The Siloam Springs Board of Directors unanimously approved an agreement with Xpress Solutions Inc., and Chase Paymentech to process the city's credit card payments at its previous meeting on Aug. 18.
The agreement allows the companies' technology to work with city software for credit card transactions, and allows Chase Paymentech to process said transactions. The city purchased software, which came with Xpress Bill Pay and Chase Paymentech, according to a staff report.
The switch to the new third-party online bill paying services began on Monday, Aug. 31, according to a press release from the city.
"While the initial setup is inconvenient for online bill-pay customers, we hope that once they begin using Xpress Bill Pay, our customers will find the system friendlier and easier to use," said Christina Petriches, city finance director.
With the new system customers will be required to set up an account at Siloamsprings.com and then they can access their bills. Instructions are available on the site.
The staff reports on the matter stated that the companies will provide technical support for the software and that they will provide a contact point for resolving payment issues. It also stated within the provisions of the agreement that higher fees for card users are disallowed, as well as cash advances.
The report also stated that with the previous credit card service providers the city spent approximately $65,000 annually on credit card fees. The new companies are confident that they can save the city money, but their fees are structured and based on use. This means as more credit cards are used the fees the city pays to process them may increase as well.
"We gave them a year's worth of merchant transaction statements and basically they think that they will be able to save us about $17,000 a year," Petriches said at the board meeting. "But I would hesitate to actually say that is what it is going to be because, hopefully, we will be picking up in other areas of the city where we will actually be taking credit cards, say at parks and online."
Before the new agreement the city could only take credit cards for utilities and at the airport, Petriches said. Roughly half of the city utility sales are credit card transactions, but with the new system the city officials are looking at expanding credit card services to things like the park or the animal shelter, she said at the meeting.
If any bill-paying readers have a questions about setting up their account they can call 524-5136 extension 1, during normal business hours. That number calls the city utility office and can provide assistance.
General News on 09/02/2015