The following are the email responses to the inquiry about what credit card services are being used by Colorado County Treasurers.
John Lefebvre (Adams County) - We have been speaking with EPOS (a division of Wells Fargo) about this subject since last summer. They add on 2.5%, which is the lowest cost I have found thus far. The problem is that according to their agreement, they can "pull back" money from a completed transaction for up to one year. I spoke to them about this yesterday. I told them that we certify that taxes are paid when we do CTDs and that it puts us in a terrible position if we certify that taxes are paid and then they pull the transaction back out. Their suggestion was that when we go to do a CTD on an account that has been paid by credit card that we call the owner, reverse the transaction and then get paid with certified funds and then do the CTD. I told him that we certified about 30,000 accounts last year and that there was no way that I would do what he was suggesting. I would rather not accept credit card payments. He claims this is a Mastercard/Visa provision and that only about 1 out of 1,000 ever have a problem. Then he said he would see what could be done.
Karen Sheaffer (Eagle County) - We used State
Payments for this year's tax collection. Making the customer aware of the fee
involved (up to 4%) has been a problem. State payments will not allow the
payment of anything other than taxes per
Visa rules, so the Eagle County Clerk and Recorder no longer uses credit cards.
We have had problems with receiving credit in a timely manner. We will probably
use another credit card service next year, but I have not decided on what
company yet. Hope this information helps, please feel free to Mari Renzelman at
970-328-8874 for additional information.
Bob Hullinghorst (Boulder County) - Boulder County
has been developing several payment options.
We just signed up with Discover for direct credit card payments. Their fee
schedule is reasonable, we can take it at our desk, they supply the machines for
free, and they permit us to charge back our fee. Our contact is Jim Westgaard,
300-229-0058 ext 526.
Of course, not everyone uses Discover. The problem is that the other major
companies--AMEX and the Visa/MasterCard Association have a rule that the people
who accept their cards CANNOT charge back their fee to the customer. Since that
can amount to 3%, which a government would have to pay out of the General Fund,
governments should not accept AMEX and Visa/MC payments at this time.
Jim Westgaard told us that he expects competitive pressures to get AMEX to
change their rules in about 12 months and then Visa/MC should follow in another
year. If so, we will should be able to continue on with the same equipment
provided by Discover. We will see.
Meanwhile, to collect taxes, licenses and fees, we use Official Payments for all
other credit-card transactions. To use Official Payments means we give their
number (800-272-9829) to a taxpayer and the taxpayer calls in and does the
credit card transaction by phone. We receive credit the next day in our account
and a confirmation from Official Payments by email. Official Payments charges
the taxpayer's credit for the amount of the tax plus 3% for the transaction,
which includes the credit card company fee. Of course, the taxpayer then has to
pay interest if the charge remains on their personal credit card.
Official Payments has also launched an echeck capability for which they charge
$3 per transaction. This is far less than the total fees we have to pay to our
bank for a similar service. So we are looking into that, too.
There are other services than Official Payments, and they charge slightly less,
but we understand that some users have experienced delays in receiving credit
whereas we have had no problems with Official Payments.
For products like maps and such that need credit payments to handle internet
sales, our IT department has spent over a year developing an "e-store" that uses
Visa/MC. I think it took so long because of the level of security they needed
and all the coding for the products and all the people involved--or whatever.
Anyway if you want to look at that program and see if it helps your county solve
some problems, let me know.
Hope this helps. If you need more information, Diane McInness is my deputy for
banking and investments. She can be reached at 303-441-3512 or at the above
email.
Claud Hanes (Weld County) - Weld has authorized EPOS and are practically finished in the installation to make the option viable. The explaination is exactly as John (Adams) explained, and we were told to anticipate that this should have about a 5% impact the first year. Since it was not available prior to full deadline, this percentage is probably an overstatement.
Bob Sagel (Morgan County) - We use StatePayments.com. So far we have only had 4 people use it because of the 3.49% fee they charge but it works pretty well. You log onto their website with your password and enter the card information and the amount of tax. Approval occurs in just a few moments. You print out a receipt and a form for the taxpayer to sign that you send to StatePayments. The money is then deposited into our bank in 2 to 4 days.