*OFFICE Central*
Receipts Category
Accepting Merchant Cards
For business reasons, the County has chosen to accept merchant cards (i.e. credit and debit cards) at various departments and in some online locations. The County must pay additional fees to accept this payment method. When using a credit card or debit card instead of cash or cash-like instruments (e.g. certified check, money order, etc.), the customer typically pays no additional charges to the County.
The fees associated with the acceptance of credit cards are higher than the fees associated with the acceptance of debit cards. Therefore, we greatly prefer that customers (including employees) use their debit cards when presenting a card for payment. In the rare case where payment being made is less than $25.00, then the difference in fees is minimal. In these cases, payment via credit cards would not create substantially larger fees than payment via debit cards.
All debit cards should be processed with the card's PIN (personal identification number). Please do not process a debit card as a credit card for the person's convenience or preference. Under life-threatening and other extremely rare circumstances that you deem appropriate, you may process a debit card as a credit card. Normally, if the person who presents a debit card (also called "check card" or "ATM card") cannot enter the correct PIN, please tell the person that we would prefer to process the card as a debit card rather than a credit card due to the fee structure for processing card payments. In that circumstance, also, you may process the payment as a credit card payment. Also, remember that you may not enter the PIN information for any customer. Also, you may not know the card number, meaning you can't write it or type it or even look at it. And, please assure any concerned customer that the County does not retain any card or PIN information.
Public Utilities Montgomery County Public Utilities accepts payment for water and sewer services by credit card, debit card, or bank draft. You may visit the office, visit the online payment site, or call the telephone payment number.
If necessary, please post the following text or similar wording at any location where merchant cards are accepted as payment:
"To minimize fees paid to financial organizations, please use a method of payment at or near the top of this priority listing:
Hierarchy (Pecking Order) of Payment Methods
- cash and cash-like instruments (e.g. money order)
- debit card
- credit card
Thank you, Montgomery County Government"
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