Fees

Each payment card transaction is assessed a fee (the discount rate). The fee amount is influenced by the card-issuing bank, the type of payment card used (debit vs. credit), the amount of the transaction, the amount of time between authorization and settlement, and the overall perceived risk of the transaction. These fees accumulate for each merchant ID and are charged back to the responsible unit on a monthly basis. The fees deducted are relative percentages to the revenues posted to the CFOAPAL (department internal funds account) used to record payment revenue.

The discount is a processing fee charged to each payment by the credit card processor covering the cost of processing transactions. This fee varies between 2% and 2.5% of the transaction amount. The University of Illinois cannot absorb this fee; therefore the units will be responsible for paying the fee. University Accounting processes manual entries (Banner Journal Vouchers, JVs) for all merchant monthly fees by debiting the departments designated CFOAP for revenue deposits.

Additional Resources

• Financial Reporting (PDF)
• For questions on fees posted to the Merchant account, contact University Accounting, Credit Card Sales

If you have questions, please contact us and visit our Training Resources.

Last Updated: May 3, 2010