Electronic Checking Documentation

Electronic Checking enables merchants to obtain payment from their customers by directly debiting their bank account. Check transactions are not processed in real-time. Check transactions ‘clear’ and are paid to the merchant in approximately five business days. The merchant should make sure the check has cleared before delivering any product.

A check transaction can be entered either through a web site form or in the transaction administration area. The transaction will be authorized successfully once the following conditions are met.

  1. It passes a basic route number validity check.

  2. There is a name and bank routing and account number entered.

The transactions are now in pending or in locked status until at least 5 business days have passed.
During this 5-day period you may be notified of a reject.
After 5 days funds are transferred to your account on all transactions that have not been rejected.
You can also view the status of your transactions at any time using the Card Query section of your Transaction administration area.

Rejected Check Transactions

The main two reasons for a reject are NSF or Account closed.
When a check transaction is not successfully processed an email notice will be sent to the contact email address we have on file for your account.

Disputed Check Charges

The customer can dispute a check transaction after you have been funded.
When a customer disputes a transaction, the funds along with a reject fee will be deducted from your account.
In accordance with Federal Banking regulations, when a customer disputes a charge stating it was unauthorized, you will be required to submit proof of authorization.

Proof of Authorization (SEC CODES)

It is a requirement of NACHA (the National Automated Clearing House Association) that all debit and credit transactions be done with the consent of the checking account holder.
Authorization for each transaction must be obtained in the manner prescribed for the SEC Code being utilized by you, the merchant, and maintained, available for retrieval upon request.
Each transaction submitted through the gateway must contain the SEC code that you were approved for by Echo and which properly describes the proof of authorizations that will be retained.

See attached SEC code documentation for complete description and authorization requirements for the different SEC codes available.

Echeck Integration

Echeck transactions can be manually submitted using the Virtual Terminal form located in your Gateway administration area.

Your Website can be setup to submit echecks by using our Smart Screens order form, EasyCart or our remote method of integration.

To integrate using the below methods, the following additional variables need to be passed for electronic check transactions.

Smart Screens/Easy Cart
For Smart Screens: add to order form
For EasyCart: add to easycart checkout webpage
Variable Required Max Size Notes
paymethod Mandatory 11 Allowed Values: ‘onlinecheck’ for ACH payments, ‘credit’ or blank for credit card purchases.
checktype Mandatory 3 Allowed Values: ‘PPD’, ‘CCD’, ‘WEB’, ‘TEL’ (See SEC Code document)

Remote Auth, Direct Method (APIs)
Variable Required Max Size Notes
routingnum Mandatory 9 ABA bank routing number. Required for electronic check payments.
accountnum Mandatory 20 Bank account number. Required for electronic check payments.
paymethod Mandatory 11 Allowed values: ‘onlinecheck’ for electronic check payments.
accttype Mandatory 8 Allowed Values: ‘checking’, ‘savings’Required for Electronic Check Payments.
acctclass Mandatory 8 Allowed Values: ‘personal’, ‘business’
checktype Mandatory 3 Allowed Values: ‘PPD’, ‘CCD’, ‘WEB’, ‘TEL’ (see sec code document)A SEC code of ‘PPD’ is passed unless a different SEC code is specified as shown below - see SEC code doc for definitions of SEC codes.
commcardtype Optional 8 Allowed Values: ‘business’ - we will pass sec code of CCD
phone Optional/Mandatory 15 Numeric customer phone number required when passing checktype of ‘WEB’

The following information applies for merchants also using the recur billing service:

  1. Contact us if you wish to have your recur check transactions automatically batched for you.

  2. Address, email, and phone number fields must be complete in the member’s profile.

  3. Billing history for a member who is charged by check will reflect the result of the initial authorization.
    If a check transaction fails upon settlement - the billing history will not reflect the failure.
    You will be sent email notifications of check transactions that fail, it is your responsibility to cancel members if the check transaction fails.