Documentation
Documentation

Setting up US ACH direct debit payments

The Stripe gateway allows ACH (Automated Clearing House) direct debit payments for clients in the United States. ACH supports both one-off and recurring (AutoPay) payments.

Before you begin: Required configuration

Before you configure the US ACH payment method, ensure the following required items are configured:

Configuring the US ACH payment method and connecting it to the Stripe gateway

After configuring the above items, create the payment method and ensure it is connected to the Stripe gateway. Lastly, add the payment method to the Staff and Public sets.

Create the payment method

Do the following to create the ACH payment method and connect it to the Stripe gateway:

  1. Go to Settings > Finance > Pay Central.

  2. Click the Payment methods tab.

  3. Select Add new payment method:

    1. Code: Enter a Code. No spaces are allowed in this field.
    2. Name: Enter the Name assigned to the payment method. This is only visible to staff users.
    3. Type: Select Direct debit.
    4. (optional) Account: Select the cash account for the payment method.
    5. (optional) Entity: Select the financial Entity. For more information, refer to Financial entities.
    6. Gateway account: Select the US ACH gateway.
    7. Display payment authorization checkbox: Enable to display an authorization checkbox in the cart for this payment method. When enabled for the payment method, the user must enable the authorization checkbox in their cart before submitting the payment. The provided HTML text box must include the authorization details the customer agrees to, such as: I authorize {Organization name} to charge my {credit/debit} card for agreed-upon purchases. I understand that my information will be saved to file for future transactions on my account.

  4. Click Save.

Add the payment method to the staff & public payment method sets

Do the following to add the ACH payment method to the Staff and Public payment method sets:

  1. Go to Settings > Finance > Pay Central.

  2. Click the Payment method sets tab.

  3. Select the Staff set:

    1. Select Add new.
    2. Enter the Display Name. This name appears to staff users in the Cart.
    3. Select the ACH Payment Method you just created.
    4. (optional) Enable Default if you want this payment method selected by default in the staff user's cart.
    5. Click Save.

  4. Select the Public set:

    1. Select Add new.
    2. Enter the Display Name. This name appears to public users in the Cart.
    3. Select the ACH Payment Method you just created.
    4. (optional) Enable Default if you want this payment method selected by default in the public user's cart.
    5. Click Save.

Testing ACH transactions

The testing workflow for ACH transactions depends on the transaction type:

  • Recurring direct debit transactions
  • One-off direct debit transactions

The recommended workflow for testing ACH transactions is as follows:

  1. Create a test user.
  2. Donate on the user's behalf.
    📘

    Note

    Choose Recurring to test recurring donations, or One-time to test one-off donations.

  3. Generate and process a future invoice.
  4. Review the submitted payment in Pay Central Live.
  5. Refund both the initial and subsequent payments.
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Warning

ACH payments take four business days to confirm the success or failure of a one-off payment or an initial recurring payment enrollment and to settle the funds.

In test environments, payments will reconcile in 5–15 minutes.

1. Creating the test user

Create a contact with an email address that you have access to.

👍

Tip

It is recommended to use a Staff user email account for the test user account.

2. Donating on behalf of the user

Next, make a one-off or recurring payment on behalf of the test user. In this example, we are using donations.

Before you begin, confirm the following for recurring payments:

Do the following to make a payment on behalf of the test user:

  1. From the public website, go On Behalf of the contact.

  2. Go to the Give Now page.

  3. Click Recurring or One-time in the Gift details section.

  4. (For Recurring gifts only) Select a gift frequency. For testing purposes, Monthly is recommended.

  5. Select Other from the Gift amount field.

  6. Enter 1.00 in the amount field.

  7. From the Payment method field in the Payment details area, select the ACH payment method.

  8. Enter required personal information.

  9. Do one of the following to enter the required payment details:

    Log into the bank or financial institution

    1. Use the search bar or click the box representing your bank or financial institution.

    2. Click Agree and continue.

    3. Select an account, and click Connect account.

    4. Do one of the following:

      1. Enter an email address to Save the account with Link.

      2. Click Not now to proceed.

    5. (If you proceed) Click Back to ADVANCED SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL, INC. to return to the donations page.

    Manually enter bank details
    🚧

    Warning

    Users manually entering bank details are required to verify their details through microdeposits. An email containing a link to the microdeposit verification page is sent to the user one to two business days after the initial recurring payment is submitted. The link also displays in the Pay Central Live payment details. The payment automatically timeouts after 10 days without verification or fails after three failed microdeposit attempts.

    1. Select Enter bank details manually instead.

    2. Enter the Routing number and Account number.

    3. Confirm the account number, then Click Submit.

    4. Click Back to Advanced Solutions International (Europe) Limited.

  10. Select the Account type from the drop-down:

  11. Click Submit Donation.

3. Generate and process a future Donation invoice

🚧

Warning

Because it takes four business days to confirm the status of one-off payments or an initial recurring payment enrollment, wait four business days before generating the future donation invoice.

In test environments, payments will reconcile in 5–15 minutes.

Do the following to process a future donation:

  1. Go to Fundraising > Automatic Payments > Process payments.

  2. From the Generate invoices tab, generate the invoice.

  3. From the Review invoices tab, review the invoice to make sure the test payment is included.

  1. From the Submit invoices tab, enter the date and donor name, and click Find. Submit the invoice.
  2. Retrieve the processed payment.

4. Review the payment in Pay Central Live

To ensure the payment succeeds, review the payments in Pay Central Live.

5. Refund the payments

After the payments have successfully processed, you may refund the payments.

Additional resources

Review the following resources for further information regarding Stripe payments:

Updated about 1 month ago

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