ACH File does not meet bank requirements

[mafmctr]

The ACH output file only contains the credit entries. Our bank requires the offsetting debit entry (that settles against our account) to be included in the file. Please advise.

[NeilZ]

The ACH output file only contains the credit entries. Our bank requires the offsetting debit entry (that settles against our account) to be included in the file. Please advise.

Evidently your bank needs a NACHA 'Company Batch Header' 220 service code, which is weird as you're not receiving anything coming in.

[mafmctr]

Actually they are looking for a balanced set of transactions. What is missing from the file is the offsetting debit (transaction code = 27) against the church's checking account for the total amount of the credit transactions. I believe the Service Class Code would need to be 200 on the Company/Batch Header Record.

[Jeff]

Do you use a different account to pay your employees? A debit entry would move money into your account from somewhere else.

If you can ask your bank for their file specifications and email it to support we would like to see what they require.

[mafmctr]

Do you use a different account to pay your employees? A debit entry would move money into your account from somewhere else.

If you can ask your bank for their file specifications and email it to support we would like to see what they require.

I've requested the specs from the bank. Please advise on how to best submit them to you when received.

Just to clarify. You currently are only the creating the credit entries (trans code =22) for each net pay amount to deposit funds into the employee accounts. Our bank also needs a summary debit entry (trans code = 27) for the total amount to be deducted from our checking account. Then the total debits and total credits in the Company/Batch Control Record will equal.

[Jeff]

Yes the file only has credit entries. This isn't really an accounting transaction where the debits and credits have to equal. My understanding is that normally debit entries are used when people are paying you with ACH transaction. For example a gym would use this to to automatically draft your membership dues from your checking account each month.

My understanding when you setup ACH transactions with your bank, they are going to assign you a 'company id.' Using that they know what account to use for the transfers. I know for us that is tied to our main checking account and we don't have to enter an offsetting debit entry.

This is a new feature for us, and I there is not a lot of information on his this works. Your bank should be able to give you a PDF file or a link to a web page with their documentation. If you can send that to support@powerchurch.com we can take a look at it to see what is required.

[mafmctr]

I've heard back from the bank and they provided a copy of the standard NACHA record formats...which I assume you already have. They do accept standard NACHA formatted files but require that they are a balanced transaction set where debits equals credits. Their system does not automatically create a settlement transaction for one sided transactions...the settlement record must be included in the batch. That means this will be a "mixed" batch with credits and one debit (service class code = 200). The "extra" transaction would be a PPD debit (trans code = 27) for the total of all the credit transactions and use our bank routing/account numbers. If PowerChurch cannot add this record, we will have to find a way to manual do that which will be pretty messy with the blocking and hash requirements for the ACH file.

[mafmctr]

I created a wrapper program to add the debit settlement transaction to the ACH output file that PCPlus creates. Not ideal but we needed a solution before the end of the year so that we could continue with our direct deposit program. Hopefully this will be added as an option to PCPlus in the future.