Automated Clearing House

A proposed method by which retailers could take checks they accept at the point of sale and convert them in a back office into electronic transactions on the automated clearing house could hinder an encouraging trend among consumers away from writing checks and toward electronic transaction channels, such as credit …

NACHA, the Herndon, Va.-based organization that establishes rules for automated clearing house transactions, is working on a business case for a new payment type that would allow merchants to collect all consumer checks they receive and convert them into electronic funds transfers in a back room or other central location. …

Online merchants are interested in alternatives to credit cards for payment, but set high hurdles for alternative payment methods to overcome, including the need for authentication, for a smooth, uninterrupted customer session, and for reasonable pricing from processors that doesn't tax merchants to develop a user base for the processors. …

An operational test of a system by which consumers could instruct their banks to pay online merchants and billers is set to take place in July, according to NACHA, the Herndon, Va.-based rule-setting association for the automated clearing house that is sponsoring the test. Participants so far include Radio Shack …

The process of converting paper checks consumers send to billers into electronic transactions is driving much of the growth of the automated clearing house, according to ACH statistics for 2004 released today. Accounts-receivable conversion, or ARC, transactions increased by more than 1 billion last year, accounting for 54% of the …

Minneapolis-based remittance processor MoneyGram International Inc. is acquiring ACH Commerce LLC, a processor of automated clearing house transactions, in a deal expected to close by June 30. Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, but ACH Commerce will remain based in Ooltewah, Tenn., where it was founded five years …

With credit card fees having become one of their biggest operating expenses, airlines are turning to alternative, lower-cost payment options. The aim is to reduce the collective $1.5 billion in card-acceptance costs airlines pay annually, according to a recent study by Edgar, Dunn & Co. Houston-based Continental Airlines has moved …

A majority of consumers who routinely pay their bills with checks are familiar with the process of accounts receivable conversion, or ARC, and better than half express no objection to the process, according to a survey conducted for the National Automated Clearing House Association, Herndon, Va. ARC is a relatively …

Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co.'s decision to roll out a biometric payment system to all 85 stores in its chain was driven by both transaction-cost savings and customer interest, a senior executive for the Charleston, S.C.-based grocer says. In related news, Pay By Touch, the San Francisco-based company whose system Piggly …

The automated clearing house system will account for more than one-fifth of all consumer bill payments by 2007, thanks to dramatic growth in the conversion of checks sent to billers' lockboxes into electronic ACH transactions, according to a new study from consulting firm TowerGroup, Needham, Mass. This conversion, known as …