Firstly, what is an ACH payment?
An ACH (Automated Clearing House) payment is a type of electronic bank-to-bank payment commonly used in the United States for processing low-value domestic transactions. ACH offers a simple way for customers to schedule recurring payments – think monthly insurance premium payments, utility bills, and other similar payments. ACH payments enable money to be transferred from one bank account to another without using paper checks, credit cards, wire transfers, or cash.
The first automated clearing house to start processing payments was BACS in the UK in 1968. The US followed suit in 1972, setting up its first ACH operated by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Are ACH payments governed?
Billions of transactions are processed by the ACH network every month, meaning trillions of dollars are being moved via ACH payments each year. The continual growth in the use of ACH payments means that not only must organizations have the capability to take ACH payments, but they must also be able to take them securely and in a way that is compliant with ACH regulations.
Nacha (National Automated Clearing House Association) is a non-profit membership association that manages and governs the ACH network. Nacha has strict rules and standards that must be adhered to when taking ACH payments.
It has recently released the statistics for ACH payments made last year, confirming that in the fourth quarter of 2020 alone there were 7 billion ACH payments made, a substantial 8.9% increase over the same period in 2019, fuelled largely by the shift to electronic payments as a result of the ongoing pandemic.
Can CardEasy increase the security of ACH Payments?
In a word, yes.
Businesses need to be able to offer flexible payment options, including direct debit and ACH transfers, alongside credit card payments, and demand for ACH payment is growing.
When setting up an ACH Payment, our CardEasy solution allows your customers to enter their bank routing number and account number using the touch-tone keypad of their phone, mid-call in conversation with the agent, or using a self-service IVR. If your customers prefer to speak their card numbers rather than enter them using their telephone keypad, CardEasy can also capture these details via Automated Speech Recognition (ASR). CardEasy ASR provides a seamless interaction and already supports more than 86 languages. During an ASR capture, CardEasy automatically blocks the speech path towards the agent, so that the agent, call recording and entire contact center environment is never exposed to account numbers, credit card numbers, etc which ensures that you maintain PCI DSS compliance.
If you operate an omni-channel contact center, CardEasy can also secure all types of digital payments with a single-use secure HTML payment link or QR code.
Whether you are using CardEasy to capture bank routing numbers, account numbers, or credit/debit card details over the phone or digitally, its patented technology ensures that your customers’ sensitive details do not enter your contact center environment and are never seen or heard by your agents. This is in line with Nacha’s standards.
Contact us to find out how CardEasy can secure your contact center payments and the sensitive financial data that you deal with.
US: +1 303 500 0492
UK: +44 (0) 20 7741 2000
