Weekly ACH Example

• A member who enrolls in our weekly ACH autopay on a Monday will have no ACH drawn that Friday.

• The purchases made on days that are RED will be debited to their bank account on the following Friday (labeled ‘ACH Red’).

• The purchases made on days that are BLUE will be debited to their bank account on the Friday labeled ‘ACH Blue’.

Additional options, terms, and exclusions

1. Members enrolled in ACH autopay have the option to receive an emailed payment receipt before the payment is debited to their bank account.

2. Members enrolled in ACH autopay will be automatically enrolled to receive email copies of invoices and monthly statements. Paper copies of statements will not be mailed unless requested by the member.

3. Members enrolled in the weekly ACH program will have all charges made on the account under the terms of the weekly ACH program. Members cannot pick and choose some products or invoices to receive weekly ACH terms and others to receive monthly billing terms.

4. Returns will have an offsetting discount applied reducing the credit amount by 1%.

5. Purchases made that were applied to a prepayment are not eligible for the weekly ACH discount.

6. The discount is only eligible for purchases of products and services from Premier Cooperative.

7. Transfers of funds (for a prepayment or to an investment account) are not eligible for the 1% discount.

8. ACH’s returned by your bank will not be eligible for the 1% discount and will be assessed additional fees.

9. Purchases are dated the day that a product is picked up or delivered to the member and services are dated the date they are completed. Purchases that have their invoices delayed, held, deferred, or post-dated are not eligible for the 1% discount.

10. By signing up for our weekly ACH discount program, you authorize Premier Cooperative to initiate entries to your checking account(s) and if necessary, initiate adjustments for any transactions initiated in error.

FAQ

1. What is an ACH payment? 

   1. An ACH payment is an electronic transaction between two bank accounts processed through the Federal Reserve’s ACH network.

   2. Examples of ACH payments include e-checks, direct deposit, scheduled payments, and automatic payments.

2. Why does Premier Cooperative have a weekly ACH program?

   1. It allows Premier’s members the convenience of charging product to their open account while still receiving the best overall price.

      1. In exchange for participating in the weekly ACH program, members will receive a 1% discount on their purchases.

   2. The weekly ACH program will speed up the time it takes to receive payment for products and services sold to members.

      1. Your Cooperative has between $10m-$25m on member charge accounts at any given time throughout the year.

      2. Having all customers on the weekly ACH program would save your cooperative hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Savings are returned to members as patronage refunds, reducing the price of goods and services.

   3. The weekly ACH program will reduce administrative overhead by sending electronic statements and automatically processing payments.

      1. Sending paper statements costs over $100k/year.

      2. Staff processed 88,562 payments last year which cost over $100k in labor.

      3. Reducing these costs will increase patronage refunds to members.

      4. Less time processing paper statements and payments will allow more time to help members with questions and address other priorities.

3. Can any member enroll in the weekly ACH program?

   1. No, only open-to-charge customers can enroll in the weekly ACH program. Accounts not open-to-charging (C.O.D.) must apply for credit in order to enroll.

4. Can a member receive the 1% discount if they are not enrolled in the weekly ACH program?

   1. No, the discount is being given to members in exchange for being on the weekly ACH program which creates value for the cooperative by receiving payment earlier and decreasing administrative overhead related to sending statements and processing manual payments.

5. Can a member receive the 1% weekly ACH program discount in addition to other cash discounts (eg. 15 cents per gallon propane cash discount)?

   1. No, items like propane and bulk fuel will continue to receive only their cents per gallon cash discounts. By enrolling in the weekly ACH program, your payment for the purchases will be automated such that you do not need to send a manual payment and you will never miss the discount window.

6. Will returning products in the week following their purchase reduce the amount of the ACH scheduled for the original purchase?

   1. No. Returns will only offset the ACH scheduled for their original invoice if the return is made in the same week (Friday cutoff) as the original invoice. Returns made after the Friday cutoff will reduce future weeks’ scheduled payments.

7. Can a member receive the 1% weekly ACH program discount on a prepayment?

   1. No. Prepayments are either priced and have the discount built into the price, or they are unpriced and receive their own discounts.

8. What happens if a holiday falls on a Friday?

   1. If a bank holiday falls on Friday, ACH will be drafted the previous business day.

9. What happens if an ACH is returned?

   1. Like checks, ACH payments can be returned by a member’s bank due to not sufficient funds (NSF) or other reasons.

   2. Returned ACH’s will miss their discounts and be resubmitted to the member’s account for the full amount the following Friday.

10. What happens to the current balance on an account when the member enrolls in the weekly ACH program?

    1. When an account is enrolled in the weekly ACH program, the already outstanding invoices will have their balances debited to the customer’s bank account on their due dates (the last business day of the month following the charge for invoices that were billed to our monthly terms).

In Case of Errors or Inquiries About Your Bill

If you think your bill is wrong or you need more information about a transaction, send your inquiry in writing to billing@premiercooperative.com so that the cooperative receives it within 60 days after the bill was mailed to you. You can telephone us, but doing so will not preserve your rights. Your written inquiry must include:

1. Your name and account number;

2. The dollar amount of the suspected error or inquiry, and;

3. A description of the error or inquiry, and why (to the extent you an explain) you believe it is an error, or why you are unsure about the billing.

You remain obligated to pay the parts of your bill not in dispute, but you do not have to pay any amount in dispute during the time the cooperative is resolving the dispute. During the same time, the cooperative may not take any actions to collect disputed amounts or report disputed amounts as delinquent. You may at any time pay the total balance of your statement.
This is a summary of your rights. A full statement of your rights and the cooperative’s responsibilities under the Federal Fair Credit Billing Act will be sent to you both upon request and in response to a written billing error notice.