Rail types
With the help of the Client Support team, you can configure Unicorn to work with these rail types:
- ACH Push
- ACH Direct Debit
- Fedwire (wire) transfer
- Book (internal) transfer
- Xpay
- RTP
The rail types you work with should be the same as the ones you have set up in your onboarding with CR.
In ACH Push transactions, funds are pushed into a bank account when a payer (customer) triggers funds to be sent to a payee (merchant). For example, when an individual sets up a payment through their bank or credit union to pay a bill, this would be processed as an ACH Push payment.
ACH Push includes ACH Push CCD (Corporate Credit or Debit), used by corporate (business) accounts to pay other corporate accounts, and ACH Push PPD (Prearranged Payment and Deposit Entry), used by personal (consumer) accounts to pay other personal accounts.
In ACH Push, transactions are sent in a batch to the Automated Clearinghouse, which clears the payments and sends them to the receiving bank.
This service is generally free or low-cost, but an ACH transfer can take up to 2-3 days due to the waiting time for batches to be sent out and processed by the banks.
Direct Debit transactions are Pull transactions, in which funds are pulled from a bank account. With Direct Debit, the payer (customer) gives the payee (merchant) permission to take payment from their account whenever it becomes due.
For example, when an individual sets up a recurring monthly payment for a mortgage or utility bill, an ACH debit would be used and their bank account would be debited automatically.
ACH Direct Debit includes ACH Pull CCD (Corporate Credit or Debit), used by corporate (business) accounts to collect from other corporate accounts, and ACH Pull PPD (Prearranged Payment and Deposit Entry), used by personal (consumer) accounts to collect from other personal accounts.
In Fedwires, funds are sent directly from the originator's bank account to the receiver's bank account. Wires are instant, but the fee can be $10 or more for both sender and receiver.
Book transfers are used when you want to send funds from one of your COS bank accounts to another of your COS bank accounts within the same COS Partner.
When sending funds from one of your COS Partner bank accounts to another of your COS Partner bank accounts, Unicorn transfers the funds with an internal book transfer. However, to send funds from one of your COS Partner bank accounts to somebody else’s bank account registered under a different COS Partner, Unicorn uses XPay.
To use XPay, both accounts (sender and receiver) must be registered with XPay.
Real Time Payments (RTP) is a payment system developed by The Clearing House that allows individuals and businesses to transmit funds immediately between accounts at different financial institutions. Visit https://www.theclearinghouse.org/payment-systems/rtp for additional information.
The FedNow service is provided by the Federal Reserve. Visit https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/fednow_about.htm for additional information.
Transactions that use RTP/FedNow generally involve a debtor (party paying out funds) and a creditor (party receiving the funds). Unicorn lets you send payments over the RTP/FedNow systems.