Best Practices
Call customer support to discuss best practices for setting up payment methods tailored to your center's unique needs. Call (800) 964-1729 and follow the prompts.
Can debit cards be used with Tuition Express?
Yes, debit cards with a Visa or MasterCard logo can be used if your center accepts credit card transactions. Since there is no PIN entry system debit cards will be treated like credit cards and processed at the credit card rate.
Point of Sale (Card Swipe)
To use debit cards for Point of Sale (card swipe) transactions, follow the standard Point of Sale instructions.
Recurring (ACH) Payments
Debit cards should not be used for recurring payments. Instead, set up Bank Account Information for the family so payments are withdrawn directly from their bank account—just like with a debit card—but without the credit card processing fees.
Can our center charge additional fees to families who pay by card?
Surcharge Rules and State Laws
In some cases, you may pass fees on to your customers; however, the rules can be cumbersome. Managing the surcharges for your child care business may be challenging. Some states have surcharge restrictions including: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas.
For more information on surcharge rules:
Contact your state attorney general’s office for state-specific regulations.
Summary of Credit Card Surcharge Rules
To impose surcharges, a merchant must:
Notify the card companies and Tuition Express 30 days before beginning to surcharge.
Limit surcharging to credit cards only (no surcharging of debit or prepaid cards).
Limit the amount to your merchant discount rate for the applicable credit card (you cannot charge more than the credit card company charges for that card).
Disclose the surcharge as a merchant fee and clearly alert consumers to the practice at the point of sale and on every receipt.
Our Recommendation
We suggest the best way to pass processing fees on to your customers is to build them into your tuition and fee structure for all customers. For example, if a credit card transaction costs you, on average, 2% and half your family’s pay by credit card, then raising rates across-the-board by just 1% would cover your costs without requiring you to go through the legal hoops associated with charging a separate credit card surcharge. The next time you have a tuition and/or fee adjustment, simply plan for the fees associated with processing credit card and ACH transactions with Tuition Express.
Note: Procare Desktop cannot distinguish between credit and debit.
Can we make changes or issue refunds through Tuition Express?
Yes. Refunds may be issued for credit card payments; however, ACH payments (withdrawn from checking or savings accounts) may not be refunded.
Article | Description |
|---|---|
Change or Cancel Batch (Credit Card or ACH) | You can edit payments in a batch or cancel a batch up to 15 minutes before the scheduled processing time.For example, if a batch is scheduled for 3:00 pm, you can make changes until 2:45 pm or cancel it any time before 2:45 pm. |
Choose Refund Amount | Easy to do within Procare. Refund to any card used within last 60 days to make a payment online, through point of sale or as a recurring credit card payment. You must have the card to scan or manually input card information. Automatically posts as negative payment to family Ledger Card. |
Refund POS Item | Refund full amount of a payment made through Point of Sale (POS). Actual credit card is not needed. Type over the Amount using a negative number to indicate the amount to refund and process. Refund will then post as negative payment to family Ledger Card. |
What is the CVV number and where can I find it?
The CVV number (Card Verification Value) is a security feature for credit (and debit) cards used to confirm that the person making the payment physically has the card with them. This is required if you manually enter credit card information for a Point of Sale transaction rather than swiping the card through the card reader. The location of the CVV and number of digits vary depending on the type of card:
Visa, MasterCard, Discover
For Visa, MasterCard, and Discover, the CVV is a 3-digit number located on the back of the card on the signature line. In some cases, there may be 7 or more digits. Just use the last 3.
American Express
For American Express, the CVV is a 4-digit number located on the front of the card, just above the card number.
What are EMV cards and what should we know about them?
EMV credit cards have new rules, but the effect on child care is expected to be minimal.
What is EMV?
EMV (which stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa—the three companies that created the standard) is a technology that helps limit credit card fraud by preventing the creation of counterfeit cards and makes point-of-sale card payments more secure. EMV cards have microprocessors in them (known as chips) that protect cardholder information. EMV cards are sometimes called smart cards.
How do changes in October 2015 affect child care providers?
As a child care provider, there is no significant change. You will continue to assume liability for any fraudulent transactions, just as you have in the past. The good news is child care has an extremely low, practically non-existent fraud rate. That’s because child care is a service your families rely on and use week after week—it’s not a one-time purchase of merchandise by someone unknown to you.
What percentage of Tuition Express payments are reported as fraud?
Our history shows that just 0.0026% of payments made through Tuition Express are returned as fraud chargebacks. This means 1 out of every 37,000 transactions is affected. If you processed 130 credit card transactions each month, you would see a fraud occurrence once every 24 years!
What types of card transactions are affected?
Only point-of-sale payments, where the card is present. This means payments made at a check-in computer or payment station and those made at the front desk by swiping a card.
Will I need a new card reader for Tuition Express?
Eventually, yes. EMV cards work with both new and old card readers, but you will want a new EMV reader when they become available (see the next question below). The new card readers will be for EMV cards only—you’ll continue to use your existing magnetic card reader for traditional cards.
What if I swipe an EMV card in my old card reader?
It will work fine. You will receive payment as usual. However, in the unlikely event that the transaction turns out to be fraudulent, you would remain liable, just as you are today. As stated above, the chances of this are extremely low, since it is highly unlikely that a family would use a stolen or counterfeit card to pay their child’s tuition.
When are Point-of-Sale payments deposited into our account?
Point-of-sale payments are typically processed the following business day, subject to bank funding and processing approvals. Any items posted before 7:00 p.m. (in your local time zone) count toward your daily total. Depending on the types of credit cards you process, the amount may be split into multiple deposits.*
*All point-of-sale credit card transactions from all card types (Visa, MC, Discover and AMEX) are deposited together. Fees are charged as a separate transaction on the 2nd business day of each month.