Same Day ACH is the ‘Most Adopted Rail’ for Plaid and its Customers

When it comes to choosing a payment rail, Plaid customers find Same Day ACH is an easy decision.
“Same Day ACH is the most adopted rail that we work with,” said Mollie Curran, Go to Market Lead for Plaid’s Payments Product Line. “Our customers value it for its cost-effectiveness.”
Plaid, a Nacha Preferred Partner for ACH Experience, Open Banking, and Risk and Fraud Prevention, adds infrastructure that helps fintechs and merchants process payments and offer financial services to their clients. Plaid’s money movement business, which started about three years ago, is largely focused on account opening and funding today, but it is seeing strong growth in bill pay, loan servicing, and increasingly ecommerce.

“We see some banks that use Same Day ACH to fund accounts and also for disbursements. We also see insurance companies using it for premiums and claims payouts. And we see a lot of value within lending, particularly on early wage access, but also more traditional lending,” said Curran. “If you think of financial services that are catered toward consumers, that’s where a lot of our use cases are centered.”
Among the Plaid customers who are big users of Same Day ACH is the cryptocurrency platform Kraken, where Plaid powers the on and off ramps using both same day and standard ACH along with other rails. Another Plaid customer is Clutch, which has a platform that helps community banks and credit unions with digital lending.
Many Plaid customers have adopted a multi-rail approach to money movement, but as Curran noted, Plaid “expects ACH to continue to be the backbone of bank payments within the United States. It’s cost effective and the only rail that’s ubiquitous. It’s very entrenched and we expect that to continue.”
More processing windows and later hours are on the Same Day ACH wish list for Plaid and its customers. But as a way of moving money quickly, safely and efficiently, Same Day ACH gets a big thumbs up.
“Overall, people are definitely pleased with Same Day ACH,” said Curran. “It’s faster than standard, so you get that same day experience. It’s extremely cost-effective and people are satisfied with that.”
