With AssociationVoice, you can accept online credit card, debit card, and eCheck payments from your residents directly on your Web site at no cost to your organization! Association fees, payments for special assessments, payments for renting the clubhouse, and fees for miscellaneous items may all be paid online.
There are no setup fees, no monthly fees, no transaction fees and no account minimums. In fact, the service can be a source of ancillary revenue for your organization if you choose.
* Basic Web site required to utilize AssociationVoice Payment Services.
- Is there a cost to the management firm or the association?
- Will the association receive 100% of the assessment charged?
- Do I have to complete a lengthy application and provide association Financials to be approved?
- How do we turn this into a source of ancillary revenue for our firm?
- Does the convenience fee charged to residents have to be the same of every association?
- Does every association need an AssociationVoice Web site for this service?
- What Credit Cards are accepted?
- What will display on a resident's credit card statement?
- How do we enter credit card transactions into our management system?
- What reporting is available for research of discrepancies and reconciliation of association bank accounts?
- How will you handle charges that are disputed by residents?
- How do you protect credit card information?
- What if I don't want to charge a convenience fee?
1. Is there a cost to the management firm or the association?
A: No, there is no cost to the management firm or the association. No setup fees, no monthly fees, no transaction fees and no account minimums. The service is completely supported through a nominal convenience fee charged to residents that pay online.
2. Will the association receive 100% of the assessment charged?
A: Yes, the association will receive 100% of the assessment charged for the community. The collected assessments will be deposited directly into the association's bank account on a daily basis. The payment service is also compliant with state statutes that require the association to receive 100% of the assessment charged.
3. Do I have to complete a lengthy application and provide association financials to be approved?
A: There is no underwriting application, no association financials are required, and there will be no requests for Articles of Incorporation or other proof of organization to get started. There is a simple click thru agreement that must be agreed to by anyone with Agent Authority for the association(s).
4. How do we turn this into a source of ancillary revenue for our firm?
A: During the setup of each association's account, you will have the option to incorporate a Participant Transaction Fee into the convenience fee that will be charged to residents when they pay online. The management firm will be able to apply 100% of these fees that are collected to AssociationVoice services on a quarterly basis or "Cash Out" the amount collected based on a 50% value.
5. Does the Convenience Fee charged residents have to be the same for every association?
A: No, the convenience fee can be set by association so those communities with a small assessment will not require their residents to pay higher convenience fees.
6. Does every association need an AssociationVoice Web site for this service?
A: No, residents can make payments from your management site if their community does not have a Web site.
7. What Credit Cards are accepted?
A: All major credit cards are accepted including VISA, MasterCard, Discover, and AMEX. For management firms, you'll be glad to know that by accepting VISA you'll have an advantage over your competition and Industry banks that can't. The importance of the inclusion of VISA cannot be understated as approximately 63% of the credit card carrying public only has a VISA card.
8. What will display on a resident's credit card statement?
A: Resident's will see the name of their association and the contact phone number of your choice that was entered during setup with the total charged to their credit card. Note: the total charged will be the sum of the assessment plus the convenience fee which will include any Participant Transaction Fee amounts you've elected to add. For example, if a resident owes $300 and the convenience fee is $9 ($8 base convenience fee plus $1 Participant Transaction Fee), the resident will see a total charge of $309 on their credit card statement.
9. How do we enter credit card transactions into our management system?
A: AssociationVoice's online payment capability offers direct integration to Industry Standard management systems so there's no rekeying of payments.
10. What reporting is available for research of discrepancies and reconciliation of association bank accounts?
A: Detailed transaction reports are provided nightly and include all successful transactions as well as any chargebacks if they occur. Reports can even be emailed to a management firm representative.
11. How will you handle charges that are disputed by residents?
A: If a resident questions a charge, they will be able to call the number appearing on their credit card statement next to the association's name. The number that appears is the number provided during setup of the association's account. Although rare, if their credit card company does perform a chargeback, that chargeback will appear within your nightly reports and be debited from the association's bank account. This is similar to a resident writing a bad check. In situations of chargebacks, your Accounting Department will need to enter the appropriate adjustments in your accounting system to reflect that the assessment has not actually been paid, enter appropriate Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) fees, and depending on the timing of the collection policies for the association, you will want to begin those activities as you would any other unpaid delinquent balance.
12. How do you protect credit card information?
A: Our payment service is 100% Payment Card Industry - Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) compliant. In fact, we've achieved the highest level of certification and compliance in the Industry with our Level 1 rating. Also, we're the only payment service for management firms and their associations that is 100% PCI-DSS compliant with a fully integrated solution from your Web site to your accounting system.
13. What if I don't want to charge a convenience fee?
A: We do offer a non-convenience fee merchant account program also. The program can even be used in conjunction with a convenience fee merchant account program. This program has no setup fee and no monthly fees, but does have a per transaction fee. The non-convenience fee merchant account program charges what is called a Discount Rate for each transaction, e.g., 2.45% of the total transaction amount will be charged for all VISA transactions. The Discount Rate is subtracted from the funds settled to your account. You can decide what credit card brands will be accepted by you. The Discount Rate for each of the credit card brands follows: VISA 2.45%; MasterCard 2.45%; Discover 2.65%; and AMEX 3.05%. Adding the non-convenience fee merchant account program is the preferred choice for management firms who need to accept credit cards for Disclosure Document purchases and for associations already collecting assessments through a convenience fee merchant account and would like a secondary merchant account to accept credit cards for their Recreational Centers or Facility Reservations and don't wish to include a convenience fee. Please note that a secondary bank account is required for funds settlement if your organization wishes to utilize both a convenience fee merchant account and a non-convenience fee merchant account.
