eCheck Records Retention Requirements

All authorizations must be retained by the merchant for 2 years after the completion of a transaction or of a final recurring transaction, or after the revocation of payment authorization. In the case of paper authorizations, the original authorization must be retained. For authentications made over the telephone or via the Internet, the merchant must retain a copy of the authorization and a record of the authentication. For transactions that involve a paper check, a copy of the check must be kept for a minimum of two years as the signed check is considered to be the customer’s authorization. Nacha grants customers 60 days to identify an unauthorized charge. If a customer identifies an unauthorized charge after the 60-day period, the customer’s bank can request a copy of the original authorization for the transaction from the merchant through the ODFI. If the appropriate authorization is not provided to the customer’s bank within 10 banking days, the ODFI is permitted to allow the customer’s bank to return the transaction.

Merchants must be capable of providing a copy of the authorization to the customer upon request.

Visa Acceptance Solutions

may also request the original or a copy of a customer’s payment authorization at any time. Merchants will have 3 business days to comply with such a request. If no response is received by the date requested, to avoid a Nacha rules violation,

Visa Acceptance Solutions

will give permission for the return. If two future requests also go unanswered, according to Nacha rules,

Visa Acceptance Solutions

assumes that you are giving blanket permission to allow all returns, and

Visa Acceptance Solutions

then accepts them on your behalf.