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This ACH resource page describes the various types of ACH transactions and consumer rights and recourse when involved in an ACH or EFT transaction. You can get information on a Check by Phone, Internet Check or Icheck or an RCK transactions (NSF check fees).
If you are trying to find out who took money via an "ACH Payment" our company ACH-Payments.com is not "the company" that takes money from your checking account. You should be able to ask your bank what company took the funds from your account
Check by Phone
You have been able to use your credit card make payments over the telephone for a long time. Now you can make payments over the telephone from your checking account.
A telephone-initiated payment, often referred to as a "pay by phone" or TEL payment, is when you authorize a payment from your checking account by providing a company with your bank account information over the phone.
How is it used?
You can make a payment from your checking account over the telephone to
- Pay your mortgage, insurance, or utility company
- Pay for a mail order or other purchase
- Make a past due payment
Never give your account number over the phone to a company or person you do not know!
When you authorize a payment over the telephone, the company should provide you with the following information:
- Confirmation that your are authorizing a one-time payment to your checking account
- The date that the payment will be charged to your account
- The amount of the payment
- A telephone number for you to call if you have questions.
The company can either
- record the conversation they had with you, including the specific information regarding your authorization or
- send you a notice confirming the date and amount that you authorized
Remember, you should be very careful when providing your bank account information over the telephone. You should never give your account information over the phone to an individual or company that you do not know.
Consumer Protection
You are protected from payments that you did not authorize. If you feel that an error has been made to your account you should contact your financial institution immediately.
You should remember to review your statement from your financial institution every month to be sure that all information is correct.
Q. Who offers telephone-based electronic check services? In other words, who can electronically charge my checking account for a bounced check?
A. Just about any company that you would pay by check. Companies that often use this service include mortgage companies, rental and lease companies, loan companies, car loan companies, financial institutions such as banks and credit unions, credit cards, utility companies, insurance companies, mail order firms, even some government agencies.
Q. If I use this telephone "electronic check", when will my account be charged?
A. Generally, your account will be charged one to two business days after you place the call and authorized the payment - usually about the same as for a paper check.
Q. Who can charge my account using an electronic check?
A. Only companies that you gave permission to over the phone can process the payment electronically.
Q. How do I provide account information for the payment? Do I get a copy of what I provide?
A. You provide account information over the phone by reading the numbers on the bottom of the check. (See "How to Read your Check" on this web site http://www.electronic-check.org/reading.htm) Most of the companies who accept payment by telephone have procedures to help
you do this correctly.
Q. What happens if I need proof of payment?
A. The IRS established in the 1970s that the listing on your account statement serves as proof of payment.
Q. Will the company I give my account information to be able to take additional payments from my account?
A. No. When you authorize a company to take a payment from your account, it is for one payment only. If you want to make another payment you should provide the company with a new authorization.
Q. Can I place a stop payment on the payment?
A. Yes; however you must contact your financial institution in time for them to act on your request before the payment is deducted from your account.
Q. If my electronic check bounces, can the company add a return check fee to the amount of the payment and charge my account for more than the amount of my check?
A. No. The electronic check entry must match the amount of the check.
Q. How will an electronic check appear on my account statement? That is, how will I know that the payment I authorized over the phone has shown up on the statement?
A. If your statement lists checks in one section and electronic transactions - such as debit card and ATM transactions - in another section, then the electronic check will probably be listed with the electronic transactions. You'll see the company name, the dollar amount and an identifying word such as "PURCHASE" or "PAYMENT" or even "ACH DEBIT."
Q. Since I don't use the check to make the payment, how will I keep track of the payment in my check book?
A. Record the date, amount and the company you paid in your checkbook register. This is the typical thing to do when you are making a purchase over the telephone.
Q. How do I get a refund if I return what I bought?
A. The company you authorize establishes its refund policies in accordance with state and federal laws and regulations and lets you know what the policies are. Contact the company directly for questions on refunds.
Q. What do I do if there's an error on my account statement? For example, what if I am charged the wrong amount, or if a payment appears on my statement that I did not authorize?
A. As always, contact your financial institution as soon as you discover an error on your account statement. Federal regulations protect you from "unauthorized" payments. Remember, always review your checking account statement as soon as you get it.
Internet Check or Icheck
Shopping and paying bills over the internet is our new national hobby. Until now, most purchases over the Internet and most online bill paying have been paid by credit card. Now, at web sites that offer this option, you can authorize a payment to be charged to your checking account to make a purchase or to pay bills. This type of payment is often referred to as web-based or Internet-initiated "electronic checks" or "e-checks."
You can authorize a single payment, or you can authorize recurring payments.
A single payment takes place when you pay for a purchase or pay a bill with one (and only one) charge to your checking account.
Recurring payments are often used to make ongoing, repetitive payments such as mortgage, loan or utility payments. At a company website, you provide your account information and authorize the company to charge your account automatically on the regular due date. The company then receives your authorization electronically.
Before you provide your account information, the company should verify who you are. For example, if you have established a relationship, they can use information they have on file to identify you - a PIN, password or previous purchase history, for example. If this is the first time you have purchased from this company, they will have to use other methods such as checking a consumer database.
Also, be sure to read and understand the security and privacy policies for that company. It is not recommended that you provide your account information to an internet company you have not heard of before.
Q. Who offers web-based electronic check services?
A. All kinds of sellers and billers offer goods and services for purchase on web sites. Many banks and utility companies allow their customers to make bill payments over the Internet.
Q. If I use a web-based "electronic check", when will my account be charged?
A. Generally for a payment or single transaction, your account will be charged one to two business days after you authorize the web site to charge your account. For a recurring payment you will charged on the due date.
Q. Who can charge my account using an electronic check?
A. Only companies that you gave permission to over the Internet can process the payment electronically.
Q. How do I provide account information for the payment? Do I get a copy of what I provide? Do I have to sign anything?
A. You provide information by reading and keying in the numbers on the bottom of the check. Usually, the website where you are making a payment will provide instructions. (You can also find instructions on this website at http://www.electronic-check.org/reading.htm). You
can't write your signature over a website, but you can provide identifying information that will serve to okay the payment (like a signature authorizes your check). Yes, you should be able to print a copy of what you okayed.
Q. What happens if I need proof of payment?
A. The IRS established in the 1970s that the listing on your account statement serves as proof of payment.
Q. Will the company I give my account information to be able to take additional payments from my account?
A. No. When you authorize a company to take a payment from your account, it is for one payment only. If you want to make another payment you should provide the company with a new authorization.
Q. What if I want to cancel a recurring payment?
A. Call the company to cancel. They will explain their procedures to do so.
Q. Can I place a stop payment on the payment?
A. Yes; however you must contact your financial institution in time for them to act on your request before the payment is deducted from your account.
Q. If my electronic check bounces, can the company add a return check fee to the amount of the payment and charge my account for more than the amount of my check?
A. No. The electronic check entry must match the amount of the check. If the company wants to collect a return check fee, you have to provide express separate authorization.
Q. How will an electronic check appear on my account statement? That is, how will I know that the payment has been charged to my account?
A. If your statement lists checks in one section and electronic transactions - such as debit card and ATM transactions - in another section, then the electronic check will probably be listed with the electronic transactions. You'll see the company name, the dollar amount and an identifying word such as "PURCHASE" or "PAYMENT" or even "ACH DEBIT."
Q. Since I don't use the check to make the payment, how will I keep track of the payment in my checkbook register?
A. If you are making just one payment, print the authorization page from the website and record the date and amount in your checkbook register. This is the typical thing to do when you are making a purchase over the Internet.
If you are authorizing a series of payments - called recurring payments - print the authorization page and keep track of the date and amount of the payment as you would for other electronic payments. Depending on your company's practice, they may send you a monthly billing statement. For example, you might authorize over the Internet that your monthly mortgage payments will be electronically debited to your account.
Q. How do I get a refund if I return what I bought?
A. The company you sent the check to establishes its refund policies in accordance with state and federal laws and regulations and lets you know what the policies are. Contact the company directly for questions on refunds.
Q. What do I do if there's an error on my account statement? For example, what if I am charged the wrong amount, or if a payment appears on my statement that I did not authorize?
A. As always, contact your financial institution as soon as you discover an error on your account statement. Federal regulations that protect you from "unauthorized" payments. Remember, always review your checking account statement as soon as you get it.
Also, if the error concerned a recurring payment, contact the company that is sending the charge to your account to change the amount to the correct amount.
RCK - Represented Check (Bounced check collection)
Checks can bounce for a number of reasons. You might forget to make a deposit. It's easy to forget to record a check or other transaction. Sometimes it's as simple as an arithmetic error.
Companies that accept checks understand these things. They know that when a check bounces, it's usually unintentional.
But it's time consuming and costly for the company to handle bounced checks. Unfortunately, that cost is passed on to customers.
With new developments in electronic payments, now if you write a check that bounces, the company you wrote the check to can either deposit the paper check again, or they can deposit it electronically.
Q. Who uses this service? In other words, who can electronically charge my checking account for a bounced check?
A. Just about any company that you write a check to can electronically charge your checking account - for example, grocery stores and supermarkets, department stores, utility companies, credit card companies and loan companies (including mortgage and car payments).
The process is called "electronic representment" or "electronic redeposit."
Q. How will I know if the company is going to do this?
A. Companies that use electronic representment are required to tell you before you write your check that if it bounces, they can represent it electronically.
Q. What if I don't want my check to be processed electronically?
A. It's up to the person or company taking the check to set the policy.
Q. Some companies charge a return check fee. Can the company add this fee to the amount of the check and then charge my account for the total of the check and the fee?
A. No. The company can only charge your account for the amount of the check. If the company wants to collect a return check fee, you have to provide express authorization.
Q. Will my financial institution charge a fee for an electronic check representment?
A. It's up to each financial institution as to whether it charges for this type of transaction. Check with your financial institution.
Q. What if I bounced a check but I didn't know they would redeposit it electronically?
A. Contact the company who you wrote the check to. They can explain their policy to you.
Q. What happens to my check after it has been redeposited electronically? Will I get the paper check back?
A. For your protection, the company will destroy the original check, but you can get a copy of the check for seven years after it was written.
Q. What happens if I need proof of payment?
A. The IRS established in the 1970s that the listing on your account statement serves as proof of payment.
Q. Is it possible for my account to be charged twice, once for the check and once electronically?
A. It is very unlikely that this will happen. Companies that use this process are very careful, but sometimes mistakes happen. Always review your checking account statement as soon as you get it. If you notice a mistake, call either the company or your financial institution.
Q. What do I do if there's an error on my account statement? For example, what if I am charged the wrong amount, or if a payment appears on my statement that I did not authorize?
A. As always, contact your financial institution as soon as you discover an error on your account statement. Federal regulations that protect you from "unauthorized" payments Remember, always review your checking account statement as soon as you get it.
Q. How will it appear on my statement?
A. REDEPCHECK
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