Nacha Format

What is a Nacha file?

The Nacha File Format is a standard format specified by National Automated Clearing House Association (Nacha) to facilitate capturing debit or credit transactions against bank accounts.

Who uses the Nacha file format?

Financial institutions that need to perform monetary transactions, such as paying bills, crediting or depositing money, typically use the Nacha standard. Those transactions are typically performed against bank accounts for individuals or organizations.

The Nacha standard captures these transactions in a consistent and standard manner.

Billions of transactions are performed using the Nacha standard every year.

Why use the NACHA file format?

The Nacha format allows for the standardization of transactions across banks and financial institutions. This standardization allows for the seamless processing of transactions and better security of sensitive information.

Automated Clearing House (ACH) has become the go-to network for B2B transactions and moves billions of transactions a year.

Return ACH File

An ACH return file is a notification sent by a bank indicating that an ACH payment transaction has failed and is being returned. This file includes details about the reason for the return, such as insufficient funds or incorrect account information.

Reversal ACH File

An ACH reversal file is a specific type of file used to reverse an erroneous ACH payment. It must follow certain formatting rules, including marking the Company Entry Description as “REVERSAL” and ensuring that other key fields match the original entry to facilitate proper processing.

Prenotes

A prenote or prenotification is a zero dollar payment to validate the account and routing details of a bank account before debiting or crediting it.