My bank issues only credit cards so I have a few question on timelines in getting payment checks returned to us. I understand the 24 hour rule for forged signature & counterfeit, but what about ACH and payments returned for NSF, return to maker, unable to locate or acct closed. We recently have begun to accept ACH payments and had one payment returned to us for unauthorized 45 days after the check had posted to the account. What is the maximum time frame that we have to accept a unauth'd ACH (i.e 60 days, 90 days, 1 year)? Our settlement department is under the current impression that they need to accept all late returns and if their acceptance was invalid, then go back out and process a late return against the initial bank. Is this a correct procedure? I would think if we have reason to reject, we should reject on the front end and not accept and hope they accept our claim. Last question, regarding NSF payments, how long before we can reject the NSF? We have received a few NSF checks back 45-60 days after the posting. This seems quite excessive. Thank you in advance for any help.

IN GENERAL ACH items returned for NSF, no account, etc., should be turned around by the RDFI (bank they were sent to) in one day. But they have 60 days from the settlement date for unauthorized, stop payment, if from a consumer account. They don't get the extra time for business accounts.

I strongly urge you to run, don't walk to get your hands on a copy of the 2002 NACHA rules. All of these deadlines and procedures are nicely laid out there. If you're a member of NACHA, and you order a copy of the book in hard copy, you can also sign up to log into their Web site to review the on-line version.

You absolutely must have someone on board in your bank that has access to the rules and can understand them. Otherwise, you will be totally at the mercy of others that send or return items to you.

What about paper checks? What kind of timeframes are we looking at there?

If it's something the drawee bank should have been able to catch without involving a third party -- drawer signature, overdraft or NSF, stop payment, date, account open/closed, wrong bank -- close of business on day after presentment. Most "refer to maker" items fall in this group, too.

If it's endorsement, alteration, UCC limit is generally three years (yes, that's what it says).