Transact. a client information and news publication. powering your e-payment program Volume 1 Number 1 VPS ROLLS OUT PROMOTIONAL SUPPORT PACKAGE

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1 a client information and news publication Transact powering your e-payment program Volume 1 Number 1 VPS ROLLS OUT PROMOTIONAL SUPPORT PACKAGE PowerPack 2.0 is a comprehensive portfolio of promotional ads and flyers in a variety of formats designed to boost taxpayer usage. Jump to Article >> 03 Payment SItes Optimized for Mobile Viewing VPS payment sites are now adapted to be viewed on any mobile device. Jump to article >> 04 How Easy is it to Add New Payment Types? And What Does it Cost? Glad you asked. Jump to article >> 05 Gwinnett County, GA Sees Major Increase in Online Property Tax Payments Does VPS promotional support boost taxpayer usage? Let s have a look. Jump to article >> 06 ChildSupportBillPay TM Takes Off A program for online and in-office payment gains traction in a number of states county by county. Jump to article >>

2 TRANSACT aims to keep our clients updated on the latest ways to get the most out of their VPS e-payment program. We can summarize those ways as: adding new services and promoting current ones. Adding new payment types and new channels, and taking advantage of custom VPS promotional materials and campaigns. Each approach is aimed at increasing usage of your VPS program. At times, we ll take a step back to address topics of interest or trends in the e-payment industry. But mainly, TRANSACT is intended as a vehicle for relevant news and actionable information. VPS Marketing Team Thanks for this opportunity. Daniel Brown, Director of Marketing Promotional Support for VPS E-Payment Solutions Usage. It s the key to getting the most out of your VPS e-payment program, the key to cost-saving efficiency in tax, bill, and fee collection. Designed to boost awareness and usage of your VPS e-payment solution, PowerPack 2.0 is a portfolio of promotional ads and flyers in a variety of formats , bill stuffer, in-office poster, counter card. PowerPack 2.0 is themed around a dominant message: Upgrade the Way You Pay. It s a theme that really needs no introduction...just reinforcement. Once taxpayers and billpayers switch, they won t be going back to stamps and envelopes. The PowerPack promo tools are ready-to-go, personalized for your use. Like all VPS promotional vehicles and campaigns, PowerPack 2.0 is no-cost to government. 2

3 Paying by Smartphone or Tablet Most VPS payment sites are now adapted to be viewed on any mobile device. Things are getting smaller... Why is this important for VPS clients? Because the general trend toward mobile computing as a consumer preference will bring along with it a growing inclination toward mobile billpaying. Electronic billpaying has become commonplace. In the last few years, mobile billpaying (via smartphone, tablet) has become so popular that users don t even bother to distinguish between paying via computer or mobile device. Ref: Smartphone, PC, and tablet shipments by quarter from 4Q Source: IDC In 2008, laptop unit sales surpassed desktop sales. They re all online payments. The way people pay is determined more by where they are and what s most convenient rather than a preference for one payment channel over another. In 2010, smartphone unit sales surpassed personal computer sales. Gartner predicts that in 2015, a total of 320 million tablet sales versus just 316 million PC sales (desktops and laptops). Tablet and smartphone sales together will more than triple PC sales. As of January 2014, 58% of American adults have a smartphone. 42% of American adults own a tablet computer. 3

4 Adding Payment Types Adding payment types whether fees (including licensing), fines, or municipal utilities via any payment channel (web, POS, phone) is as easy as contacting your VPS account manager and asking: Please add to our account. Licenses Court Fees & Fines Rent & Assessments Expanding the payment types you can accept may be the single easiest way to increase usage of your VPS e-payment solution. Funds will settle to the same bank account as your other payment types, or you can choose funds to settle to a separate account property tax to one account and court fees to another, for example. Taxes Child Support Utility Payments The turn-around for the entire process is usually 7 14 business days. Tuition & Fees And there s no cost involved. Adding payment types is free. Licenses Court Fees & Fines Tuition & Fees Call or VPS today and add additional payment types (taxes, utilties, fee), payment methods (debit card, credit card, e-check), and payment channels (web, POS, IVR/live agent) transact@valuepaymentsystems.com 4

5 Gwinnett County, GA Sees Major Increase in Online Property Tax Payments Located northeast of mid-town Atlanta, Gwinnett County is the second most populous county in Georgia with 805,321 residents (2010 census). In 2012, the tax commissioner s office set a goal to increase online payment for property taxes. Since that decision was made and since Gwinnett became a VPS client the number of online transactions has increased by 58% and the dollars amount of taxes collected by 54%. Payment Methods & Channels Accepted by Gwinnett County DEBIT But to be more specific...property taxes are due in October. In September 2014, to spur online payment, Gwinnett initiated a VPS-customized, in-office promotional campaign. The County tax commissioner s office used a combination of promotional materials, all provided by VPS: handouts to taxpayers, counter mats placed throughout the office, and banners. So. How d we do? That is, the tax commissioner s office in partnership with the VPS marketing communications support team. The online transaction count from September/October 2013 to September/October 2014 increased 25%. Total tax dollars collected over the corresponding time period increased by 29%. Attributing Gwinnett s success in increasing taxpayer usage entirely to their implementation of the VPS promotional campaign may be a bit presumptuous given the rise in popularity of online payments in general. But it s certainly not a stretch to attribute a great deal of Gwinnett s success to their campaign. 5

6 County Agencies Take the Initiative with ChildSupportBillPay TM It costs a county agency nothing to establish or run a ChildSupportBillPay program. And it can result in more support payments paid and more paid on-time. County agencies have found that they can redirect some of their staff s efforts to more important tasks in the office, says VPS Channel Sales Representative, Alisdair Kinloch, more important than, sitting around and counting money, as one official said to me. Typically, in counties that do not have an e-payment program for child support collection, people come into an office to make a payment, but may only have a credit card. The clerk has to ask them to return with a money order, says Kinloch. 90% of the time, they don t comeback. Customers literally walk out the door. With ChildSupportBillPay, people can pay in-office, using a credit or debit card swiped through a VPS terminal, and they can pay online using a county s payment portal, or using a smartphone or tablet. The convenience fee is low by any standards. The child support program in the U.S. operates under an overarching federal government framework. But the law governing child support varies from state to state, with individual states responsible for developing their own guidelines for determining child support. The collection and disbursement of payments can be the responsibility of counties as well as states. It s a highly decentralized system one where county agencies can determine the means of payment collection. A growing number of states and counties have determined that ChildSupportBillPay can produce savings through efficiency, and make support payment easier all around. 6