The Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network is a system for electronic funds transfers in the United States. It is managed by NACHA which was founded in 1974. Today the network processes tens of billions of payments per year totaling over $70 trillion in volume (NACHA Volume Stats). ACH payments are used for everything from payroll (aka Direct Deposit), to Social Security payments, to utility billing and corporate accounts payables/receivables and everything in between.

The ACH Network is composed of several participants:

• ACH Operators: The ACH operator is responsible for the settlement of funds between financial institutions. The primary operator is the Federal Reserve.
• Originators: The businesses creating ACH payments. For example, a company sending payroll would be an originator.
• ODFIs: Originating Depository Financial Institutions are banks that send ACH payments to an operator for settlement. In the payroll example, the originators bank would act as the ODFI and send the file to the operator.
• Receivers: The individuals or businesses receiving ACH transactions. In the payroll example, the employees are receivers.
• RDFIs: Receiving Depository Financial Institutions are banks that receive ACH payments from an operator. In the payroll example, the banks of the employees (receivers) would be acting as RDFIs.

Nearly every financial institution in the United States participates in the ACH Network and most offer online tools that enable businesses to originate ACH payments. Many of these tools only offer basic functionality which is where ACH Pro comes in. ACH Pro goes beyond just ACH file creation by allowing you to keep your recipients, originating companies and banks up to date while reusing payment details via templates and CSV file imports. It also offers a robust set of APIs that you can use to integrate into your existing processes or product.