Automated Clearing House (ACH) is an electronic network for financial transactions in the United States.  The ACH network processes processes billions of consumer and business credit and debit transactions each year.

ACH is often used for payroll processing and automated billing applications.  For example, if your salary is deposited into  your bank account without a physical check, then you're seeing the ACH system at work.

ACH allows you to accept customer payments online, over the phone or by fax.  You can also debit customer checking accounts one time or on a recurring basis.

One of the biggest benefits of and or e-check transactions is lower processing costs.  ACH and e-check payments are often processed for a fixed amount per transaction.  There usually are no discount rates or interchange fees to pay as is the case with credit card merchant accounts.  In cases where discount rates apply, they are typically much lower than for credit card merchant accounts.  ACH often used by health clubs as well as dance and yoga studios to process recurring monthly payments from their customers.

The example below illustrates how ACH and electronic check processing can result in lower processing costs for merchants.   In this example, we're assuming a merchant is receiving a $100 payment from a customer.

In addition to lower processing costs, ACH and e-checks give you the ability to offer another payment mechanism to millions of consumers who do not have a credit or debit card.

ACH and e-check payment solutions can be a nice complement to merchant accounts.  In fact, all of the online gateways offered by Main Street Merchant Solutions support ACH/e-checks in addition to standard credit and debit cards.