Introduction

The National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) manages and governs the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network in the United States. To facilitate ACH transactions, they use NACHA files, which are specially formatted .txt files holding information about each transaction. These files are sent between financial institutions, who then move funds from one account to another.

Secure Payments specifically uses unbalanced NACHA files, which show one-way transactions from your customers.

Sample NACHA File

Here's a sample of a NACHA file.

101 12400297111234567892106222214A094101WELLS FARGO BANK NA    LendPro                 000000000
5225LendPro                             1123456789PPDPMT0001202210623210623     1124002970000000
6270311001607777666655554444 000001130019650921       Ron P. McKernan           0124002979650921
6271119042159874456798764567 000013585519650922       Bill Kreutzmann           0124002979650922
6273222700550000999988887777 000004560019650923       Robert Hunter             0124002979650923
6270214091698888777766667777 000013090019650924       Phil Lesh                 0124002979650924
6271250085474444333322221111 000013433419650925       Bob Weir                  0124002979650925
6273222717791111222233334444 000011650019650926       Jerry Garcia              0124002979650926
822500000600744017820000005744890000000000001123456789                           124002970000000
9000001000001000000060074401782000000574489000000000000

At first glance it might seem like just a bunch of numbers, but with a closer look you'll notice the name of your company, the bank you're sending the file to, and each of your customers. Each NACHA file has a two-line header with info about your company, the bank, and the file itself; a list of transactions with customer names; and a footer that totals the transactions and gives some additional info.

In this image, the different parts are highlighted. The two red lines at the top are the header, the yellow line is a single transaction record, and the two blue lines at the end are the footer.

File Breakdown

The rest of this article explores what specific parts of the file indicate, but you won't need to manually input any of this information. Secure Payments will automatically create the NACHA file, pulling from your company settings, transactions, and payment profiles.

Header, Line 1

Let's break down the first line of the file.

Here's what each part means:

Header, Line 2

Here's what each part means:

Transaction Records

Here's two transaction records so you can compare and contrast them:

And here's what each part means:

And that "S"?

Some transaction records will contain an s between the customer name and the addenda record indicator. This is a Payment Type Code, which indicates whether the payment is recurring or single. This field only shows up on WEB or TEL payment records, and in Secure Payments, it'll always be an s for 'single'.

5220Red Star                            1123456789TELPMT0001202210914210914   1111000020000030
63211100002523987879         000000033012072589       Alan Vega             S 0111000020000034
63211100002582389782         000000028012072590       Martin Rev            S 0111000020000035
822000000200222000040000000000000000000006101123456789                         111000020000030

Footer, Line 1

Here's the first line of the footer:

And here's what each part means:

Footer, Line 2

And here's what each part means:

And what about all those 9s at the end of the file?

Often, you'll see a NACHA file like this, with several lines of the number nine:

101 12400297111234567892106222057A094101WELLS FARGO BANK NA    LendPro                00000000
5225LendPro                             1123456789PPDPMT0001202210623210623   1124002970000000
6273220791335545778799693323 000000330019649024       Ron Mael                0124002979649024
6273220791339898656532322121 000001210019649025       Russell Mael            0124002979649025
822500000100124002970000000033000000000000001123456789                         124002970000000
9000001000001000000010012400297000000003300000000000000                                       
9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

These numbers have no meaning, but are just there as filler. NACHA files are in block 10, meaning that the total number of rows should be divisible by ten. In the earlier example file, for instance, there were two lines of headers, six transaction records, and two footers, ten in total. In that file, there was no need for extra filler lines.

This file, however, only has six real lines (two headers, two transaction records, and two footers). To get in in valid block 10 format, the system adds four lines of filler.