Same-day ACH approaches $1 trillion mark

The ACH network began 2025 with a bang, proving that faster payments are no longer just a talking point. In all, the ACH handled 8.5 billion transactions valued at $22.1 trillion during the first quarter of the year. That's a 5.5 percent increase ($1.4 trillion) over the same period last year.

Perhaps most impressively, the ACH handled 326 million same-day transactions valued at nearly $897 billion during the three months that ended March 31. That represents a 19.1 percent increase in terms of transactions over the first quarter of 2024 and a 24.8 percent increase in the value of transactions that moved across the network year over year.

"As same day ACH nears moving $1 trillion in a quarter, it is clear that this faster payment method is gaining acceptance across a range of use cases," Jane Larimer, Nacha president and CEO, said in a statement.

Of the total transactions, 3.8 billion were ACH credits, and 4.8 billion were debits. Some of the most common uses of ACH credit are direct deposit, and consumer payments (for loan repayments and insurance premiums).

ACH debits are used for some of the same applications (for example, loan repayments and insurance premiums), as well as ecommerce, payments for subscription services and charitable donations). ACH credits are used to push money from one account to another (for example, payroll from a company to workers). ACH debits pull money (for example, from the purchaser's account to the ecommerce provider).

B2B payments growing at a rapid clip

Business-to-business transactions continued to chart robust ACH growth. Following 11.6 percent growth in 2024, B2B transactions increased 9 percent in the first quarter of 2025. Of those, 125 million were healthcare claim payments from insurers to providers, representing a 9.1 percent increase in that category of B2B ACH payments, Nacha said.

In addition, person-to-person payments passed the 100 million mark for the first time in the first quarter. More than 109 P2P payments were sent across the network, representing a 20.4 percent increase over the same period in 2024.

Internet transactions grew 6.9 percent to 2.8 billion

The only category of ACH transactions that did not chart growth was direct deposit, perhaps the oldest use of the network, which fell 0.3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2024 to total 2.2 billion transactions. This could be due in part to more companies offering earned wage access, which is especially popular with gig workers. The growing use of earned wage access also could account for some of the growth in same-day ACH volume.

"ACH continues to show remarkable growth, as consumers, businesses and other organizations recognize the value and convenience it provides," Larimer said.

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