An Automated Clearing House (ACH), or National Automated Clearing House (NACH), as it is more commonly known in India, is an electronic network that can process different types of recurring transactions. Typically, domestic money transfers and low-value domestic payments between two or more bank accounts are carried out via NACH.
An ACH mandate form is basically just an application form that enables you to activate the facility. The form has to be duly filled, signed and submitted to your bank. Your bank will then verify and authenticate the mandate filed by you and, if satisfied, will activate the facility. Once the service is activated, your recurring payments will be scheduled and will be automatically executed at the frequency specified by you in the form. The ACH authorisation form is essential to receive and send funds from one bank account to another.
An ACH form can be procured in two different ways - by visiting the bank’s website or by making an in-person visit to your bank’s branch. Let’s take a quick look at both of these ways.
This is one of the quickest ways to get an ACH form. All you need to do is visit your bank’s website and do a quick search for the NACH mandate form. Once you get it, you can save a copy of the same to your device and take a print of it on white A4 paper.
Then, fill out the form, sign it and submit the same at the nearest bank branch to activate the facility. At the time of printing, ensure that the size of the online ACH form is as per the NPCI format, which is 8 inches in length and 2 ⅔ inches in height.
Alternatively, you can visit the nearest branch of your bank to procure a NACH mandate form. And while you’re at it, you can fill and submit the form at the bank counter to activate the facility.
If you wish to activate the ACH facility from the comfort of your own home, you can do it by filling out and submitting an e-NACH request. To get the service activated, all that you need to do is fill and submit an online mandate form. You might be required to authenticate the form through the Aadhaar e-sign feature or other electronic means.
Currently, all scheduled commercial banks, including both public sector banks and private banking institutions, provide ACH services. Even small finance banks and cooperative banks offer this facility. As per the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), who operates the NACH facility in the country, around 1,346 banking institutions are currently registered and are actively providing the service.
An ACH form allows you to set up automatic and recurring payments. Once the ACH mandate is set up, funds get directly debited from your bank account and are credited to the destination account at the specified frequency.
You can get an ACH mandate form from any of your bank’s branches. Alternatively, you can also download the form from your bank’s website or choose to fill and submit an e-mandate form.
A typical ACH mandate form has around 17 mandatory fields that you have to fill.