Whether it’s a direct deposit, account transfer, or bill payment, most financial transactions take at least a couple of days to process. That’s about to change, though.


Financial institutions process transactions through the Automated Clearing House network, or ACH. According to Bloomberg, over $41 trillion moves between this network every year and banks only sync their accounts with the ACH once a day, which is why bill payments take a couple of days to post, transfers take a few days to go from one bank account to another, and paychecks post on your account the day after they originate.

However, banks are now required to sync to the network three times a day to receive payments, which makes it possible to receive money on the day it’s sent. Bloomberg says that more than 95% of top financial institutions in the U.S. plan to offer same-day settlement to customers. They report:

Starting this month, banks are required to be able to credit an account for same-day payments sent from another bank. A year from now, banks will be able to debit money from an account on the same day it’s requested. That should be useful to consumers who want to pay their bills to utilities, credit cards, insurers, and mortgage companies and be certain their money arrives the same day. By March 2018, all same-day ACH payments will need to be available for withdrawal by the end of the business day.


The change also makes it easier when employers make payroll errors. With the new system, they can correct those issues and make sure employees are still paid in time. NACHA, the administrator of the ACH, has an entire resource page dedicated to the change. You can check it out at the link below, along with the full article over at Bloomberg.

SAME DAY ACH FOR CREDITS IS LIVE | NACHA via Bloomberg

