Automated Clearing House (ACH) and ACH Positive Pay Services

ACH Origination

Your ACH services will be transitioned to Fifth Third, effective Tuesday, September 8, 2026.

ACH Direct Send file format

• There will be no changes to the file format you use, in most cases.
• If a file format change is needed, we will contact your organization and provide the details you’ll need to make the required updates.

Control total authentication

• Control total authentication is required on all files transmitted to Fifth Third. Control totals may be submitted using text file format, or online through Fifth Third Direct.
  • If you use Fifth Third Direct for control total authentication, you will need to manually enter your control totals on the online screen; totals will not be prepopulated.
  • You can continue to use Comerica's standard txt file format for your Verification files. However, if you use a non-standard file format, you will need to align with the standard format prior to September 8, 2026 or use Fifth Third Direct to verify files instead.
  • File verification confirmations will continue to be emailed, but to a maximum of three contacts.

Origin IDs

• In most cases, there will be no change to your origin ID used to identify the originator of an ACH file unless you also originate ACH transactions through Fifth Third today.
• If you already process ACH originations with Fifth Third and a new origin ID is needed, we will contact you after September 8, 2026 to request an update.
• If you are assigned a new, unique Fifth Third origin ID and receive an ACH Returns file, the new Fifth Third assigned ID will be in the file header of your Returns file as of September 8, 2026.

ACH cutoff times

• ACH cutoff times at Fifth Third are different than ACH cutoff times at Comerica. Fifth Third cutoff times are outlined below:

Online Origination (Fifth Third Direct)	Standard ACH: 8:00 p.m. ET Same-Day ACH: 2:00 p.m. ET
ACH Direct Send	Standard ACH: 11:59 p.m. ET Same-Day ACH: 3:00 p.m. ET
Weekend/Holiday Processing	First deadline: 10:00 p.m. ET Final deadline: 12:00 a.m. ET
ACH Positive Pay	First window: 12:00 p.m. ET Final deadline: 8:00 p.m. ET

ACH templates

• Active/approved ACH templates in Comerica Treasury Payments through Comerica Business Connect will be transferred to Fifth Third Direct.

Returns

• If you receive ACH Returns data via file, during a period of time through September 30, 2026, you may receive two files dependent upon return item processing.

Stop Payments

• Fifth Third posts an item and then returns it if the stop payment instruction matches. Comerica returned the item prior to posting.

Reporting

• Your Return and Customer Activity Report files will be consolidated into a single daily file and distributed at the end of each business day.
• If you are using automation to collect data from files or screens directly to inform your own systems, be aware that changes to layouts and formats may impact your processes. For example, ACH Return statements will be formatted differently.

Process changes

• Certain processes related to suspended files, deletions, reversals and return requests, including cutoff times to request ACH Returns, will be different starting on September 8. Training and support materials are available below and in Fifth Third Direct.

Alerts

• You can subscribe to receive alerts related to your ACH transactions. You may receive alerts via email or the Notifications Center in Fifth Third Direct following the transition. Text alerts will not be available.
• Some alerts types you may currently receive will be discontinued.

ACH Positive Pay

Access

• ACH Positive Pay will be accessed through Fifth Third Direct and will continue to provide the same core fraud prevention functionality; however, certain aspects of the service will change.
• Your ACH Positive Pay rules will be transferred from Comerica Business Connect to Fifth Third’s ACH Positive Pay solution, except for rules related to ACH credits.

Service experience and process changes

• ACH items will post to your account prior to decisioning and will be available for review the next banking day.
• Because ACH items are presented after posting, you will not have transactions available for review on September 8, 2026. Your first review cycle will occur on September 9, based on transactions posted the prior day.
• Return decisions submitted before 12:00 p.m. ET will post to your account the same day, while decisions submitted after this time will post on the next business day.
• Only exception items requiring action will be displayed in ACH Positive Pay; transactions approved by rules will process automatically and will not appear for review.
• Alerts for ACH Positive Pay exceptions will be enabled at no cost, with hourly reminder notifications until items are decisioned.
• Historical decision data from Comerica will not migrate to Fifth Third. Following the transition, up to 90 days of new decision history will available within ACH Positive Pay.
• During the preview period, you should review and update user access and alert settings to ensure notifications are assigned appropriately.

NOTE: Due to transition weekend activities, same day items presented on Friday, September 4, 2026, will need to be decisioned by 8:30 p.m. ET or the default decision will apply.

Rules and controls

• Rules related to ACH credits will not migrate, as ACH credits are not supported in ACH Positive Pay at Fifth Third.
• Certain ACH Positive Pay rule capabilities available today are not supported at Fifth Third and will not migrate, including general (blanket) rules, daily cumulative limits, and “Return” rules based on specific dollar thresholds. Return rules at Fifth Third can only be configured to return all transactions from a specific Company ID.
  • If you currently use minimum transaction amount rules (greater than or equal to limits), you should update those rules prior to the transition to use Fifth Third's supported maximum transaction amount limit, so they migrate with your intended controls. 
  • If your current rules include daily cumulative limits, you should review and adjust your maximum transaction amount limits prior to the transition, as cumulative daily controls will not migrate.
  • If you currently use Return rules with transaction amount or daily cumulative limits, remove those limits prior to the transition if you want the rule to migrate. Fifth Third only supports returning all transactions from a specific Company ID.
  • Following the transition, you should review your migrated rules to confirm they align with your intended authorization controls, risk tolerance and operational processes. 

ACH credits

• If you currently use ACH Positive Pay to review ACH credits, please note that ACH Positive Pay will apply to ACH debits only following the transition.
• ACH credits will post automatically to your account and will no longer be available for review or decisioning.
• If you require additional controls for incoming ACH credits, contact your relationship team to discuss Transaction Control, which can systematically block ACH credits while permitting approved trading partners.