For a joint deposit account, should we be accepting a form reporting an unauthorized ACH debit from just one of the joint owners? For example, it doesn’t seem logical to return an ACH as unauthorized unless all owners are willing to attest that the charge was unauthorized.

Yes, you may accept a “written statement of unauthorized debit” (WSUD) from a joint account holder without the other joint account holder’s signature. Under the NACHA rules, the “Receiver” must sign the WSUD. Because the term “Receiver” is defined to include “all Persons whose signatures are required to withdraw funds from an account,” and either joint account holder may withdraw funds from the joint account, only one joint account holder needs to sign the WSUD.

Under the NACHA rules, once you have obtained a signed WSUD, you are entitled to a return entry from the originating bank, and the originating bank cannot resubmit the debit entry, even with proof that the other joint account holder authorized the transaction. This should alleviate your concern that the ODFI might resubmit the debit entry on the basis that only one of the joint account holders objected to the debit entry.

In addition, it is important to note that even if only one joint account holder reports an error related to an ACH, Regulation E still requires you to investigate the purported error — it does not require both joint account holders to report the error. And while you may ask the customer to provide written confirmation of the error (for example, by signing a WSUD), you may not delay this investigation if the customer refuses to provide a written confirmation.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

NACHA Rules, Section 3.11.1 (“An RDFI must promptly recredit the amount of a debit Entry to a Consumer Account of a Receiver, regardless of the SEC Code of the debit Entry, if it receives notification from the Receiver in accordance with Section 3.12 (Written Statement of Unauthorized Debit) . . . .”)

NACHA Operating Guidelines, OG 102 (“In general, consumer debit entries returned by the RDFI as unauthorized will bear Return Reason Code R10 . . . . When using this Return Reason Code, the RDFI must receive a Written Statement of Unauthorized Debit from the Receiver prior to transmitting the extended return entry.”)

NACHA Rules, Section 2.12.1 (“An ODFI must accept Return Entries and Extended Return Entries that comply with these Rules and that are Transmitted by the RDFI within the time limits established by these Rules.”)

NACHA Rules, Section 2.12.4.3 (“All of the following will be treated as improper Reinitiation practices . . . (c) Reinitiating any Entry that was Returned as unauthorized.”)

Regulation E, 12 CFR 1005.11(b)(1) (“A financial institution shall comply with the requirements of this section with respect to any oral or written notice of error from the consumer that: (i) Is received by the institution no later than 60 days after the institution sends the periodic statement . . . . (ii) enables the institution to identify the consumer’s name and account number; and (iii) Indicates why the consumer believes an error exists and includes to the extent possible the type, date, and amount of the error . . . .”)

Regulation E, 12 CFR 1005.11(b)(2) (“A financial institution may require the consumer to give written confirmation of an error within 10 business days of an oral notice.”)