Whether you're a large business or a small nonprofit, sending and collecting payments is the backbone of your organization. This is where our fee-free ACH Origination services can help. In this article, we will share the key benefits of adding ACH Origination to your account at Amplify, as well as the steps required to maintain the security of those transactions.

Key Takeaways:

• ACH Origination is a secure alternative to payments by check or cash.
• Businesses and nonprofits can use ACH Origination to both send and collect funds with authorized approvers.
• If you would like to learn more about these features, use our scheduler tool to book an appointment with a commercial banker.

What is ACH Origination?

ACH Origination is a convenient way for businesses and nonprofits to electronically send payments to their employees, vendors, and other parties. Instead of writing paper checks or using cash, organizations can initiate these payments through our commercial banking platform. Businesses and nonprofits can also use the system to collect funds such as rent payments, dentations, or invoices due.

Here are a few additional pieces of information about ACH Origination at Amplify:

• Pre-approval is not required to send payments. Payments are prefunded, meaning Amplify will collect the funds from an account before the ACH is sent.
• Pre-approval is required to collect payments. An organization will pull a payment due from their customer's deposit account.
• Dual control is recommended for ACH Origination. This process requires two separate commercial banking users to submit an ACH. 
  • One person to create the transaction in our commercial banking platform.
  • One person to approve the transaction online.
• If you do not have a second signer on your business accounts, you can authorize anyone to be a user on our commercial banking platform and grant them as little or as much access as you need.
• You can send or collect payments as fast as the next business day.

For more information on ACH Origination features, use our scheduler tool to book a virtual appointment with a commercial banker.

How does ACH Origination work?

Before you can add ACH Origination to your business or nonprofit accounts, you must work with our commercial banking team. Here are the three steps to follow:

• Setup. Our commercial banking team will schedule a discovery call with you to establish your specific needs. There are agreements to sign and possibly some business documents you will be asked to provide. Approval will be obtained. Typical time from start to finish is 3-5 business days.
• Enable ACH Origination. Our commercial banking team will turn the access on in your platform and provide training on the new screens.
• Set up the payees. Each payee will be set up in our commercial banking platform with their account number, routing number, and account type.

Once ACH Origination is available on your account, ACH requests will be processed in two steps.

• Draft electronic transaction. 
  • A designated person at your business will select the effective date and amount and submit the electronic transaction. 
  • A second authorized user will approve the transaction.  
• Amplify will process the information so the electronic transaction happens on the effective date selected.

For more information on ACH Origination stages, use our scheduler tool to book a virtual appointment with a commercial banker.

What are the benefits of ACH Origination?

There are many advantages for businesses to processing payments using ACH Origination.

• Reduce or eliminate checks. Checks are expensive, need to be replaced often, and are a source of account fraud. Checks can also be easily lost, stolen, altered, and copied.
• Simplify the payment process. ACH Origination allows you to automate recurring payments, set up electronic fund transfers and vendor payments, streamline payroll processing. Save time and reduce manual errors.
• Enhance cash flow. Businesses can better predict and manage cash flows by scheduling transactions in advance and selecting the settlement date.
• Reduce administrative costs. ACH Origination improves efficiency to streamline your organization's financial operations.
• User-friendly interface. Embedded within our business platform, there is not a new system for you to learn, just new functionality we can turn on.
• Internal controls. We require separation of duties to reduce internal fraud which is configured within our commercial banking platform.  This is not always possible when writing checks.

For more information on ACH Origination benefits, use our scheduler tool to book a virtual appointment with a commercial banker.

Is ACH Origination right for your business?

Our ACH Origination service is designed to serve businesses and nonprofits of every size. You should discuss adding ACH Origination to your organization account if you can answer yes to any of the following questions:

• Do you have regular outgoing payments like payroll, vendor payments, or membership dues?
• Does your business write a lot of checks?
• Are your employees or vendors asking for direct deposit of funds or faster payments?
• Do you want to streamline payment processing and reduce administrative costs?
• Are you looking to automate your payment processes?

To discuss if ACH Origination is right for your business, use our scheduler tool to book a virtual appointment with a commercial banker.