Same Day ACH is kind of an obvious stop gap between normal ACH and a future real-time ACH-ish equivalent. I say ACH-ish because I still don’t believe that the real-time option is a modified ACH, it’s probably something else.
Same Day ACH on the other hand is going to be available soon and does a few things that most of us want:
- Gets money into bank accounts faster.
- Gets money out of bank accounts faster.
- Follows ACH best practices for what is already known to work well.
If Same Day ACH is new to you and you care deeply about payments technology in the United States these are some good reads put out by the Dwolla team:
These articles do a nice job of summing up the high level items and benefits for some of Dwolla’s core customers.
In a nutshell, files are required to post faster. As a result, the costs go up significantly but still sit well below pin based debit numbers. Return costs for Same Day ACH also appear to be dramatically higher, although manageable.
This is really the first of many coming changes to the banking system where it’s clear that the cost will be higher and the risk in transfers isn’t really that much different. The risk associated with regular ACH is not impossible to get under control it just requires time and consideration. I can’t help but feel the same will hold true for Same Day ACH.
One thing is clear, the Fed is definitely saying that we’ll all have to pay for the speed.
I’m excited about the change that Same Day ACH will bring, but I’m even more excited for what foundational changes are possible as a result of a new faster payments infrastructure.