Payments
ACH
Participant roles
1 min
an originate an ach payment can be complex, involving a number of individuals and financial institutions the table below describes participants involved in a typical transfer of funds participant explanation originator the party individual or company that originates a payment settlement into the ach payment system for receipt by the receiver account the originator must have an arrangement with the {{odfi}} directly or through a third party sender and an authorization from the receiver to initiate the transaction originating depository financial institution (odfi) the financial institution that originates the payment and forwards it to the ach operator ach operator receives entries from odfis, sends the entries to appropriate rdfis, and performs settlement functions for the financial institutions cross river works with the federal reserve bank (fedach) receiving depository financial institution (rdfi) the financial institution that receives the credit or debit entry from the odfi and posts it in the receiver account receiver the party (individual or company) that receives the debit or credit entry third party service provider (optional) acts on behalf of the originator, odfi, or rdfi regarding ach entries and transactions this includes creating ach files for an originator or odfi and acting as a sending or receiving point for an odfi or rdfi a third party sender acts on behalf of the originator when there is no agreement between the odfi and originator for ach origination services a third party sender is never the originator for entries it transmits on behalf of another organization a third party sender of entries may be an originator of other entries cross river can act as the odfi for outbound ach transactions or the rdfi for inbound ach transactions a depository financial institution (dfi) can act as an rdfi without being an odfi if a dfi wants to originate ach entries, it must act as both the odfi and the rdfi the odfi must be able to receive payment returns all parties in an ach transaction must comply with the payment settlement