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How ACH works: A developer perspective (2014)

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11–20 of 226 posts

Re: How ACH works: A developer perspective (2014)

#12

I had an integrator request this so I stood up a nodeJS server that only implements upload, not download. This way if they leaked their own password, a malicious actor is limited to forging data, and no real data can be leaked. Because it didn't work in FileZilla, they didn't want to use it. Worked at another company that shuffled data between big name gyms & health insurance companies, it also used CSV files sent ov…

Ugh, reminds me of the time I had to integrate with a bunch of school software. They used csv over ftp (no auth). You just had to connect to the server and get the personal information of a district's students. Worse is you could google the URLs... I built a system that solved the problem but left shortly after it began to be integrated nationwide.

Re: How ACH works: A developer perspective (2014)

#14

I had an integrator request this so I stood up a nodeJS server that only implements upload, not download. This way if they leaked their own password, a malicious actor is limited to forging data, and no real data can be leaked. Because it didn't work in FileZilla, they didn't want to use it. Worked at another company that shuffled data between big name gyms & health insurance companies, it also used CSV files sent ov…

They already have an API, it's called FTP or SFTP or whatever.

Re: How ACH works: A developer perspective (2014)

#15

The exciting thing about all these crypto currencies to me, is that banks could roll their own private "exchange" currency to do near real time transfers to any other bank / account.

I dont understand why people hype up cryptocurrency for this purpose. The whole reason for existence of cryptocurrency is a way to achieve consensus without having a real central authority.

What's wrong with having the bank as a central authority in their own banking system?

Re: How ACH works: A developer perspective (2014)

#17

I had an integrator request this so I stood up a nodeJS server that only implements upload, not download. This way if they leaked their own password, a malicious actor is limited to forging data, and no real data can be leaked. Because it didn't work in FileZilla, they didn't want to use it. Worked at another company that shuffled data between big name gyms & health insurance companies, it also used CSV files sent ov…

I did a similar thing, but decided to have LIST/MLSD/NLST, but stub out GET/RETR/MFCT/MFF/MFMT to return nothing or static data.

Re: How ACH works: A developer perspective (2014)

#18

I had an integrator request this so I stood up a nodeJS server that only implements upload, not download. This way if they leaked their own password, a malicious actor is limited to forging data, and no real data can be leaked. Because it didn't work in FileZilla, they didn't want to use it. Worked at another company that shuffled data between big name gyms & health insurance companies, it also used CSV files sent ov…

ACH needs to die. Its a very old system, and you have no clue if a transfer ever actually goes through. Only ACH rejects ever get sent back, and there isn't a definitive window in which you'll get that reject.

Re: How ACH works: A developer perspective (2014)

#19

I had an integrator request this so I stood up a nodeJS server that only implements upload, not download. This way if they leaked their own password, a malicious actor is limited to forging data, and no real data can be leaked. Because it didn't work in FileZilla, they didn't want to use it. Worked at another company that shuffled data between big name gyms & health insurance companies, it also used CSV files sent ov…

Funnily, you're complaining about csv formatting, guess you never worked with ACH formatting. It's cobol fixed length files. I implemented parsing/creation for this file format at two different companies. Hired on at one company, first day, my manager said, "hey, you have experience with ACH right? we have this project...". That's when you learn to start leaving stuff off your resume.

Re: How ACH works: A developer perspective (2014)

#20
post #9

A good story on ACH: http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?story... They mention that other regions' inter-bank money-transfer systems (e.g. the EU's) have been sped up to be same-day, or in some cases nearly instantaneous. The US ACH system lags behind, due to the sheer number of institutions that would be involved in a modernization effort. (There are a lot more US banks than there are UK/French/Ca…

Seems like they wouldn't need to involve everyone. Just make it semantically similar to ACH, but for some institutions clear through the new infrastructure. Even a few banks forming a coalition would be enough to make it worthwhile.
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