ACH returns and NOCs worked by the rule's clock, and every originator caught before it crosses a return-rate level
Every return inside its window, and every originator caught before it crosses a level.
See one case, screen by screen ↓ACH Returns & NOC Management is how ACH operations post returns and notifications of change on time and track return rates. Agents put the day's ACH returns, unauthorized-debit claims and NOCs in three trays ordered by their deadlines, each with a proposed action, its rule and its sources, and forecast every originator's return rates. Specialists approve, and managers check what moves money late or restricts an originator.
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ACH returns and corrections run on two clocks every bank on the ACH Network owes. As the receiving bank it must return most entries so they reach the originating bank by the second banking day, and a consumer's unauthorized debit within sixty days, backed by the customer's signed statement. As the originating bank it must pass every notification of change to its originator within two banking days and keep each originator under Nacha's return-rate levels: 0.5 % unauthorized, 3 % administrative, 15 % overall.
The work arrives as the core's exception report, in the order it was printed, so an item due in today's file sits behind one due in sixty days. A specialist types a return code per item, and picks R10 because the claim form says so, even when the customer's own statement says she revoked the authorization. Corrections are passed on but nobody checks they were made. Returns received late are posted without a look. Return rates are a monthly spreadsheet, so an originator over a level is found by the network's inquiry letter. A missed window is the bank's own loss.
Estimated split of one specialist's working hours on a typical day at the demo bank's volume, by hand and with the solution.
Seven agents propose every return code, correction and dishonor and forecast each originator's rates; specialists approve, the manager checks, and a restriction takes two signatures.
Tessaly Community Bank, a community bank with a sponsor-bank fintech program, on Thursday, Oct 22, 2026. Today's file closes at 4:00 p.m. ET. Seven agents have read the overnight files; Renata Okafor, an ACH Operations Specialist, signs in at 9:40.
The agents read the 06:30 Federal Reserve files, 668 returns and 264 notifications of change, and the core's 286 posting exceptions. The returns agent proposes a code for each: 268 at 95 % confidence or more, 11 NSF items waiting for the 2:00 p.m. overdraft sweep, 3 credits that look fraudulent for the manager. The threshold agent measures 1,114 originators over 60 days. Each step says what it read, where it was unsure and whom it handed the work to.
Today opens on three trays: 286 returns for tomorrow's file ($412,880.47, 7 due in today's file), 41 unauthorized-debit claims inside the 60-day window ($23,960.18), and 264 notifications of change to post, with originators to be told by Mon, Oct 26. Each tray says how many are ready and how many need a person. One line above names the originator heading toward a level.
“Plumline Pay: unauthorized returns 0.46 %, heading to 0.52 % by Friday, Oct 30”
Owen Haverford's $1,860.00 PPD debit from CORLISS AUTO LOAN settled Oct 21 and is due in today's file. The agent proposes R01, insufficient funds, at 99 % confidence: available balance $212.40, the overdraft transfer from savings declined, no stop payment or claim. Every check is cited, and the clock shows the 2:00 p.m. escalation and the 4:00 p.m. file.
Dana Whitcombe disputes two $189.00 WEB debits from VANTORRA CLUBS. The claim form said R10. The statement reader read her written statement of unauthorized debit: she ticked that she revoked the authorization on Aug 3 and attached her cancellation email. It proposes R07 for $378.00, checks that she signed on or after both presentment dates, and that the 60th day, Sun, Nov 1, means a file by Fri, Oct 30.
“The claim form said R10 — set aside: her signed statement says she revoked the authorization on Aug 3.”
Renata clicks the citation. The signed statement opens on the right, signed electronically in online banking on Oct 21, 2026 at 09:12 ET, with the box she ticked and her signature highlighted. Satisfied, Renata approves; both debits go back in Friday's file.
Martin Ellery's $1,240.00 debit settled Aug 14, and the network's 60-day window closed Oct 13. He reported on Oct 19, inside Regulation E's 60 days from his Aug 31 statement. The agent cannot return it through the network, so it proposes the loss path: credit him, ask the originating bank to accept a late return or indemnify, and book the loss as pending recovery, reason LATE-01. Renata prepares it; the approval waits for Wendell Price, the ACH Operations Manager.
Plumline Pay, a bill pay and subscriptions partner, has 848 unauthorized returns on 184,300 debits over 60 days: 0.46 %, up from 0.21 % on Aug 27. Counting an estimated 210 unauthorized returns still to come on debits already sent, the agent forecasts it passes 0.5 % on Tue, Oct 27 and reaches 0.52 % by Oct 30.
The agent breaks the returns down by channel. The affiliate sign-up offers channel, opened Sep 14, carries 22,100 debits and 70 % of the unauthorized returns, a 2.69 % rate; without it Plumline would be at 0.16 %. Asked whether this is account takeover, it answers that the returns are mostly R10 on the first two debits after sign-up, with no login or device change.
The agent drafts the control, THR-02: first debits from the affiliate channel held for account validation and an authorization check, the channel capped at 1,500 new first debits a week, a weekly return report by channel, and a review on Fri, Nov 20. Its expected effect brings the rate to 0.38 % by Nov 20. Asha, the Fintech Partner Risk Manager, co-signs; Wendell approves.
“Approved at 09:46, before the rate crosses 0.5 %.”
Renata approves the 268 ready returns in one batch; the 18 that need a person stay in the tray, and Tomás Lindqvist re-checks a 2 % sample in the afternoon. Every proposal and decision is on the audit trail with who, when, why and the evidence, ready to export as a pack for the examiner or the annual Nacha rules compliance audit.
The same morning, seen by the four people it passes through — what their day looked like, and what it looks like now.
Seven agents propose every return code, correction and dishonor and forecast each originator's rates; specialists approve, the manager checks, and a restriction takes two signatures.
Proposes the return code for every incoming entry the core cannot post or a customer disputes, names the file it must go in and its deadline, and shows each check with its source.
Reads the written statement of unauthorized debit, the claim note and the attachments; records the box ticked, the date signed and the entries named, and says which return code the statement supports.
Matches notifications of change to the entries sent, posts them to the partner ledger or the bank-held template, tells the originator within two banking days, proposes a refusal when the corrected data is wrong, and finds originators still using the old data.
Tests every return received on an entry the bank sent for its deadline, duplicates and format, and proposes a dishonored return with its code and its five-banking-day deadline.
Measures each originator's unauthorized, administrative and overall return rates over 60 days, adds the returns still to come, forecasts 8 days ahead, finds the cause by channel, descriptor and date, and drafts controls and Nacha inquiry replies.
Drafts returned-item notices, claim letters, correction notices and partner messages from approved templates, with account numbers masked to the last four.
Records every proposal and decision with who, when, why and the evidence, and assembles evidence packs by audience.
Checks late returns, R17 and controls. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask in plain words, or tell it what to change. Every answer points at the record it came from, and it says what it cannot do.
Why R07 and not R10 for Dana Whitcombe?
Her signed statement says she revoked the authorization. She ticked “I revoked the authorization on Aug 3, 2026” and attached her cancellation email of that day. R10 would say she never authorized Vantorra Clubs, which her own statement contradicts. Both debits, $189.00 on Sep 2 and Oct 2, came after the revocation. The return goes in a file by Fri, Oct 30.
Which originators could cross a Nacha level this month?
One, if nothing changes: Plumline Pay, 0.46 % unauthorized today, forecast 0.52 % by Fri, Oct 30. Kestrova Credit is over at 0.55 % but falling, with Nacha's inquiry open. Ostrander Fitness Studios is at 0.41 % and steady. Fernway Wallet's administrative rate is 2.62 % against 3 %.
Get the sure returns ready for me to approve
268 of 286 returns in tomorrow's file are at 95 % confidence or more and inside their timeframe. I have selected them; you approve — I cannot send a return. The other 18 need you: 11 NSF holds until the 2:00 p.m. sweep, 4 business claims waiting for a signer, and 3 R17 credits for Wendell Price.
Draft the reply to Nacha about Kestrova Credit
Drafted. It gives the cause — debits re-presented on charged-off loans after customers revoked — the fix of Oct 7, today's rate of 0.55 % and falling, and the plan to be under 0.5 % by Nov 18 and hold it 180 days. It is due Mon, Nov 2. Wendell Price signs; I cannot send it.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Nacha's timeframes and return-rate levels ship as settings; the bank's own cutoff, early warnings and approvals sit beside them. The administrator proposes a change and the ACH Operations Manager approves it before it takes effect.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Bank file cutoff | 4:00 p.m. ET | The last file each banking day, ahead of the Federal Reserve's 4:45 p.m. window |
| Escalate items due in today's file | 2:00 p.m. | To the ACH Operations Manager |
| Return-rate levels | 0.5 % · 3.0 % · 15.0 % | Unauthorized · administrative (R02, R03, R04) · overall debit, rolling 60 days |
| Early warning | 0.40 · 2.4 · 12.0 % | Unauthorized · administrative · overall |
| Forecast horizon | 8 days | Includes returns still to come on debits already sent |
| Bulk approval floor | 95 % | Below it, an item needs a person |
| Any return over | $25,000 | Goes to the manager |
| Records kept | 5 years | Nacha asks two years, signed statements one; bank policy |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample returns, claims and corrections · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate from the demo bank's design volumes · “typical” = published figures (Nacha, 2025 ACH Network volume: 35.2 billion payments worth $93 trillion; the Nacha Operating Rules on return timeframes, notifications of change and return-rate levels; Regulation E, 12 CFR 1005.11; 31 CFR 1020.320(e) on SAR confidentiality). People, banks, businesses, originators and account references named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
ACH Returns & NOC Management is how ACH operations post returns and notifications of change on time and track return rates. Agents put the day's ACH returns, unauthorized-debit claims and NOCs in three trays ordered by their deadlines, each with a proposed action, its rule and its sources, and forecast every originator's return rates. Specialists approve, and managers check what moves money late or restricts an originator.
Under the Nacha Operating Rules, most returns must reach the originating bank by opening of business on the second banking day after settlement. A consumer's unauthorized debit (R05, R07, R10, R11) may be returned up to 60 calendar days after settlement, with the customer's signed written statement of unauthorized debit. The solution puts each entry in the tray for its clock and escalates items due in today's file at 2:00 p.m.
The returns agent reads the entry, the account's balance and status from the core and any claim, and proposes the code the evidence supports, with each check cited. For a claim, the statement reader reads the signed statement: in the sample case the claim form said R10, but the customer had revoked the authorization, so it proposes R07. Below 95 % confidence it asks the specialist.
The correction agent matches each notification of change to the entry the bank sent, posts it to the fintech partner's ledger or the bank-held template, and tells the originator within two banking days. It proposes a refusal when the corrected data is wrong, inside 15 days, and finds originators still sending to the old account. A routing-number change on a bank-held template needs a second person.
Every morning the threshold agent measures each originator's unauthorized, administrative and overall debit return rates over 60 days against 0.5 %, 3 % and 15 %, adds the returns still to come on debits already sent, and forecasts eight days ahead. When a rate passes the early warning it finds the cause by channel, descriptor and date and drafts a control. Restricting an originator takes two signatures.
The timeliness agent tests every return received on an entry the bank sent for its deadline, duplicates and format. In the sample, a late R01 and a duplicate R03 are proposed as dishonored returns, R68 and R67, inside five banking days, with $508.50 going back to the originators. The manager approves every dishonor.
Yes. The agents read, propose, draft and cite; they never send a return, restrict an originator, send a notice or write to Nacha. The specialist approves in-window work, the ACH Operations Manager checks late returns, R17s, dishonors and Nacha replies, and a restriction needs the manager and the Fintech Partner Risk Manager. Every override carries a reason code.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements, your documents and your rules — your cutoff, early warnings, approvers, reason codes, templates and roles — connected to your ACH processing platform, core and partner ledgers. It goes live once every quality gate has passed.
Every client and payee address structured, proven and signed twice before 14 November.
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1-min demoWe'll run ACH Returns & NOC Management on a sample of your own past returns, claims and notifications of change.