If you need to block a specific merchant from ACH-debiting your account details, Relay's support team can help with this. Please contact our team at 1-888-205-9304, who are available 9:00am-8:00pm EST, Monday to Friday.
What you need before you start
Owner or admin access to your Relay account with permission to open and close checking accounts
The name and contact information for the merchant that is pulling from your account
A list of any auto-pays, subscriptions, or direct deposits currently pointed at the old account, so you can redirect them before you close it
Roughly 10 minutes to complete the account rotation
Can Relay block a specific merchant from debiting my account?
Yes. Even after you have shared your account and routing number with a merchant, Relay can selectively block that merchant's ACH pulls at the account level. To support with this, please contact Relay at 1-888-205-9304. Our support team is available 9:00am-8:00pm EST, Monday to Friday.
Alternatively, customers can move their funds to a new checking account within their Relay business, and close the account the merchant has on file.
How do I stop future ACH pulls from a merchant?
Relay's support team can help with blocking a specific merchant from debiting a sub-account within your Relay account.
Alternatively, customers can stop future pulls by rotating to a new checking account in four steps:
Contact the merchant directly. Ask them to remove your account details from their records and cancel any future direct debits. Get written confirmation if you can.
Create a new checking account in Relay. Log in, open the Accounts section, and add a new checking account. This gives you a fresh account and routing number the merchant does not have on file.
Move your money to the new account. Use an internal transfer to move the remaining balance from the old account to the new one.
Close the old checking account. Once the balance is $0 and no pending transactions are outstanding, close the compromised account so no further ACH pulls can settle against it.
Update any auto-pays, subscriptions, or payroll deposits linked to the old account with the new account details before closing the old account. Otherwise, those payments will fail once the old account is closed.
What if the unauthorized ACH pull has already happened?
You can dispute an ACH pull that has already been processed. See Disputing an ACH Pull for the dispute process, required information, and dispute window.
Common issues
The merchant debits the new account too. This happens when a merchant has multiple account numbers on file or when the new account number was shared before the old account was closed. Only share new account details with parties you trust, and only after the old account has been closed.
A recurring payment fails. Bills or subscriptions still pointing at the old account will fail once it closes. Update the account number with each biller before closing the old account.
The old account will not close. If pending transactions are still active, the close request will not process. Wait for pending items to clear, then try again.
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