Community Chat

[Vivian]

My husband was at fault in a traffic accident. Nobody was hurt but since he was at fault he agreed to pay the fine. He called our local town offices and was told they will only accept cash or money orders...no credit cards and (understandably) no checks. Doesn't this seem a bit archaic? He will pay in person since mailing cash is a bad idea.

[Plaid Pants2]

No, it doesn't seem "archaic" at all.

The city wants to make sure that they get paid, and it would be all to easy for people to write a bad check/ money order (they can be faked), and credit cards can have the payment stopped.

Cash only makes perfect sense.

[fthunt]

Credit cards may be max'd out.

[2blonde]

Well, if you were out of town when you got the ticket, it seems near impossible you could return there just to pay it in person.  I guess, then, your only alternative is to mail a money order.

[software]

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@Vivian Florimond wrote:

My husband was at fault in a traffic accident. Nobody was hurt but since he was at fault he agreed to pay the fine. He called our local town offices and was told they will only accept cash or money orders...no credit cards and (understandably) no checks. Doesn't this seem a bit archaic? He will pay in person since mailing cash is a bad idea.

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Money orders can be purchased anywhere.

[Bri36]

They probably don't want the fees associated with processing credit cards 

[WenGirl42]

I think the biggest issue with CCs is the transaction fee.  My state offices didn't start taking CCs for payment until fairly recently, and they add the 2% (ish) fee to the transaction.  Plus if they don't have the machines and system to accept cards already, there's a cost to implement.

[Vivian]

I assume the town wants to be assured that they get the full amount due...no credit card fees or bounced checks. However, their offices close at 4. My husband is going to the bank, withdrawing the cash, and paying the fine in person. We're retired so it's not hard to do. We just thought that the options for payment were rather limited.

[Peaches McPhee]

Same thing happened to us.  My husband got a speeding ticket and we had to pay via certified check.  I actually had to think about this for a second . . . I could not remember how to get such a check (from your bank, duh!).

[Plaid Pants2]

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@Vivian Florimond wrote:

I assume the town wants to be assured that they get the full amount due...no credit card fees or bounced checks. However, their offices close at 4. My husband is going to the bank, withdrawing the cash, and paying the fine in person. We're retired so it's not hard to do. We just thought that the options for payment were rather limited.

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The options are limited for a reason.

They don't want to get scammed out of what is due them.