ACH

Automated Clearing House, the U.S. electronic network for bank-to-bank payments.

ACH transfers are slower than wires (1 to 3 business days) but much cheaper (often pennies per transaction versus $15 to $50 for a wire). Most SaaS vendors accept ACH for invoiced payments above a threshold (commonly $1K or $5K), often with a small discount versus credit card payment. Same-Day ACH and the newer FedNow rail are reducing settlement time but haven''t fully replaced wires for high-value or international payments.