Editing ACH Network (section)

==Payment flow==
In both ACH debit and ACH credit scenarios, the transaction is started by an '''originator'''. In the case of ACH debit, that is likely a business, "pulling" funds from the bank account of a customer, and in the case of ACH credit, this is likely a customer, "pushing" funds from their bank account to the business's.

The originator gives their instructions to their bank, or '''originating depository financial institution''' (ODFI). The ODFI either credits or debits their customer's account, depending on the flow, and forwards the transaction to an '''ACH operator'''.

The [[Federal Reserve]]'s [[FedACH]] and [[The Clearing House Payments Company]]'s privately owned [[Electronic Payments Network]] (EPN) are the two ACH operators in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/fedach_about.htm |title=Federal Reserve Board – Automated Clearinghouse Services |work =Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System |language=en |access-date= November 12, 2019 }}</ref>

The operator routes the transaction to the '''receiving depository financial institution''' (RDFI). As there are just two operators in the US, if the ODFI and RDFI do not use the same ACH operator, the ODFI's operator routes the transaction to the RDFI's operator, who routes it to the RDFI.

The RDFI then either debits or credits (depending on the flow) the bank account of its own customer.<ref name="piu"/>