1. Online payment systems
Digital payments and echecks

2. Introduction
Payment systems have changed greatly where at present most pays are made using digital systems
More companies have resorted to the use of online payments which are faster and reduce the time one would take especially when making traditional payments (Miller et al., 2013).
Online payment systems use the internet in processing of payments and the communication between the financial institutions involved in the process.
NACHA is the organization in the forefront that facilitates such online transactions especially payments.

3. NACHA
Online payments have been facilitated by the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA). Its further referred to as the Electronic Payments Association.
The association contributed greatly to the increase of the utilization of echecks and epayments.
NACHA facilitates the nationally the Automated Clearing House network.
The network has banks as members who give direct deposit, e- checks and debit for businesses and consumers.
The customers can transact their business online and access their bank information in the process.
NACHA helps greatly in the facilitation of payments in the united states especially those that are done digitally. It liaises with various financial institutions and banks to ensure that there is enough money tied digitally to process payments and that the banks have enough deposits to process the payments.

4. Participants
The key participants in a ACH network are financial institutions and banks.
ACH offers various services that include social security benefits, tax refunds, direct deposits and the payment of billions of bills.
Financial institution and banks aid the digital payment by exchanging finances that is by giving direct deposits that are used by the various credit companies which mostly involve banks. ACH offers various services that include tax refunds which paid digitally to the person’s account among many other services like social security benefits. The benefits are paid directly into the account of the person involved. The person therefore does not have to handle any money as the banks communicate with each other and with other financial institutions to settle accounts.

5. Concerns for digital payments
Some of the topmost concerns are known to be privacy issues.
Another issue affecting digital payment is identity payment which can lead to a lot of losses to the person using the digital payment system (Gilder & Lalonde, 2013).
Another concern is the speed at which the transaction takes place. More people need faster payments.
Another challenge is that the financial institutions engaging in the digital payments may defraud the customers (Valentine, 2013) .
The main concerns in the digital payments involve privacy issues, identity theft, speed of transaction and fraud. Privacy can be lost especially when information is divulged to persons who were not supposed to see it. Identity theft can cause chaos and disruptions since one’s account can be swindled by the respective people. digital payments therefore face many challenges that should be solved to provide a concrete solution to ensure safety of the customers transactions and data.

6. Conclusion
It is therefore important to take into consideration the adoption of digital payments systems in the economy.
The various challenges can be solved if further research is done and more measures put in place to prevent loss of identity and online fraud among other challenges
The only system is a welcome tool that easier the payment process which was in the past tedious since it followed the manual payment system.

7. References
Miller, W., Barry, R., & Williams, K. (2013). U.S. Patent Application 13/886,996.
Valentine, L. (2013). Payments Landscape:" Still Crazy after All These Years": Few Clear Winners Stand out, Leaving Banks Mostly Still Watching. Herewith an Informal" New Payments Scorecard". ABA Banking Journal, 105(7), 24.
Gilder, C. S., & Lalonde, M. G. (2013). U.S. Patent No. 8,600,898. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.