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ACH blocks & disputes

Tanner Fritz
Updated

Summary

While rare, ACH blocks or disputes can happen due to various reasons that may be out of your firm's control. It is important to learn what they are, why the happen, and what can be done to resolve them in order to ensure all of your ACH payments post as expected.

Included in this article:

 

What is an ACH block

Put simply, this is a fraud management tool that allows clients to keep their funds safe and avoid unwanted transactions. An ACH block prevents all ACH debits and credits, meaning that no transactions of this kind will be authorized from the client's account. The ACH block feature can be put in place automatically by the financial institution or opted into by the owner of the bank account. When an ACH block occurs, Aiwyn will reach out to your team directly to inform you of the incident.

What happens if a payment is disputed

If a client disputes their payment, they will be immediately refunded the amount of their transaction and the funds from that initial payment will be reversed from your payout within the next 2-3 business days. If the client disputed their payment by accident, let the customer success team know at support@aiwyn.ai and they will be able to provide you next steps. If the payment is an ACH payment, the same steps will need to be taken as outlined below for the ACH block. If this is a debit or credit card payment, contact support@aiwyn.ai for assistance in unblocking this payment method. 

As soon as this payment method has been unblocked, the client will be able to reprocess their payment in the Aiwyn payment portal.

Please note that all disputes are accepted immediately. Therefore, reversing the dispute will not be a viable option. Please also know that the process to unblock the payment method and have the client reprocess their payment in the portal is very quick and simple!

 

What happens if a client submits a dispute inquiry

If a client submits a dispute inquiry, it is not yet a formal dispute and two actions are able to be taken at this time, dependent on preference. Aiwyn will reach out to you as soon as the inquiry is received for you to decide the best course of action. Please know, that if action is not taken by the deadline provided by Aiwyn, the dispute will be accepted by default.

This is only applicable for dispute inquiries and not full disputes. Please reference the section above for disputes. If you are unsure of which has occurred, please reach out to support@aiwyn.ai for assistance.

  1. You can choose to accept the dispute inquiry and the following actions will occur:
    • The $15 dispute fee will be allocated to your next Aiwyn invoice.
    • The client will be immediately refunded the amount of their transaction.
    • The amount of the payment will be pulled from your deposited payout two-business days afterward.
    • The invoice(s) (if applicable) will be reopened immediately for payment.
    • The payment method may need to be verified for future use.
  2. You can choose to respond to the dispute inquiry and the following actions will occur:
    • You will be able to reach out to the client to have them reverse the inquiry.
    • The inquiry will be put on hold for up to 3 months to wait to hear back from the client's bank that the dispute inquiry has been reversed.
      • Please know that banks can take the full 3 months to communicate back to us that the reversal has occurred, even if the client reached out to their bank directly after communicating with them.
    • During this on-hold status, the funds will not be refunded to the client or taken back from the firm.
    • If the client's bank does communicate to Stripe that the reversal has occurred, no further action will be needed.
    • If the client's bank does not communicate to Stripe that the reversal has occurred, the inquiry will move forward as a normal dispute.

What is an ACH filter or authorized payee

An alternative to a full ACH debit block is an ACH filter or authorized payee. This permits the payee (you/Aiwyn) to debit funds from your client's bank account while keeping their overall anti-fraud security policy in place. Authorizing the two Stripe Payee IDs below prior to or directly after completing an ACH payment will ensure a block does not occur.

How does my client resolve the blocked payment

  1. They need to authorize the two Stripe Payee IDs (below) in their bank:
    • 1800948598 - Stripe Payments Company
    • 4270465600 - Stripe Payments Company
  2. They need to either confirm with you directly or support@aiwyn.ai that there are no further authorization restrictions applied to their bank account and future debits have been authorized. This will allow the team to unblock their bank account for future payments.
    • If this is confirmed with you directly, please contact support@aiwyn.ai to unblock their bank account for future payments.
  3. They need to re-process their payment.

What if my client's payment was blocked due to their bank account being frozen or closed

  1. Your client will need to verify that their bank account is now open/active to be able to make future payments. To do so, they will need to simply submit documentation to our Secure Document Submission webpage. This documentation just must show or state that the account is open and active.
  2. The Aiwyn Support team will reach out directly once this documentation has been verified and the bank account is unblocked.
  3. They need to re-process their payment.

Resources to consider when communicating with your clients

  1. Consider using this sample email template you can use when communicating with your client.
  2. Sample guides on how to authorize a payee within your bank:
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