Payment Submission Process

Submitting Pre-Authorized Debit payments

If you choose direct access to Pre-Authorized Debit through a bank, you will need to learn about how to submit PAD payments that you collect for processing. Accessing Pre-Authorized through a payment provider normally means they will take on the submission process for you.

The submission process

You can submit payment requests to your bank by creating and uploading an Automated Funds Transfer (AFT) file, using the following process:

• Create an AFT file with the required structure (details provided in next section)

• Upload file to your bank according to their procedures

• Wait for bank’s initial check to ensure required information is included before sending file to ACSS

• Bank processes AFT file contents

Your bank will generally provide you with the required format to create the file. It's still useful to understand its structure, so we’ll explain this in more detail here.

Using the AFT file to submit payments

The AFT file contains payment instructions, in a format specified by your sponsor bank. We’ve outlined the main points below for Pre-Authorized Debit payments. Your bank may also have proprietary standards for file submissions, so we recommend you check these with them before submitting any files.

Each file will include at least 3 records:

• Header record – Contains identifying information of the originator and date of file

• Payment record – Lists pre-authorized debit payment item data

• Trailer record – Provides totals for the preceding records in the file

Each payment item has a transaction code. Located on the customer statement line, these codes help identify what the payment is for. Transaction codes have no formal requirements, with most Pre-Authorized Debit payments using the ‘Miscellaneous’ code.

Commonly used transaction codes

Bank messages

Bank files sent through ACSS will contain notifications about circumstances such as payment failures. For example, you could receive a notification when a Pre-Authorized Debit is dishonored, or to let you know about a Notice of Change (NOC). The latter provides updated information on a customer’s account details, so the originator can adjust records for future payments.

Your bank will forward any messages to you each working day. For returned or dishonored items, you’ll be able to identify the reason by looking at the transaction code. Here are some of the most commonly used transaction codes for returned or dishonored payments, and for customer initiated returns:

Transaction Codes for returned or dishonored payments

Transaction Codes for Customer Initiated Returns