Applies to: Broadlume Payments
Covers what you need to know about ACH Payment deposit timelines, reversals, and clawback periods
Does not apply to: Cyncly Payments, Cyncly Pay, or Payments Flex
If you accept ACH (Automatic Clearing House) payments, there are a few things to be aware of. In general, it takes up to 10 days for verification of a successful or failed ACH transaction. Meaning, if a merchant takes an ACH transaction, it can take up to 10 days for the processor to become aware that the customer's bank has rejected the attempt and funds aren't available.
If an ACH payment has been funded to a merchant in good faith, but does not successfully leave the customer's bank, those funds will be reversed from the merchant's account. As a best practice, this 10-day timeframe should be considered before releasing or installing material to protect yourself and your business. To help combat this delay Broadlume Payments holds off on releasing ACH funds for 5 business days. This makes it more likely that you won't be surprised by a clawback weeks after a transaction was taken!
NACHA article on reversals of ACH transactions when there is an error:
https://www.nacha.org/rules/reversals-and-enforcement
Similar to a Credit Card chargeback is the ACH clawback period. A consumer has a period of 60 days following an ACH transaction to notify their bank that it was not authorized. When an ACH 'dispute' is received by the processor the funds are removed, or clawed back, from the merchant's account. If this happens, you will need to arrange other means of collection from that customer. There is no dispute resolution process for ACH transactions like there is for card transactions.
NACHA explanation of the 60-day rule: https://www.nacha.org/news/which-60-days-it-understanding-different-periods-regulation-e-and-nacha-rules