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Are there any banks which offer ACH debit blocks or filters on consumer (as opposed to business/organization) accounts?

The idea is that, on certain accounts, it would be possible to restrict the electronic debit of funds.

Is there an equivalent covering all debits on an account? (i.e. check, withdrawal, etc.)

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  • I'm not sure what you're asking. Can you give an example of what you're trying to block, and why you can't just not authorize it?
    – keshlam
    Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 3:17
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    @keshlam: If someone has my account+routing number, they're theoretically capable of issuing an electronic ACH debit against my account. Subject to any fraud detection measures, most banks will allow the draft to go through. An ACH block/filter would restrict this behavior and require explicit preapproval of ACH debits.
    – arcyqwerty
    Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 5:39
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    @arcyqwerty: Any time you write a check you give people that info. Yet fraudulent ACH transactions remain rare, and banks have many, many years of knowing how to deal with them. I think you're wasting time on a non-issue.
    – keshlam
    Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 14:22
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    I'm aware of that fact. Checkwriting is pretty rare for me (as is providing account numbers and such). At this point, it's not a high priority concern, more of a curiosity. The idea is to potentially save a large hassle of filing disputes and such.
    – arcyqwerty
    Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 15:44
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    I never said I was making financial decisions based on this feature. I'm interested in whether it's something that exists.
    – arcyqwerty
    Commented Sep 14, 2015 at 0:07

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The technical feature exists to (1)block all ACH activity, (2)block all ACH credits, or (3)block all ACH debits attempting to post to the deposit account. The large financial institutions will not deviate from their company policies and won't offer something like this for a personal account. The smaller institutions and credit unions are much more willing to discuss options. Especially if you maintain a large deposit balance or have many products with the institution, you might convince them this feature is very important and insist they block all ACH activity on your account.

This feature is used frequently on controlled asset accounts where the balance must be frozen for a variety of reasons.

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