Allowing Payments Via Debit Card May Be of Benefit to Your Institution

Your institution may have many good business reasons for not allowing borrowers to make payments using debit cards. For one, allowing debit card payments means your institution must have a contract with a debit card processor, and debit card processors charge a small fee for every transaction.

Conversely, the benefit of allowing debit card payments increases the likelihood of borrowers making timely payments due to more payment options.

Another nice benefit to debit card payments is that verification is more instantaneous. With a check or even ACH payment, it may take a few days before you receive a return notice notifying you that the account had insufficient funds or was closed. With a debit card payment, the system can verify it’s valid almost instantly after you enter the card information.

Whatever decision is best for your institution, our goal at GOLDPoint Systems is to make sure we provide you with the options and support you need. We pride ourselves on adjusting and changing our software to meet your standards.

If you currently don’t allow debit card payments but are thinking of going in that direction, contact your GOLDPoint Systems account manager. We can set up your payment portal and communicate with your card processor to allow debit card payments.

Our software and online tools are all PCI compliant to keep debit card information safe and secure.

The CIM GOLD component to allowing debit card payments requires GOLDPoint Systems to turn on a few options. We can even set up customer fees that cover the cost of third-party debit card processors for the benefit of borrowers being allowed to pay using a debit card(surcharge). Of course, state and federal regulations must be followed, as some states do not allow surcharges.

Before allowing debit card payments, you also need to review state and federal requirements, such as displaying a notice of the surcharge at the point of sale and the allowable amount of the surcharge. GOLDPoint Systems may need to adjust receipt wording to account for the surcharge and notify the borrower.

For a detailed list of all possible options involved with debit card payments, see the Debit/Credit Cards topic in DocsOnWeb.

Making a Debit Card Payment Using EZPay

The EZPay screen in CIM GOLD can be used to set up debit card payments on an account. You can set up one-time payments, recurring payments, multiple future payments, or even payoff a loan using a credit card, as long as EZPay options are set up to allow it. Your GOLDPoint Systems account manager can help you customize the EZPay screen exactly to your needs.

You can also save card information to use later for future payments or use a debit card only once and not save it for future use, as outlined in the following steps.

To use a debit card for a one-time payment and keep the card on profile to use for future payments:

1. After logging on to CIM GOLD and selecting an account for which you want to process a debit card payment, access the EZPay screen.
2. Select the Debit/Credit card radio button. This button may also only be called “Debit Card” if you do not allow credit cards. (This is an option GOLDPoint can set up for you.)
3. Select the Payment radio button.
4. In the Card Information field group, select the name of the borrower making this payment from the Name drop-list.
5. Click the Card Profiles link and the Card Profiles dialog box will be displayed, as shown in Figure 1 below. Any cards entered in Card Profiles can be used both from your payment portal on your website or on the EZPay screen in CIM GOLD.
6. Click <Create New> on that screen and enter the applicable debit card information. Your screen may look slightly different from the one pictured in Figure 1 below. Many options affect which fields show on this screen.

Figure 1: Card Profiles Screen

7. Click Save. Then click the X in the top-right corner to close that screen.
8. Click the Payment Card drop-list and select the card you entered in steps 6 and 7 above.
9. Enter the Payment Amount information. If your institution chooses to charge a third-party fee for processing debit card payments, it will be displayed in the Third Party Fee field.
10. Click Submit Payment.
11. The system will ask you to verify the payment, as well as any fees involved, if applicable. Click Yes to proceed and process the payment to the credit card.

See Figure 2 below for an outline of these steps.

Figure 2: Loans Transactions EZPay Screen

To use a debit card for a one-time payment and not keep the card on profile for future use:

If your institution does not want to keep credit cards on file for future use, EZPay option Use Card Profile must be unchecked. Your GOLDPoint Systems account manager can set that up for your institution.

1. After logging on to CIM GOLD and selecting an account for which you want to process a debit card payment, access the EZPay screen.
2. Select the Debit/Credit card radio button. This button may also only be called “Debit Card” if you do not allow credit cards. (This is an option GOLDPoint can set up for you.)
3. Select the Payment radio button.
4. Check the Other Payment Account box. This ensures the debit card is not saved for future use.
5. In the Card Information field group, select the Debit card Type, such as VISA, MasterCard, etc. This is an option set up by GOLDPoint Systems dependent on your card processor.
6. Select whether this a debit or credit card.
7. Enter the Debit card Number, Expiration Date, CCV/CVV Number, and Cardholder Name information in the provided fields.
8. Enter the Payment Amount information. If your institution chooses to charge a third-party fee for processing debit card payments, it will be displayed in the Third Party Fee field.
9. Click Submit Payment.
10. The system will ask you to verify the payment, as well as any fees involved, if applicable. Click Yes to proceed and process the payment to the credit card.

See Figure 3 below.

Figure 3: Loans Transactions EZPay Screen