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5.3. ERMUSR 04-13-2010To; Elk River Municipal Utilities coiaanaissian Jolan Metz Je~~ry Gunaphrey Daryl Tlaonapson From: Theresa Slominski SUbj ect; Credit Cards For several years now it has been a goal to bring credit cards as a payment optzan to ~ll~ River Municipal Utilities. A survey Was done a ~aunaber of years ago ~2oQ~~ to determine if there was a desire to have this option, O.f those who respoxad.ed, the majority X71%} wanted this service and currently, tlae request comes in almost daily for c~•edit cards to be i~acluded in our payzaae~at options. Tlae people who are requesting tlae credit cards want tl~e convenience they offer, The convenience of being able to provide a credit card ixa a late or forgotten payment situation, tlae convenience of not laavi~ag to write out a check, the convenience of using the credit card and doing the payment at any hour from their home or warp via the intc~~aet or teleplao~ae, or tlae simple convenience of managing their calla flow tlarougla a credit card, Some have even made tlae co~a~naent with tlae introduction of the reusable e~avelopes that we should be considering "going even greener" and not ~nailizag tlaezaa out but emailing them instead and providing a lizal~ to make tlae payment via credit card, thus elimi~aating the envelope and pastage entirely. ~t mares sense that to provide the best customer service we should be listening to all o.f our customers and responding to their needs when we can. Certainly, zaot everyone will want to pay by credit card, but in tlae same way that we have drop box locations for people not wanting to pay pastage, and a walk~ixa counter opportunity for people wishing to pay in cash, we should affer credit cards .for people who desire that option, Tine offering of credit cards comes at a cost for processing the payment, and so do the rental of tlae drop boxes, and tlae staff at the counter, Depending on haw you collect tlae credit card paylnent, tlae cost varies from 2a/o to ~% of tlae transaction total, The lowest cost is associated with face to face transactions in a retail setting, such as at tl~e fro~~t counter. Tlae cost goes up as tl~e distance is increased between the utility and the customer, tivitl~ web-based or phone credit card payments, In Bonne cases you naay charge the customer a convenience fee to help cover the processing costs, but this is only an option for the web-based and phone payments. Zt is actually against the law to collect a convenience fee in any other situation. ~ have accumulated a number of credit card vendors' information over tl~e past few years and their costs do not vary signihca~atly from one to the other, but their offering of services along with the basic credit card function does, Some focus an Internet payments, some focus on phone payments, some focus on counterlretail transactions, and. sotne are a combination. Zn determining a credit card vendor ~ chose to focus on these criteria: cost, support, service offerings, and references, ~~when ~ started this research, service offerings was not one of my initial criteria. Zn the last year tlaougll, the requests for credit cards Dave come from more va~~ying wants and needs, and the ability to use the credit card as a payment option in varying ways has becan~.e more necessary.} ~ have attached th.e i~~fornlation on a company called "Paymentus" that ~ would like the commission to consider ERMU working with to provide credit card payments to our customers, They offer a combination of services; phone payment, Web payment ~througl~ a link fro~aa our website~, and face to face. Additionally, they allow you to set tl~e processing cost at your comfort level by utilizing tl~e convenience fee as i0o% passed on to the customer, o% passed onto the customer ~whicl~ would be a Z.75% transaction fee to use, or some hybrid sharing of the convenience fee. Paymentus leas sand that the ~r~ast popular fee sharing is actually no shari~~g, but having a full 1 ao% convenience fee charged to the customer. ~f ~ Oo% is passed on to t~~e customer, tl~e walk inlcounter customers would Dave to be provided a computer terminal or a phone to ~~~ake the payment. ~f we swipe the card, we cannot charge a convenience fee. To have the ability to tale a credit card payment at the front counter by swiping the customer card, it would require tl~e purchase of a machine device for approximately $Gafl and havi~ag a phone line for the maclalne to obtain an authorization. The processing cost ranges from 2% to Z.95%, depending on the credit card. Dete~~nining how much to charge the customer, or not to charge, is woz~th some discussion, certainly, accepting credit card payments would be received well. ~t becomes a matter of determining low much of a value E1~MU would receive by offering credl.t cards to determine how much cost we want to absorb, Zf tl~e focus was hest customer service,lao matter the cost, obviously we would pass nothing along to tlae customer. It could be argued that tl~e customers who don't use the credit cards are then subsidizing those that do. T mentioned above that there is so~.e cost no matter the form of payment, whether it be staff time taking and processing the checl~s, or renting a box to subsidize postage and then processing the checks. we also lave a cost of collecting past due payments when people forget to pay an time, or can't make it to tl~e office, or Dave no other means to pay. Thane costs are all ultimately subsidized by the rest of the customers. There is some value to taking the credit card payment, knowing the money will be in the bank, and also automating the processing of the payments. That being said, the people who really want tolhave to pay by credit card will pay a fee to do so. The convenience fee is set by determining an average custo~~aer payment and setting a convenience fee base accordingly, The base fee is good up to double file average payment, in wl~.ich case the fee doubles as well, The maximum payment collected would be triple tlae average payment, a~1~ would lave a triple fee, Preliminary review indicated that our average customer payment would be $200 a~ad tl~e base fee would be approximately $4,25. A payment of $1 to $399 would be charged a $4,25 convenience fee cif ~ 00% cost passed along to the custon~er.~ If we want to share in that cost, ~assuz~ne 50150 for demonstration} $2,12 could be charged to the customer, and E~.MU would pay $2,13, Zf ERM~J had no convenience fee, it would be 2,75% of the transaction, ranging from $2.75 fora $ x.00 payment to $10,97 fora $399 payment, and $1 ~, 50 for a $~00 pa.y~nent, Paymentus conies with a lot of references, most notably Anol~a, and they are VERY pleased with the service. A~a.ol~a actually went with another web-based credit card vendor a:nd ended up severing that relationship and moving to Pay~nentus. They were then able to i~acorporate phone payments as well, wl~icl~ tu~~.~ed out to be a huge positive collection tool for them, Anol~a charges 100% of the convenience fee to tl~e custome~~, Anoka was already setup to tape counter payments and. so continues to offer that as well, and. pays .for those transactions as they always did. They lave not seen a preference for customers to come in person and pay just to avoid tl~e convenience fee. Ad.ditio~.lal in.fornaation on Payment~us and the other companies looped at is available,l haven't included it here simply because it's already a lot of infar~nation to go through.l:f you would life any further information, please lot me l~~ow, Staff recon~n~ends adoption of Payn~entus, with a "swipe" credit card station at the front counter, Staff requests commission direction on tl~e fees and whether to absorb or pass along. ......~..,r-..........•..~.,-,.a,-.w7-- .:.............ire-.,~,~-.,... ~ ,,v.. ~~ ~ ~ ~~f' ~ f" '.t.~ _ - ~ "".'""'""~'_ - ,'1 ' ,d~ - ~n ' ' ~ ~ ~ ' ~ '.~ A~yT y ~ ,. _ i. ' ~ ~ .: ~y ' ?~l A ' ' ~ ~ C .. ' ' ' ~ ~ .,1 ; t ~1 } ~ } ' ~ .. . .. .. -,.. :» r,. y' ' ......_.. -~ ..~.. ....~._.. nom- .r ..~ s~~,. a~ ' ~ ~~ `;` •.~ F ~~ :( :~ Y ti ~ . - . ~. ,J , . ~:~' ay ;fir -`~ ~4 -.:v t.a ~ ~i Q~,y r wa .a4 ~xr aw ~-k ~ a r.~ ~ c-y ~ ~ ' cu ~ ~ 1~ c:< #~ts 1+E~ `~ xS}~ zrs 1 I `~ ~I ~i Gi1~ ~' H k ~ =M1'L^.I I~{J ~. lf. ~.'MCR k, s' [a ~ R 's ~} lss 1,sa ~I J :c~ .ac~p ~A:W :. '~a.~ .. ~.~~ !, ~~~~lG1!'s ~IA~v~sve~' 1n C~~~l..li~~.~ ~e:. t,#~.~ wi"~~ ~~'~yt~t~t~E.u~'~ Paymentus makes the process very simple and very fast; a. Online payment site, automated phone ~1VR}, mobile site set up by Paymentus -~ ~ week b. Merchant Account setup with Credit Card companies -~ 3 to 4 weeks " c. Pasting file coordination with your IT team -- 2 days d. Team training and administrator set up -- ~ day e, launch! ~, I~t7w Ci~i..tGii ~~ a ~~~.~r~~e~ wl=~ ~;~ ~ R`~ ,. ~~- h.~. r~ +~~, g . ~ ~. 'f~ CIS ~~ t,~~ ~?l~r ~~,~~i„~~~e~~; 1~~~''~~~,: ~i~~:° ~~~in "-~: S'w~~~y Very little. You will need to set up a web link from your site to ours and add us to your phone options. Moving forward your IT may wish to implement a process to automatically update your customer information systems with the payment data we provide you. Our team works with you every step of the way and has extensive experience answering or adapting to any questions your team may have. a`~. 1!`'~w {1~ '': ~{31~.~1~t v~lE{~..;'1~ s~ Ctl -'.~)i~le~' l~l~i+~i'.'~ ~; ~~.t~rf~:;~~u~ At no cost we provide you with a powerful Agent Dashboard. This allows you to view the payments in Rea!-Time as soon as they are made. This comprehensive administrative Coal allows you to download reports, accept payments, viewlsearchlcancel payments. Optionally we can send you an email each time a payment is made. ~r'. ~~~hC]~, 1,'i~~f~..l.~y is lilea6if; ;~1~ ~SaiEj>~Y~~Itl~~o ~ra~l s~tl,r+.l~.~i~ v6;:ra,}E~li~~~ Mere moments after a customer makes a payment via any channel Web, phone or mobile device}, the Agent Dashboard is updated with the full details. For example: a customer makes a payment through the automated phone system ~IVR~ and tails you immediately after hanging up and want to confirm the transaction. Your staff simply enters the account number online and can confirm the payment and let the customer that it will be posted to their account. t~. ~f ~ c.,'on't w~~~~{~ ~:c~ c,:6~a~~~~e ~~y c~~ s~y:~~~~~~ar s a c~~~~~~eG~~i~w~~;~~:~ •~~~, ~pLf~~at ~~c-~: ~~~~~~ ac~tic7r~s ._ The choice of pricing models is completely at your discretion, based on your organisation's goals and objectives. Paymentus offers two other pricing models: ABiller-absorbed model means you will be responsible for the processing fees associated with credit cards, debit cards or electronic check plus a fixed transaction fee to Paymentus. Hybrid model customers charge a small fixed fee to their customers for each payment which covers all fees to Paymentus. They're responsible then for only the processing fees ~creditldebit cards or echeck}. '~ti :1' k~;: ~. ..yC~w 1111~t~~1 C~oe~ ~~. ~~,.J?~. r~l('~~ There are no set up or ongoing maintenance fees to you, Our most popular pricing model uses a "Convenience Fee" that is charged directly to your customer. The customer pays a convenience fee for using the Web, Mobile or IVR service to make the payment. This fee covers ALL costs of the Paymentus services including all transaction processing fees; you pay nothing. ~'. ~~re ~i~ere any ~~ic~c~en c~c~s~s~ Paymentus provides the following to you at no cost using anon-intrusive approach; Customized Web payment page Dedicated toll-free telephone number for IVR payments ® Customized Mobile Device payment site Customized posting file automated or on-demand Agent Dashboard -- Powerful web interface to viewlcontrollpost payments ® Real-time transaction visibility There are no mi~~imum charges and no hidden costs. . `~~tia~ i~ a c~~s~~:c~rr~e~• n~s~~ce~~s a n~is~~a~c~~, r:an - ~•ev~e~°se ~~ei~t ~~:~yra~,~~~; i~~A ~~~~ece~;s~a~~y? Yes. Through the Paymentus provided Agent Dashboard, you will have the ability to reverse a payment to a credit card in real-time or have funds returned to a bank account in 2-3 days. A few clicks and the funds are returned to the customer with no other paperwork required. You may reverse payments made up to 12 months ago. ~, i~ow c~o ~~~M7~#;; ce-~: ~~:c~ ~~y ac~fc~t.~ri~:`~ The payment amount is directly deposited into your account using Visa and MasterCard Settlement Network in the industry standard 24-48 hours, Echeck payments are typically settled within 3 days. '~~. ,..~o~~v se(sc~re is ~t( All sensitive data is protected with 128-bit SSL encryption. Paymentus follows all security measures required through Visa and MasterCard guidelines and is PCI compliant. Going the extra step, Paymentus has applied the same strict security standards to banking information as are required for credit cards, Paymentus maintains the highest degree of physical, logical, application and channel security measures at its disposal.