ACH transaction codes

How to use this list

1. Find the two-digit code. In an ACH file it is in positions 2 and 3 of every line that starts with 6.
2. Type it in the box, or type words such as “savings debit”.
3. Read across the row. It shows the type of account, whether the entry is a credit or a debit, and what kind of entry it is.

A credit puts money into the account. A debit takes money out.

What a transaction code is

Every payment in an ACH file carries a transaction code. Nacha describes its job in one sentence: it identifies the payment as a debit or a credit, and shows the type of account it is meant for.

The code sits on the payment line, which is called the entry detail record. It is a required field with two digits. The NACHA file format guide shows the whole line, and the ACH file viewer reads the code for you.

How the two digits work

The first digit is the type of account.

For checking, savings and general ledger accounts, the second digit is what the entry does.

So 32 is a payment that credits a savings account, and 28 is a prenote for a checking debit.

Loan codes follow the same pattern for credits (51 to 54). Loan accounts have only two debit codes: 55 for a debit, and 56 for the return or NOC of that debit.

The four kinds of code

• Payment. An entry that moves money. These are the codes you put in a file you send: 22 and 27 for checking, 32 and 37 for savings.
• Prenote. A zero-dollar test entry that lets the receiving bank check the account details before the first real payment. See the ACH prenote guide.
• Zero-dollar. A zero-dollar entry that carries remittance data and no money. Bank guides list them for CCD and CTX payments. Codes 24 and 34 are also used for acknowledgment entries (ACK and ATX). See CCD, CCD+ and CTX.
• Return or NOC. The code on an entry that comes back to you: a returned payment or a Notification of Change. See what a return file looks like, the list of ACH return codes and the list of NOC codes.

Checking, savings, general ledger and loan accounts

• Checking and savings. These are the codes a business uses to pay people and to collect from them. Ask the account holder which type the account is. Do not guess.
• General ledger. These codes are for a financial institution’s general ledger accounts, not for a customer’s checking or savings account. Use one only if the receiving bank tells you to.
• Loan. Only credits can be sent to a loan account. The loan debit code, 55, is only for a reversal that corrects a payment sent in error.

Where this list comes from

Nacha’s public guide for developers lists eight codes: 22, 23, 27, 28, 32, 33, 37 and 38. For the full list it points to the Nacha Operating Rules. We confirmed the other codes in this table from guides published by banks and by EPCOR, a payments association. They are listed under Sources.

The table is the same list that the file tools on this site use. So the ACH file viewer and the NACHA file validator read each code the way this page does.

Common mistakes

• The wrong account type. A savings account paid with a checking code, such as 22 instead of 32, can come back as a return. The bank may also post the payment and send a Notification of Change with code C05, which asks you to correct the transaction code.
• A credit code on a debit, or the other way around. 22 puts money into a checking account. 27 takes money out of it. Check the direction before you send a file.
• An amount on a prenote. A prenote must be for zero dollars. The same is true of the zero-dollar codes.
• A batch that does not match its codes. A batch marked credits only (service class code 220) cannot hold a debit code, and a batch marked debits only (225) cannot hold a credit code. The NACHA file validator checks this for you.