ARC Adoption Nets Awards

Today, Jun 2005

At its recent Payments Conference, NACHA presented its two 2005 Kevin O'Brien ACH Quality Awards. One went to C h eckfree (www.checkfreecorp.com), which was recognized for achieving a 0.01% administrative return rate on ARC payments it processes. The second was presented to National City (www.nationalcity.com), recognized for the complete integration of the company's paper-based checking account and electronic payment systems.

Checkfree processes millions of ARC transactions each month for national telecom, credit card issuers and regional utilities. In 2004, Checkfree's administrative return rate for these ARC payments was 0.01 %, 14 times better than the industry average of 0.14%. "Quality is a critical component of any payment product or process, and this year's NACHA Quality Awards are excellent examples of improvements that help make check conversion the highest quality product possible," said Elliott McEntee, NACHA's president.

National City's integration of its paper and electronic payment system allows it to recognize an ACH debit it receives that is a converted check. On a customer's checking account statement, the item is reported in the 'Checks' section, complete with check number, and then identified as a 'Converted Item' which is also reported in the 'Debits/Charges' section.

"National City's systems integration is a best practice that addresses customers' needs with locating and understanding transactions reported on their account statements," said McEntee. "Quality is a critical component of any payment product or process, and this year's NACHA Quality Awards are excellent examples of improvements that help make check conversion the highest quality product possible."

NACHA also awarded its 2005 George Mitchell Payments System Excellence Award, which went to Citigroup (www.citigroup.com.au), for doubling the volume of ACH payments it originated and implementing ARC check conversion in its Citi Cards business unit.

"Citigroup is being recognized as a role model for the payments industry because it practices what it preaches,' said McEntee. "We all promote electronic payments to companies and consumers, but Citigroup is adopting electronic payments internally to meet its own business needs."