NACHA asks if its rules need to be amended

NACHA's Electronic Check Council has held a survey with the participation of industry members. The survey concentrated on issues regarding a proposed amendment to the NACHA Operating Rules that would result in reduced collection costs of dishonored payment transactions and service fees. 

At present, NACHA Operating Rules require merchants, creditors and debt collectors to obtain a consumer's written authorization before they can electronically debit the consumer's account for the amount of the service fee for a dishonored payment transaction. However, under Regulation E, no written authorization is required from the consumer if notice is provided to the consumer before entering into the payment transaction that the consumer's account will be debited electronically if the payment transaction is dishonored.

In order to develop a business case for amending its rules to allow for notice to equal authorization for the purposes of collecting services fees as required by Regulation E, NACHA has created a survey to obtain industry feedback.