ePAY Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
Q: How does my organization sign up for ePAY services?
A: Government entities in the state of Illinois that want to join ePAY should submit a request for more information here.
Q: How affordable is ePAY?
A: ePAY procures payment services using its ~$2 billion in transaction volume which allows state and local governments to take advantage of multiple pricing and settlement bank options that can lower processing fees. Participants also have the choice between paying credit card processing fees or passing those fees on to their constituents.
Q: What are the rates charged for processing through ePAY?
A: Government entities can elect to pass the processing fee to their constituents or pay (absorb) fees. ePAY also offers the option to bundle equipment costs with processing fees and lower fees by electing to fund to The Illinois Funds. For a complete list of pricing options please visit our New Participant overview page.
Q: What is the cost of integrating to ePAY utilizing a third-party software vendor?
A: ePAY, through its processing vendor, does not charge a fee for integrating directly to third party software applications. However, third party software vendors may require a fee to build integration. For a list of existing software partnerships please visit our Developer page.
Q: What is The Illinois Funds?
A: As an ePAY participant you can elect to fund The Illinois Funds, a Standard & Poor’s AAAm rated Local Government Investment Pool, and lower your processing fees. Through The Illinois Funds you can safely invest funds while enjoying economies of scale available from a $18 billion pooled investment portfolio. For more information visit www.illinoisfunds.com.
Q: What if I do not want to fund to The Illinois Funds through ePAY’s Settlement Bank?
A: During enrollment you can elect to fund to a bank of your choosing. If you pass the service fee, an additional 5 basis points will be charged to the cardholder. If you absorb processing fees, the charge is $15 per month per outside settlement.
Q: What makes ePAY a safe payments solution?
A: Every government that participates in ePAY has its own dedicated database in our processing platform. All Personally Identifiable Information (PII) provided by your customer during the payment process is encrypted while at rest in the database and while in-transit. Further, customers who set up an account can tokenize their payment information (credit cards, debit cards or banking information) which enables futures payments using a token—a security best practice – to occur without your customer re-entering their payment information.
Q: What is the enrollment timeframe?
A: Once the ePAY Agreement and NCR Merchant Application and Agreement are electronically signed in the ePAY Portal, the enrollment process generally takes 6 weeks before a new Participant is processing through ePAY. The 6 week timeframe does include Participant testing and training. The 6 week timeframe does not include any customized integration development that may be required. Please note that if a Participant elects to fund to the Treasurer’s settlement bank, Illinois National Bank (INB), the enrollment process will take an additional 3-5 business days to complete.
Q: What is the ePAY Portal
A: The ePAY Portal is an online enrollment solution that allows you to sign your agreements and gives you access to provide setup information. Following your onboarding, the ePAY Portal is also a robust customer support solution. As an administrator for your organization, you can open a support ticket. Support tickets which include: requesting a new payment type, requesting additional POS terminals or reporting an issue with any of your ePAY Services.
Q: What is the ePAY Dashboard?
A: The ePAY Dashboard is a permission based online portal that enables users to access the NCR system. User permissions are customizable by Participants, enabling more-or-less functionality by user role. Participants have the ability to access multiple features in the ePAY Dashboard, including the payment reporting suite (with ad-hoc query), the ability to process payments, voids or credits and a function to look up receipts.
The ePAY Dashboard is also the online interface for the end users (card holders) to make a one-time payment. End users can also create a user account that allows them to view payment history and save preferred payment methods.
Q: What is StatusCast?
A: StatusCast is the main communication platform in which Participants will receive updates from ePAY. Communications are sent based on the role you designate to users. These communications will include and are not limited to:
- System Maintenance
- Product Enhancements
- Industry News
- Outages and Funding Delays
Q: How do I sign up to receive StatusCast communications from ePAY?
A: As an administrator for your organization, you can contact ePAY at (855) 226-7337 or go to the ePAY Portal and click Ticketing to submit a support ticket. Communications are sent based on the role you designate to users.
Q: How do I add or remove a service or make changes to an existing ePAY service?
A: Please contact ePAY at (855) 226-7337 or go to the ePAY Portal and click Ticketing to submit a support ticket.
PCI
Q: What is PCI?
A: PCI is the nickname given to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). The PCI DSS was created by a payment card industry standards organization to “encourage and enhance cardholder data security and facilitate the broad adoption of consistent data security measures globally”. The standard establishes goals and requirements to ensure secure payment card processing by all entities involved regardless of size, type or method of acceptance.
Q: Do I need to be PCI Compliant?
A: If you accept credit or debit card payments for your goods or services, even if you never physically touch a credit card, then yes. PCI applies to all entities involved in payment card processing, including merchants, their processors, and their service providers.
Q: How do I become PCI Compliant?
A: The first step to PCI Compliance is to register with SecureTrust, ePAY’s contracted vendor. Your entity’s Primary Contact on file was sent an email with a link to register. If that email has not been received, you can reach out to customer support at 855-226-7337 to request the email be resent to you. Once you login to the SecureTrust portal, PCI Compliance will require the completion of the appropriate self-assessment questionnaire, per your setup, found within the SecureTrust portal and receipt of an Attestation of Compliance (AOC) resulting from successful validation.
Q: How can I access the PCI portal to complete my compliance steps?
A: Once enrolled in ePAY, the Primary Contact on file will receive a registration link in an email from donotreply@securetrust.com. Please add this sender to your list of trusted sources to avoid getting this communication in spam folder. Or if you have already registered, the PCI Portal can be accessed by going to https://portal.securetrust.com/
Q: What is my DBA Name?
A: “DBA” stands for “Doing Business As”. Most governmental entities would have a DBA such as Village of ABC, ABC Park District, Example County School District #2, etc. DBA name is typically the legal name of the entity found on the W-9. To view your DBA on file with ePAY you can also logon to the ePAY Portal at https://epay.jtpyportal.com/. If you do not have access to the ePAY Portal, you will need to contact our help desk at 855-226-7337 to request access.
Q: Who is my Payment Processor?
A: “NCR Payment Solutions” is the currently contracted vendor for Illinois State Treasurer’s Office ePAY product. When selecting in your questionnaire, you will choose NCR Corporation. They process all ePAY payment card transactions.
Q: Who are my service providers?
A: As the payment processor, “NCR Payment Solutions” is your primary service provider. However, third-party vendors that can impact the security of individual card payments should be included. Examples include, but are not limited to, external network or firewall managers, hosting providers, e-commerce solution providers, and cashiering or kiosk solution providers. When becoming PCI compliant, these service providers may need to be engaged to understand how they impact the security of payment card processing, unfortunately ePAY staff cannot assist in this process.
Q: How do I reach the proper questionnaire for P2PE equipment? What option do I choose?
A: You will need to search for NCR Secured P2PE Solution
Q: Is my Payment Processor PCI Compliant?
A: Yes. NCR’s PCI Compliance status, as well many other service providers, can be found on the VISA Service Provider Registry.
Q: Do I, as an ePAY participant, store credit card data?
A: Generally, no. Payment card data from transactions made through the ePAY product is processed by NCR Payment Solutions. However, internal systems or third-party vendors that handle credit card transactions may change this answer. Please consult with the owners of those systems and your service providers to understand how they handle sensitive credit card data.
Q: Do I need network scans?
A: Depending on your acceptance channels (i.e Internet, IVR, POS) and service implementation (i.e. third-party software), you may be required to run external and/or internal network scans at least quarterly. ePAY’s partner, SecureTrust, can provide external scans at no cost when you register through SecureTrust PCI Portal. If you are being asked for scan results when you don’t believe you should, please contact SecureTrust at 1-800-363-1621 or support@trustwave.com.
Q: Will I be charged for completing my PCI compliance questionnaire through SecureTrust portal?
A: Although the initial statement during the registration/questionnaire process lists fees and asks if you agree to payment, the basic fees are covered under the ePAY contract in place with SecureTrust. If additional services, such as security scans, penetration testing or onsite assessments are utilized, then you would be liable for those services at a discounted rate through the ePAY/SecureTrust partnership.
Q: How do I reach PCI Compliance Customer Support with SecureTrust?
A: SecureTrust can be reached at 1-800-363-1621 or by emailing them at support@trustwave.com. When calling support, you can press for PCI 1 support and then 1 again for SAQ support. You will be asked to provide a Merchant ID Number. If you do not have that available, press #, but be prepared to provide enough information for SecureTrust to find your account. Your account should be the listed under the “State of Illinois” sponsor account.
Settlement
Q: Who do I contact if I am having trouble reconciling my funds against the ePAY Dashboard reports?
A: Please contact ePAY at (855) 226-7337 or go to the ePAY Portal and click Ticketing to submit a support ticket.
Q: When will transactions fund to my settlement account?
Processing Cut-Off Times:
- Credit Cards - Transactions cut-off at midnight CST (12:00am)
- E-Checks - Transactions cut-off at midnight CST (12:00am)
Credit Card and E-Check Funding:
- Credit Cards transactions processed on a Monday will settle on Tuesday and appear in your account on Wednesday.
- ACH transactions processed on a Monday will settle on Tuesday and appear in your account on Wednesday.
Q: What fees are debited from my settlement account?
A: If you absorb processing fees associated with your ePAY services, your settlement account is debited the first week of the month for the previous month’s payment processing by the ePAY processor. You should take this debit amount into consideration when setting your account target balance.
Q: How does direct funding to my Illinois Funds account work?
A: If during your enrollment you elect to fund to an Illinois Funds account, Illinois National Bank (INB) will automatically transfer any funds over your target balance to your Illinois Funds account(s) at 8:30am daily. Please visit our New Participant overview page for more details.
Illinois National Bank (INB)
If during your enrollment you elect to fund to an Illinois Funds account Illinois National Bank (INB), the Treasurer’s settlement bank, will automatically transfer any funds over your target balance to your Illinois Funds account(s) at 8:30am daily.
Q: How are funds transferred from my ePAY settlement account(s) at INB to my Illinois Funds investment account(s) at U.S. Bank Fund Services (USBFS)?
A: INB, the Treasurer’s custodian for ePAY settlement account(s), for no additional fee, automatically transfers any funds over your target balance (see below) to your Illinois Funds investment account(s) at USBFS at 8:30 a.m. daily.
In addition to this automatic transfer, you have the ability to move funds from your ePAY settlement account into your Illinois Funds investment account at any time by initiating an ACH or wire transfer with USBFS to your ePAY account at INB. Please note, there is a minimum wire amount requirement of $100 and wire transfers into your ePAY settlement account at INB will incur an $8 incoming wire fee. Please note there is also a $.10 credit fee per transaction for any credits into your ePAY account.
Q: What is my "INB Target Balance"?
A: The "Target Balance" is an amount that you choose between $1,000 and $250,000. The $1,000 minimum is meant to help mitigate overdrafts on your ePAY settlement account from chargeback/reversal activity. The $250,000 maximum was set because INB is not pledging collateral to ePAY accounts beyond this amount. However, there will be no fee for going below your target balance.
Q: Can I change my INB Target Balance?
A: Yes. If you are the authorized signer on the account please contact us at (855) 226-7337 or go to the ePAY Portal and click Ticketing to submit a support ticket.
Q: How will my INB Target Balance be met?
A: Target balances will be met through ePAY processing and build up from $0 on day 1 (there is no penalty for a $0 balance on your ePAY account).
Q: What types of transactions are allowed through my ePAY settlement account at INB?
A: Monies can be deposited or withdrawn by the ePAY processor or U.S. Bank Fund Services. ePAY settlement accounts at INB are exclusive to the ePAY product and cannot be used by a transactional account therefore no other third party entity can initiate any transactions.
- ePAY settlement accounts do not have check writing, ACH origination or wire origination capabilities
- Any non-ePAY related ACH debit activity should be redirected to a local banking account of your choosing. Debits from third party integrators will be allowed as long as they are linked to an ePAY payment service. The fee for this allowance is an additional $10/month per account. For this you will need to contact INB at INBtreasuryservices@illinoisnationalbank.com and they will provide you a form to submit for review and approval.
Q: Can I combine my ePAY accounts to a single account?
A: Yes. The Illinois Funds program has no restrictions on comingling ePAY services under a single settlement account at INB and a single investment account at USBFS. For this, you will have to complete a change of information application.
Q: Can I link multiple ePAY accounts to a single Illinois Funds investment account at USBFS?
A: Yes. You can consolidate multiple ePAY accounts under a single Illinois Funds investment account and close any unnecessary investment accounts at USBFS. However, please note INB cannot link a single ePAY account to multiple IL Funds investment accounts at USBFS.
Q: Where do we send our audit confirmation request for our settlement account at INB?
A: Illinois National Bank
C/O Financial Confirmation Request
322 E Capitol Ave
Springfield, IL 62701
Visit: www.confirmation.com
Q: How do I access my ePAY settlement account(s)?
A: You will have access to your ePAY settlement account transaction history, including fund transfers and monthly bank statements, via INB's online banking system.
Q: How do I set up online access for my ePAY settlement account(s)?
A: Account maintenance options 1 and 2 above include one online banking user. Additional users are $5.00 each per month. Only authorized signers can grant access to individual users. To set up access go to INB’s online banking system and click on the “Sign Up” link. For additional INB enrollment instructions please click here.
Q: What accounting software can I download files to from INB's online banking system?
A: ePAY authorized users can export data from INB's online banking system to the following accounting software: CSV, QuickBooks, Quicken.
Q: Is there any transactional activity allowed with INB's online banking system?
A: No. INB's online system only provides access to view activity but you are not able to perform any transactions using that system.
Q: Where can I find information about Illinois Funds accounts including pricing?
A: Please visit The Illinois Funds website at www.illinoisfunds.com.
INB Bank Fees
Q: What are the costs associated with my ePAY account(s) at Illinois National Bank?
A: Illinois National Bank's cost structure for ePAY participants effective February 16, 2016, is as follows:
Option 1 – Account Maintenance $10 per month with direct debit
Option 2 – Account Maintenance $12 per month with invoice
Please note every Participant will receive a $10 statement credit from NCR to help offset the above bank fees. Also, Illinois National Bank executes their account maintenance and per credit item fees on the 9th business day of the month for the previous month's activity.
Credits to the account – $0.10 debit per deposit item
Earnings Credit Rate – 0.17%
The services outlined below are optional and only applicable if needed.
- Non-Sufficient Funds: $30.00 per item
- ACH Return: $2.00 per item
- Incoming Wire Transfer $8.00
- Online banking users: One free, $5.00 per month per additional user
To print a friendly version of the INB Bank Fees click here.
Q: How can I avoid paying an overdraft fee (NSF) on my ePAY settlement account at INB?
A: Keep in mind that any chargeback/reversal activity may cause an overdraft and you will incur a $30 NSF fee. To avoid paying overdraft fees you have the ability to deposit money into your ePAY settlement account from your Illinois Funds investment account via U.S. Bank Fund Services' online portal at any time (if your INB settlement account is listed on file with USBFS) without a transfer fee. However, keep in mind INB will charge a $.10 fee for each credit transaction into your ePAY settlement account.
Q: Does the monthly maintenance fee apply to inactive settlement accounts at INB?
A: Yes. All ePAY settlement accounts will incur a monthly maintenance fee regardless of inactive status.
Q: Am I going to get charged a $0.10 credit fee for every transaction processed via an ePAY channel (online, phone, POS)?
A: No. Funding into your ePAY account is handled under a batch process which means your ePAY transactions can be aggregated by ePAY’s processor. Depending on how your ePAY services are set up, you may receive one or multiple deposits into your ePAY account.
Outside Settlement Inquiries
Q: Can ePAY staff assist with issues related to my outside settlement bank?
A: ePAY staff has no authority to access information about your outside settlement bank/account. All information would need to be provided by the account holder to ePAY staff in order to assist in troubleshooting. Assuming adequate information is provided, ePAY staff can assist with reconciliation and funding issues.
Q: Is there a fee for settling to an outside bank?
A: Yes. If you pass the service fee, an additional 5 basis points will be charged to the cardholder. If you absorb processing fees, the charge is $15 per month per outside settlement account.