ACH authorization

It names the originator, the account, the amount or the method for calculating it, the frequency and the duration. Under Nacha rules an originator must hold a valid authorisation for each entry, retain it, and produce a copy on request — which is a request worth making if you cannot account for a debit.

Business accounts are treated differently

The consumer ACH framework gives extensive revocation and re-credit rights on a generous timetable. Corporate entries do not carry the same protections. Your position comes from the deposit agreement, UCC Article 4A and the contract itself, and the window for returning an unauthorised business debit is measured in a day or two. Find out your bank's actual deadline before you need it, not after.

What to read in the document

• Whether the amount is fixed, or variable and determined by the funder
• Whether the funder may change the debit amount unilaterally, and on what notice
• Whether it permits re-presentment after a return, and how many attempts
• Whether it covers only the named account or "any account maintained by Merchant at any financial institution"
• Whether it survives termination of the underlying agreement, and how it is revoked

Where you meet it

Bundled into the funding package, frequently as an exhibit you initial rather than a document you read, and sometimes signed months before the debits it authorises begin.