$14 Convenience Fee to pay Travis County Taxes Online? (Austin, Milam: car registration, credit card)

[Moonlady]

So, for whatever reason, I didn't have a hard copy of my tax bill this year. Probably had something to do with the move. Got online and was excited to see they had a pay online option. Now, I know from past expereince that they charge a fee if you pay by credit card and that makes perfect sense. They're just passing on the fee they get charged to the taxpayer. But, I was surprised that they were charging a $14 convenience fee to pay by electronic check. That just seems out of line with any costs associated.

It costs me a stamp and envelope to print the tax bill and mail it, so of course that's what I did, but I'm just wondering the reasoning behind the $14 fee and if anyone else would pay that much for the "convenience".

[stanwood]

The only reason is because they can.

[CptnRn]

Wait until you see the Credit Card service fee, when I looked into that last year it was $104! //www.city-data.com/forum/austi...ce-charge.html

I agree that the $14 fee is absurd. Surely it must cost them more to process a paper check then it would to process a credit card transaction.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

So, for whatever reason, I didn't have a hard copy of my tax bill this year. Probably had something to do with the move. Got online and was excited to see they had a pay online option. Now, I know from past expereince that they charge a fee if you pay by credit card and that makes perfect sense. They're just passing on the fee they get charged to the taxpayer. But, I was surprised that they were charging a $14 convenience fee to pay by electronic check. That just seems out of line with any costs associated.

It costs me a stamp and envelope to print the tax bill and mail it, so of course that's what I did, but I'm just wondering the reasoning behind the $14 fee and if anyone else would pay that much for the "convenience".

Yep.

They do it because they can, and Austin/Texas is not the only one that does that. NM does it also, and it's a huge rip-off. I'll spend the 15 minutes to print the bill out and and write out/mail the check before I'll pay their outrageous fees. My county charges 2.5% of the total.

[HappyTexan]

I'm in Milam county and they charge 2.45% of your total tax as their convenience fee.

I just drove into town and paid in person. Not like you can take your business elsewhere right ?
And who would you complain to about it..the BBB ? Like they can do anything against the government charging outrageous fees.

Governments are hurting for revenue and will get it anyway they can these days.
Be vigilant is all I can suggest and don't wait until the last minute to pay bills.

[CptnRn]

All government agencies in Texas tend to charge high fees and this will probably get worse. It is a way of charging the taxpayer without actually "raising taxes". So the so called "anti-tax" politicians can actually charge you more for your government services while claiming that they did not raise taxes.

Expect it to get worse.

[mimimomx3]

I love to come in right before closing time to transact government business in person. Amazing how quickly things get done.

[goodforlife]

Different option (pay online, pay by phone or a live operator) has a fee or no fee, I exercised the no fee option - pay by phone. It does not matter if you transfer you $$ from your bank account or use a credit card, it's free.

But I know stores like Sears or Macy's will not accept any credit card due to the nature of the business.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by stanwood

The only reason is because they can.

Actually, I think it's simply an incompetently run organization, they outsource the online payment platform to a 3rd party provider, and because TCAD is so stupid, they accepted the fees charged by the 3rd party as reasonable.

I use a 3rd party payment platform that allows my tenants to pay online via echeck or credit card. It's called Paylease. It's free to me, and they charge my tenants a flat $2.20 for an echeck, regardless of the payment amount. Credit card fees vary by type of card, but generally less than 3%.

66% of my tenants pay online, and that's with little effort on my part to push it. TCAD, if they had someone competent evaluating this, could get a high percentage of payers to pay online if it was a reasonable fee and they marketed it properly. This would save them a lot of mail sorting and check posting.

They could also save a lot of time and labor costs by not making us come in year after year to protest the same property that we just got lowered last year. This is an infuriating problem. It's like entering the twilight zone going in and talking to those people.

So, bottom line, it's an inefficient government agency run by stupid, non-business, dimwits who couldn't get a better job.

Steve

[CarnivalGal]

I love the fact that to renew your car registration any way but in person, there is a fee. I understand the cost of processing a credit car payment. But if I mail a check, they charge a fee. If I go down to the office and write a check, it's free. That makes sense.