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ACH Return Codes

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How do ACH Return Codes work in practice?ACH Return Codes

ACH return codes identify the reason an ACH payment was returned by the recipient's bank. They make it easier for originating and receiving financial institutions to spot and communicate payment failures.

Each code begins with 'R' followed by a two digit number. For example, 'R04' indicates that an invalid account number was provided. In response, the ACH network returns a payment to the originating party if it fails to complete the request. Payments returned in this way are typically referred to as ACH Returns. ACH return codes are standardized and maintained by NACHA, the governing body for the ACH network.

How do ACH Return Codes work in practice?

NACHA prescribes separate rules for handling each return code since each one represents a unique scenario. ODFIs (Originating Depository Financial Institutions) and RDFIs (Receiving Depository Financial Institutions) are responsible for handling ACH return codes according to these rules.

For example, let’s say a consumer's account is debited for a streaming service subscription without their authorization. In that scenario, the consumer's bank has up to 60 days after the payment has settled to return the payment to the company's bank with the ACH return code R05.

Now, let’s take a different example. Let's say the consumer has provided the streaming service with debit authorization but doesn't have enough funds in their account to cover the transaction. In this case, their bank has up to 2 days after settlement to return the payment to the streaming service with the code R01. Failure to do so within 2 days will make the consumer's bank liable for the funds.

ACH Return codes are constantly evolving, with NACHA clarifying and updating existing codes and adding new ones on a regular basis. At the time of writing, the most recent update involved repurposing the return code, R11. Now, R11 will be used when there's an error with a received payment. In this case, the error would be reported by someone who has received a payment for an incorrect amount of money or received a payment on the wrong date.

ACH Return Codes

There are currently 85 distinct ACH return codes. The most common of which are:

Code	Title	Account Type	Time Frame
R01	Insufficient Funds	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R02	Account Closed	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R03	No Account / Unable to Locate Account	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R04	Invalid Account Number Structure	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R05	Unauthorized Consumer Debit using Corporate SEC Code	Consumer	60 Calendar Days
R06	ODFI Requested Return	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Undefined
R07	Customer Revoked Authorization	Consumer	60 Calendar Days
R08	Payment Stopped	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R09	Uncollected Funds	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R10	Originator not known and/or not authorized to Debit Receiver’s Account	Consumer; Non-Consumer for ARC, BOC, IAT, or POP.	60 Calendar Days

The other return codes, which are less common, include:

Code	Title	Account Type	Time Frame
R11	Customer advises not within Authorization Terms	Consumer; Non-Consumer for ARC, BOC, POP, and IAT	60 Calendar Days
R12	Account Sold to Another DFI	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R13	Invalid ACH Routing No.	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Next File Delivery Time Following Processing
R14	Representative Payee Deceased	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R15	Beneficiary / Account Holder Deceased	Consumer	2 Banking Days
R16	Account Frozen / Returned per OFAC	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R17	File Record Edit Criteria / Suspicious Entry with Invalid Account No. / Return of Improperly-Initiated Reversal	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R18	Improper Effective Date	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Next File Delivery Time Following Processing
R19	Amount Field Error	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Next File Delivery Time Following Processing
R20	Non-Transaction Account	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R21	Invalid Company ID	Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R22	Invalid Individual ID	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R23	Receiver Refused Credit	Consumer or Non-Consumer	RDFI must transmit Return upon receipt of Refusal
R24	Duplicate Entry	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R25	Addenda Error	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Next File Delivery Time Following Processing
R26	Mandatory Field Error	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Next File Delivery Time Following Processing
R27	Trace Number Error	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Next File Delivery Time Following Processing
R28	Routing No. Check Digit Error	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Next File Delivery Time Following ProcessingNext File Delivery Time Following Processing
R29	Not Authorized by Corporate Customer	Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R30	RDFI not in Check Truncation Program	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Next File Delivery Time Following Processing
R31	Permissible Return (CCD and CTX only)	Non-Consumer	Undefined
R32	RDFI Non-Settlement	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Next File Delivery Time Following Processing
R33	Return of XCK	Consumer or Non-Consumer	60 Calendar Days
R34	Limited Participation DFI	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Next File Delivery Time Following Processing
R35	Improper Debit	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Next File Delivery Time Following Processing
R36	Improper Credit	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Next File Delivery Time Following Processing
R37	Source Document Presented	Consumer or Non-Consumer	60 Calendar Days
R38	Stop Payment on Source Document	Consumer or Non-Consumer	60 Calendar Days
R39	Improper Source Document	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days
R40	Return of ENR
R41	Invalid Transaction Code	N/A	N/A
R42	Routing No. / Check Digit Error	N/A	N/A
R43	Invalid DFI Account No.	N/A	N/A
R44	Invalid Individual ID No.	N/A	N/A
R45	Invalid Individual / Company Name	N/A	N/A
R46	Invalid Representative Payee Indicator	N/A	N/A
R47	Duplicate Enrollment	N/A	N/A
R50	State Law Affecting RCK Acceptance	N/A	N/A
R51	Ineligible / Improper Item Related to RCK
R52	Stop Payment on Item Related to RCK	Consumer	60 Banking Days
R53	Item and RCK Presented for Payment	Consumer	60 Calendar Days
R61	Misrouted Return	Consumer	60 Calendar Days
R62	Erroneous / Reversing Debit	Consumer	5 business days of return entry
R67	Duplicate Return
R68	Untimely Return	Consumer or Non-Consumer	ODFI must transmit Return within 5 Bnkg. Days
R69	Field Error	Consumer or Non-Consumer	ODFI must transmit Return within 5 Bnkg. Days
R70	Permissible Return Not Accepted / Not Requested by ODFI	Consumer or Non-Consumer	ODFI must transmit Return within 5 Bnkg. Days
R71	Misrouted Dishonored Return	Consumer or Non-Consumer	ODFI must transmit Return within 5 Bnkg. Days
R72	Untimely Dishonored Return	Consumer or Non-Consumer	ODFI must transmit Return within 5 Bnkg. Days
R73	Timely Original Return	Consumer or Non-Consumer	ODFI must transmit Return within 5 Bnkg. Days
R74	Corrected Return
R75	Return Not Duplicate	Consumer or Non-Consumer	ODFI must transmit Return within 5 Bnkg. Days
R76	No Errors Found	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Contested Return must be transmitted within 2 Bnkg. Days
R77	Non-Acceptance of R62	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Contested Return must be transmitted within 2 Bnkg. Days
R80	IAT Coding Error	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Contested Return must be transmitted within 2 Bnkg. Days
R81	Non-Participant in IAT Program	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Contested Return must be transmitted within 2 Bnkg. Days
R82	Invalid Foreign RDFI Identification	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Contested Return must be transmitted within 2 Bnkg. Days
R83	Foreign RDFI Unable to Settle	Consumer or Non-Consumer	Contested Return must be transmitted within 2 Bnkg. Days
R84	Not Processed by Gateway
R85	Incorrectly Coded Outbound Int’l Payment	Consumer or Non-Consumer	2 Banking Days

This list will be continually updated as NACHA updates their operating rules.

Modern Treasury makes it really easy to initiate a return with the appropriate return code and automates linking the return to the original payment. Learn how to return a payment using our API with this guide.

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