ACH Payments - USD

ACH (Automated Clearing House) is a local payment network used to send USD payments to bank accounts across the United States.

ACH provides a cost-effective alternative to wire transfers and is widely used for payroll, vendor payments, and other recurring transactions.

ACH payments are not real-time. Instead, payments are processed in scheduled clearing batches.

Two ACH payment types are relevant for payouts:

• Same-day ACH – A domestic ACH clearing system that processes payments in multiple settlement windows during the business day.
• International ACH (IAT) – Used for cross-border ACH payments initiated by clients onboarded with Nium entities outside the United States.

ACH processing windows

ACH payments are processed in clearing batches throughout the day.

All times below are Eastern Time (ET).

Window	Cutoff Time	Funds Available to Beneficiary
First window	10:30	13:30
Second window	14:45	17:00
Third window	15:15	18:00

If a payout request is submitted before the daily cutoff time, funds are typically credited on the same business day.

note

15:15 ET is the submission cutoff to reach the third ACH window. Payouts submitted after 15:15 ET are deferred to the next business day's first window.

For clients onboarded with a Nium non-US entity, payments are processed as International ACH Transactions (IAT). IAT payments submitted before 23:59 ET are credited to the beneficiary by 08:30 ET on the next business day.

Payment method details

The following details the values to use when creating an ACH payment:

Attribute	Value
Payout method	LOCAL
Routing code type	ACH CODE
Destination currency	USD
Delivery time	Same-day (ACH) / Next-day (IAT)
Cutoff time	15:15 ET (ACH) / 23:59 ET (IAT)
Availability	Business days only
Beneficiary bank network	All US banks with ABA routing numbers
Account verification	Supported
Narrative	remitter.name and customerComments appear on the beneficiary account statement (10 character limit each)
Supported countries	United States US Virgin Islands Guam American Samoa Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico

Payout lifecycle

ACH payouts follow the standard remittance lifecycle with additional ACH-specific status updates.

Step	Status	Description	Step Type
1	SCHEDULED AWAITING_FUNDS CANCELLED EXPIRED FAILED INITIATED RFI_REQUESTED RFI_RESPONDED COMPLIANCE_COMPLETED REJECTED PG_PROCESSING	For definitions, see Track Payouts.	Generic
2	SENT_TO_BANK	The payment has been submitted to the partner bank for ACH processing. Nium submits ACH payouts in batches to align with ACH clearing windows.	Country-specific
3	PAID	The partner bank confirms that the payment has been submitted to the Federal Reserve for settlement.	Country-specific
4	RETURN	The payment was unsuccessful and returned by the receiving bank (for example invalid account details or closed account). Returns typically occur within 2–4 business days, depending on the return reason code.	Country-specific

For more information, see Payout Lifecycle.

note

ACH payments received before 15:15 ET are typically processed and credited to the beneficiary account on the same business day.

IAT payments submitted before 23:59 ET are credited to the beneficiary by 08:30 ET on the next business day.

For ACH settlement schedules, see the following NACHA documentation: Same Day ACH Schedules and Funds Availability.

Beneficiary requirements

The following fields are required when sending USD payouts using ACH:

Beneficiary field	Inline Beneficiary field	Description
payoutMethod	paymentAccount.payoutMethod	Must be LOCAL.
beneficiaryName	beneficiary.name	Must match the bank account holder name.
beneficiaryAccountNumber	paymentAccount.accountNumber	US bank account number (typically 8–17 digits).
beneficiaryAccountType	beneficiary.accountType	Indicates whether the beneficiary is an individual or corporate entity.
routingCodeType1: "ACH CODE"	paymentAccount.routingCode.type	Must be ACH CODE.
routingCodeValue1	paymentAccount.routingCode.value	9-digit ACH routing number (do not use wire routing numbers).
beneficiaryBankAccountType	paymentAccount.accountType	Must be Savings or Checking.
beneficiaryAddress beneficiaryCity beneficiaryState beneficiaryCountryCode beneficiaryPostcode	beneficiary.addresses.line1 beneficiary.address.city beneficiary.address.state beneficiary.address.countryCode beneficiary.address.postalCode	Beneficiary address including street, city, state, and postal code.

State is required for beneficiaries in:

• United States
• Canada
• Mexico

For more information, see Customer Onboarding

Return codes and troubleshooting

The following ISO return codes are commonly associated with ACH payouts.

ISO Code	ISO Definition	Reason	Resolution
AC03	InvalidCreditorAccountNumber	Invalid account number or invalid combination of account number and routing code.	Verify the account number and routing code. Use Nium Verify or confirm details with the beneficiary.
AC12	InvalidAccountType	Invalid account type (Savings or Checking).	If not provided, Nium defaults to Checking. Ensure paymentAccount.accountType is set correctly.
AM09	WrongAmount	Received amount differs from expected amount.	Verify the payout amount and currency, and confirm the expected amount with the beneficiary before retrying.
AC04	ClosedAccountNumber	The beneficiary account is closed or invalid.	Confirm updated account details with the beneficiary.

Notifications of Change (NOC)

ACH networks may return Notifications of Change (NOC) when payment details are incorrect.

Examples include:

• incorrect routing numbers
• outdated account information
• formatting errors

When a NOC is received, Nium stores the corrected information. Subsequent payouts using the same incorrect details may be rejected with validation errors until the information is updated. NIUM also sends out the details to clients to ensure you are able to send corrected data. More details available here - Remit Transaction NOC