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18b ACH payments in 2007 5/19 Businesswire 18b ACH payments were made in 2007, a 12.6% increase over 2006. ‘ACH payment volume continues to double every 5 years with increases experienced across all transaction categories,’ said Elliott McEntee, Nacha. ‘This growth of the ACH illustrates that financial institutions & their customers recognize the value of ACH payments. The 2007 Federal Reserve Payments Study, which revealed ACH payments had the largest compound annual growth rate, 18.6%, of all non-cash payments, confirms the widespread appeal & value of the ACH Network. The numbers speak for themselves.’ The nation’s financial institutions originated 13.3% more ACH payments in 2007 than in 2006. The number of these payments was 16.97b, a jump of 2b over 2006, which were valued at $32.9 trillion. Interbank ACH payments - those sent from one financial institution to another - increased by 14.3% in 2007. On-us payments - those that remain within a single financial institution - increased by 10.1%. The remaining ACH payments, originated by the Federal government, exceeded 1b ACH payments for the second year. The Federal government’s ACH volume was up 3.6% over 2006, & valued at $3.7 trillion. ACH payments include Direct Deposit of payroll, Social Security benefits & tax refunds, Direct Payment of consumer bills, bill payments by Internet & telephone, check conversion, B2B payments, & Federal tax withholdings. American consumers use the ACH primarily to pay bills automatically & electronically, & to receive income & benefit payments via Direct Deposit. Nacha estimates that more than 8.5b consumer bills were paid via the ACH in 2007, including pre-authorized debits, Internet & telephone-initiated payments, & checks converted into ACH payments. Annual volume for ARC check conversion grew by 600m payments to 3.5b, an increase of 23%. ARC accounted for 33% of financial institutions’ ACH transaction growth in 2007. WEB grew by an estimated 26% to 2.3b. Nacha estimates that 85% of Internet-initiated ACH payments are to pay bills via companies’ or billing services’ Web sites, & 10% are to transfer funds. The number of pre-authorized, automatic bill payments - known as Direct Payment - increased by 3.6% to 3.4b payments. Direct Deposit remains the most widely used type of ACH payment. The number of Direct Deposits in 2007 increased by 6.2% to 5b payments. Direct Deposit is used for payroll, expense & travel reimbursement, pension & annuity payments, interest payments, retirement & mutual fund distributions, Social Security, Veterans & other government benefits, & tax refunds. The average dollar amount of a Direct Deposit was $1,394. American businesses & government agencies use the ACH Network for payments to & from trading partners, vendor payments, business-to-government tax withholdings, intra-company cash management transfers, & to exchange remittance information regarding payments. The total number of these business-to-business ACH payments grew to 2.5b in 2007, up 8.5% over 2006. Financial electronic data interchange - the electronic exchange of payment-related information or financial-related documents in standard formats between business partners on the ACH - grew by 11.9% in 2007. In 2007, there were 1.1b EDI-formatted remittance records accompanying ACH payments. The number of financial EDI payments in 2007 was 340m, up 18.1% over 2006.