An ACH return is the equivalent of a bounced check. An ACH return happens when someone tries to pay using their bank account, but the bank says no for a few different reasons. The main reasons are usually because there's not enough money in the account, the person asked the bank to stop the payment, or they gave the wrong account information. See this article for more information about ACH Returns.
When an ACH payment (an eCheck) is posted, it gets put in a "Pending" status until the Customer's bank funds it. Their bank can make one of two decisions:
"Settle" the payment. That is most likely the scenario. This happens if the Customer's bank successfully funds the ACH payment. Depending on the bank, this usually takes between 3 and 5 business days.
"Reject" the payment. Like a paper check, an eCheck can bounce or get rejected by the Customer's bank.
Let's go into detail about how Enrollsy handles rejected ACH payments.
Rejected ACH Payments Report
From the A/R Aging Report (MENU > Reports > A/R AGING), you will see an icon next to the account holder's name if a rejected ACH payment within the last 90 days.
Within an Account's BILLING tab, you will see a warning box (see screenshot below) explaining a recently rejected payment on the account. When a rejected ACH payment occurs, their Auto-Pay setting is automatically turned off to protect your merchant account from repeated bounced check fees.
Under Transaction History (on the Billing tab), you will see the transaction and any insufficient fund fees you charge:
NOTE: The charge(s) will go back to the original invoice and the invoice will be current again. Any non-sufficient fund (NSF) fees will go on a separate invoice.
Email Notifications
Admin Notifications
Admin users who have the setting "Receive failed customer payment emails" turned on will receive the following email notifications:
“Autopay Summary” email, which shows all auto-pay rejected payments. These are credit card and ACH payments that get rejected at auto-pay (and are not in Enrollsy).
“Failed ACH Payments Notification” email, which shows any rejected/failed ACH payments (the ones that show up in Enrollsy).
If you have access to manage admin users, you can change this setting by going to My Company > Users > Admins or clicking here to manage your admins' users.
ACHQ (for those with EnrollsyPay) also sends an email to the Speedchex (payment gateway) owner when an ACH payment is rejected.
Customer Notifications
Customers whose ACH payments fail (and they show in Enrollsy that they failed) do receive an email notification. Customers can log in to their account, update their payment credentials, and try the payment again.
NOTE: Customers will NOT receive an email for any credit card or ACH payments that fail at auto-pay (and do not show up in Enrollsy).
ACH Return Codes
ACH returns are a normal part of ACH processing and allow receivers to notify originators when a transaction does not go as intended. A three-character alphanumeric return code indicates these.
Our ACH processor is ACHQ. Please view the following resources from ACHQ for more information on returns:
Returns due to Velocity Limits
"ACH velocity limit" refers to the maximum amount of money or number of transactions that can be processed through an Automated Clearing House (ACH) network within a specific timeframe, helping to prevent fraud and manage risk.
If you have ACH returns because of velocity limits, this means you have exceeded the limits you entered in your merchant account application for ACH. If you bump into this, please get in touch with us ASAP via chat (button in the lower-right corner of the Enrollsy app), and we will be able to help you resolve this.
NSF (Non-Sufficient Funds) Fee
You can set up an "NSF Fee" so that Enrollsy will automatically charge it to the Customer's account balance in the event of a rejected ACH payment. Click here to go to your "ITEMS" page to edit the price of your "NSF Fee."
The purpose of this automatic fee is to help cover any costs your bank imposes on you when a bounced check (in this case, an electronic check) happens.
If you use CardConnect, you can check with them to see your ACH payment NSF fee.
Using EnrollsyPay, you will be charged a $5.00 fee for each NSF transaction. Keep this and all other factors in mind as you determine the right amount to charge your Customers for NSF transactions. You can, of course, edit/delete the fees you pass through to your Customers on a case-by-case basis, but you will always be charged.
ACH Return Report
Click here for steps on how to run a report of all failed ACH payments.
How to Remedy Failed Payments
For failed ACH Payments, will need to instruct the Customer to log in to their account, update their payment credentials, and try the payment again. If the Customer doesn't update their information, Admins can contact the Customer and replace the bank information on file over the phone or in another way.