WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve announced last week that it will delay implementation of a new fee for some transactions processed through its automated clearing house.
The new surcharge on non-valued and credit transactions processed in the clearing house's last cycle will now begin on Jan. 1, instead of Oct. 1. as previously announced.
Fed officials estimate that the agency will lose $700,000 to $1 million because of the delay. But they say it will give institutions time to adjust their processing and posting practices.
Lobbying Effort
Industry leaders have been pushing for the delay. They have argued that unless changes were made, consumers receiving wages via direct deposit would not get their accounts credited on schedule.
The new starting date will enable the Fed and industry leaders to work with lenders and their processors to develop new delivery and posting schedules, Fed officials said.
This would enable lenders to credit direct-deposit accounts as quickly as they do now.
ACH Cycles Doubled
This gives us a little breather to try to educate receiving banks and their service bureaus," said William Nelson, executive vice president of the National Automated Clearing House Association.
Last March, the Fed announced that it would double the number of its ACH cycles, to four. This summer, the Fed announced the new 1-cent surcharge, which will be levied on all nonvalued and credit transactions.
Upon announcing the delay last week, the Fed reiterated its intention to introduce the added processing cycles and later deadlines on Oct. 1, as previously planned.
In addition, the delay does not affect the current night-cycle surcharge on debit transactions.
After surveying its members this summer, Nacha found that many large processors were planning to avoid the late-night fee by holding some of their transactions until the next morning.
A Cause of Delay
Because many service bureaus that process for receiving banks only make one pickup a day, many transactions - especially direct deposits - would be delayed, the group said.
But Nacha officials hope that with education and cajoling between now and January, institutions will change their operations so that the funds continue to be credited to consumers' accounts on time.
"The postponement gives us a few months to get out there and educate service bureaus and their banks to pick up twice a day, or at a minimum once a day in the afternoon," Mr. Nelson said.
