Hey all 
We’ve just enabled ACH debits for Monzo USA accounts! This’ll mean you can now do things like:
Try it out, and please let us know how you find the experience 
There’s a lot of polish still needed, like logos for merchants - what else would you like to see?
What would happen if we bought checks from a check vendor like Walmart? Would they clear?
Could we please see upcoming ACH payments like BACS? Pay early too.
Sending ACH payments would be next.
hell yeah!
also curious what that means for ordering our own custom checks, since all it takes are routing and account numbers scribbled to the bottom of a piece of paper 
For the uninitiated, does this mean that ACH runs on the cheque check clearing system?
You got it dude.
Isn’t it easy to then order a cheque book using someone else’s account and routing number? Custom cheques seem wide open to fraud.
You have to sign them though.
You can even write checks on plain paper using a pen.
Forging a signature isn’t hard
If a check is deposited using your account details, you would know as a copy of the check will be sent to you.
A check can be written on anything in the UK too.
I’m really keen on showing upcoming ACH payments the same way we do Bacs in the UK. It needs a bit more work, as right now we’re behind an abstraction that means we couldn’t do this reliably. If we transition to sending/receiving ACH files directly this becomes much more feasible.
Right now we essentially receive an API call from our intermediary to approve a received ACH debit entry, and it’ll be repeatedly retried if we negatively acknowledge it until it’s getting too close to the deadline for returning it. Once we’re in control of sending a return at the point of time of our choosing it unlocks a bunch of things like upcoming transaction support.
Get paid early might already be feasible, I don’t know enough about the credit risk side of it personally.
I’m actually not sure, I don’t see why not but we haven’t officially tested it yet as the whole team is visiting the London office this week 
Direct debits are setup with just a signature.
Not even that when done online 
Hence the Direct Debit guarantee?
Checks are no different, if it’s fraud it won’t clear.
When you deposit a check the funds are held for 3-5 days. During that time you cant spend the money.
In that time the “payor” can dispute the check.
I’m not sure about that. I have a US bank account, and when I deposit a cheque via photo in their mobile app, the funds are available to spend within minutes.
There’s a multi-day window between when your bank receives notice of the instruction (and should notify you) and when the first direct debit transaction can be submitted
–
That said, cheque fraud doesn’t seem to be rampant in the US, so I assume whatever fraud control measures they’re using on them work “well enough”
Technically it is an advance
It is a risk the bank is taking.
I just tried linking PayPal to my account and it’s still not allowing me, giving me a generic “We’re sorry. We’re not able to process your request right now. Please try again later.” error.
Venmo does work, though. I’ll probably still use my Venmo card to top up my Monzo account, though, since it’s faster.
