Coastal ACH Deprecation Ending Soon in NetSuite

As of March 2023, Coastal ACH (Automated Clearing House) is deprecated, which will have a significant impact on the way you conduct your business transactions. This deprecation means that any payments transmitted to your vendors or received from your customers using Coastal ACH will no longer be processed, even if the transaction appears to have been successful.  

Coastal ACH is an electronic funds transfer system that has been widely used for many years to facilitate business transactions. However, with the introduction of new and more secure payment systems, Coastal ACH is no longer considered the most efficient and reliable option. As such, the decision has been made to deprecate the system and phase it out entirely. 

ACH Processing in NetSuite is Changing 

The feature in NetSuite that enables the processing of ACH Vendor Payments and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payments through an integration with Coastal Software will be discontinued on March 31, 2023. Nevertheless, if you wish to maintain your payment processing relationship with Coastal Software, you can contact them directly to discuss a recommended payment processing flow. 

Recommended Actions 

To avoid any interruption to your business operations and to guarantee the prompt processing of payments from your customers and to your vendors, it is advisable to transition your payment processes to another solution prior to March 31, 2023.

For Accounts Payable, Vendor Payments – Outbound ACH Payment Options:  

•Electronic Bank Payments SuiteApp from NetSuite (using your ACH processor of choice).

• Developer Partner SuiteApp for Accounts Payable or other partner solution.

For Accounts Receivable, Customer Payments – ACH Acceptance Options:

•Payment Instrument Record for ACH from NetSuite (requires compatible SuitePayments Partner solution).

•Electronic Bank Payments SuiteApp from NetSuite (using your ACH processor of choice).

•Developer Partner SuiteApp for Accounts Receivable or other partner solution.

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the latest NetSuite functionalities are designed to enhance the self-service capabilities of your customers in managing their accounts receivable. These features incorporate Payment Instruments, including ACH, to facilitate this improvement. 

•Payment Link on Invoice – allows the recipient to pay each invoice individually and supports both ACH and credit card payments.

•SuiteCommerce MyAccount – a more full-featured account view for your customer, also supporting multiple payment methods.

To avoid any disruption to your business operations and to guarantee the prompt processing of payments from your customers and to your vendors, we recommend that you transition from Coastal ACH prior to May 2022. Various alternatives are available to replace Coastal ACH, depending on your specific needs and preferences. 

For Accounts Receivable – Payment Acceptance

NetSuite is improving the accounts receivable experience with the following new features:  

• Payment Link on Invoice – allows the recipient to pay each invoice individually and supports both ACH and Credit Card payments. (Must use  Versapay’s Solupay for NetSuite SuitePayments).

•SuiteCommerce MyAccount – a more full-featured account view for your customer, also supporting multiple payment methods.

If you require support or guidance with these alternatives, we recommend that you contact either your NetSuite Account Representative or reach out to the Developer Partner directly for further assistance. 

For Accounts Payable – Outbound ACH Payments 

Please consider using the Electronic Bank Payments NetSuite SuiteApp.  
 
It is important to note that the NetSuite ACH feature will become obsolete in March 2023. It is highly recommended to migrate from NetSuite ACH before the deprecation date to avoid any interruptions in your business operations. 

In simple terms, Electronic Bank Payments and ACH Processing differ in that the former does not involve a direct transfer of funds, but rather generates a bank file that must be submitted to the bank for processing. The bank will utilize the bank text file created in NetSuite to transfer the funds. In contrast, ACH relies on a third-party integration to manage payments.