Official Payments offer online payment services for their Tax payments. Customers can pay Federal IRS payment, State Payment, Local Payment and Higher Education Payment through these services. Federal IRS payment is a personal tax or business tax. Customers have to choose a payment category and payment type. Charges include a fee of 2.49% for processing tax payment with minimum fee of $1.00. State payment includes State Income Tax, Sales and Use Tax, Withholding Tax and Other State Payments. Customers have to select a State, Payment Entity and Payment Type and a convenience fee will be automatically calculated and charged for the use of this service. Local payments include Real Estate Tax, Personal Property Tax, Citations and Court Fees, Utilities and Other Local Payments.
For a $69 sewer use payment, the "nominal" charge is $5.95. That's over 8%. NOT very convenient.
Local, state and federal govts should facilitate online payments for what is really a "nominal" charge, like 1 or 2%. Either they like pushing paper checks around or someone is getting nice Christmas gifts from onlinepayments.com.
Our tax bill came with the option of paying by credit card via Official Payments, stating that there would be a "nominal" fee for the service. When I tried to use the service, the nominal fee was $120.00. To me a nominal fee is 1 to 5 dollars, this looks like a deceptive rip off.
A service, which allows you to pay taxes using credit cards.
It has impressively comprehensive coverage. The key "gotcha" is that the "convenience fee" for use of a credit card to make these payments isn't cheap, typically running 2.5-3% of the payment. These fees are negotiated between the government agency being paid and Official Payments.
| Type | Today | Week Ago |
|---|---|---|
| 15 Year Fixed | 4.62%  |
4.67% |
| 30 Year Fixed | 5.15% | 5.15% |
| 1 Year ARM | 3.48% |
3.51% |
| 5/1 Year ARM | 3.62% |
3.68% |
| Type | Today | Week Ago |
|---|---|---|
| Line of Credit | 4.89%  |
4.88% |
| 10 Year Loan | 7.47% | 7.47% |
| 15 Year Loan | 7.61% |
7.60% |
| Type | Today | Week Ago |
|---|---|---|
| Interest Checking | 0.28% | 0.28% |
| Money Market/Savings | 0.38% | 0.38% |
| 12 Month CD | 1.13%  |
1.15% |
| 60 Month IRA CD | 2.40% |
2.41% |
| Type | Today | Week Ago |
|---|---|---|
| Cash Back Cards | 12.66% |
12.68% |
| No Annual Fee Cards | 12.08% |
11.97% |
| Reward Cards | 12.75% |
12.61% |
| Small Business Cards | 11.01% |
10.94% |
| Student Cards | 13.77% |
13.49% |
| Platinum Cards | 12.26% |
12.11% |
