What is the difference between ACH and EFT?

The major difference between EFT and ACH is their scope of usage. EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) covers all electronic payments, while ACH (Automated Clearing House) is a specific type of electronic payment that relies on the Automated Clearing House Network for its operation. In other words, all ACH payments are EFTs, but not all EFTs are ACH payments.

Some examples of EFTs that are not ACH payments include ATM or credit card transactions, payments made by supplying bank account information and transaction authorization via phone, or transactions made by manually entering payment information into point of sale fields on a checkout page.