated Clearing House (ACH) is the transfer of transactions and/or payment related information between financial institutions within the the US Federal Reserve System via an intermediary called an ACH Operator. These transactions are grouped together in batches and transmitted to the ACH Operator. Acting as a clearing house, the ACH Operator, batches the incoming transactions by the receiving financial institution.

ACH transfers are governed by a contract called the ACH Rules along with Regulation E for consumer transactions and sections of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). UCC governs checks. Participants in ACH transfers agree to be contractually bound to the requirements of the ACH Rules. Participants not bound by the ACH Rules are consumers and the US Federal government. US Government ACH transactions are governed by the Bureau of Fiscal Service Green Book.

ACH participants include: Originator, Originating Depository Financial Institution (ODFI), ACH Operator, Receiving Depository Financial Institution (RDFI) and Receiver. The Originator has a transaction or payment related information that it wishes to send to the Receiver. The Receiver agrees to receive what the Originator is sending through the ACH network. The ODFI, the Originator's bank accepts the Originator's transaction and transmits it to the ACH Operator. The ACH Operator takes the Originator's transaction from the ODFI and batches it up with other ACH transactions for the RDFI. The RDFI accepts the batch from the ACH Operator and makes the Originator's transaction available to the Receiver from the Receiver's account with the RDFI.