Explanation of a Notification of Change (NOC) and your responsibilities
In this article, you will learn:
What is a Notification of Change (NOC)?
What is the Nacha Rule regarding NOCs?
Additional information regarding NOC Codes
What happens if you don't manage NOCs?
What is a Notification of Change (NOC)?
Notifications of Change are created by your customer’s bank. The NOC system allows their bank to send correcting information to you without having to stop a transaction. The NOC tells you that your information is either inaccurate or that something has changed requiring your files to be updated, and it tells you which information to change.
What is the Nacha Rule regarding NOCs?
According to Subsection 2.12.1 of the Nacha Rules, Merchants are required to respond to Notifications of Change by investigating the incorrect data and making corrections within six banking days of receipt of the NOC information or prior to initiating another entry to the customer's account, whichever is later.
How to manage NOCs?
You can access a Notifications of Change report in the Online Terminal to see what information needs to be updated by going to Reports > Export Transaction Detail, expanding your date range, and selecting "Notifications of Change" under the Transaction Types dropdown menu.
When you click Export Data, a report will be generated showing the NOC Code in the next to last column and the new information provided with the NOC in the last column. See below for a list of NOC codes.
Be sure to check your Notifications of Change report regularly, not only to keep your customer’s information up to date and reduce your Administrative Return Rate but also to stay in compliance.
What are the NOC Codes?
| CODE | REASON | DESCRIPTION |
| C01 | Incorrect bank account number | Bank account number incorrect or formatted incorrectly |
| C02 | Incorrect transit/routing number | Once valid transit/routing number must be changed |
| C03 | Incorrect transit/routing number and bank account number | Once valid transit/routing number must be changed and causes a change to bank account number structure |
| C04 | Bank account name change | Customer has changed name or ODFI submitted name incorrectly |
| C05 | Incorrect payment code | Entry posted to demand account should contain savings payment codes or vice versa |
| C06 | Incorrect bank account number and transit code | Bank account number must be changed and payment code should indicate posting to another account type (demand/savings) |
| C07 | Incorrect transit/routing number, bank account number and payment code | Changes required in three fields indicated |
| C09 | Incorrect individual ID number | Individual's ID number is incorrect |
| C10 | Incorrect company name | Company name is no longer valid and should be changed. |
| C11 | Incorrect company identification | Company ID is no longer valid and should be changed |
| C12 | Incorrect company name and company ID | Both the company name and company id are no longer valid and must be changed |
Additional information regarding NOC Codes
- For C03 - the first 9 digits will be the routing number; the remaining digits will be the account number
- For C05 - Transaction Code
Description Transaction Code Credit to Checking Account 22 Debit to Checking Account 27 Credit to Savings Account 32 Debit to Savings Account 37 Credit to General Ledger 42 Debit to General Ledger 47 Credit to Loan Account 52
What happens if you don't manage NOCs?
- If you process transactions in the Online Terminal, the account information needs to be updated before trying to process future payments again on the outdated account. Trying to run the outdated account again will return a declined response immediately.
- If you process transactions via API, subsequent transactions will not be declined; however, continuing to process a transaction without first updating the information to reflect the change data provided in the NOC will put you out of compliance with Nacha Rules.