The U.S. Treasury provides a service that allows federal agencies to accept Internet credit card payments. The Treasury has contracted with several non-government organizations to authorize and settle credit card payments. Any federal agency that wishes to accept Internet credit card payments must be able to connect to and exchange data with these organizations.

Bankruptcy Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) version 2.1 includes the Internet Credit Card module. The new functionality allows courts to take advantage of the credit card service offered by the U.S. Treasury. Once accounts have been set up and configured with the appropriate organizations, courts can allow certain attorneys to pay filing fees with a credit card when docketing on the Internet.

Both attorneys and the court benefit from the new capabilities available with the Internet Credit Card module.

Attorney benefits

Court benefits

PCN

The Financial Management Service (FMS) division of the U.S. Treasury oversees the Plastic Card Network (PCN). This network allows government agencies to collect credit card payments for their goods and services. FMS authorizes certain financial institutions, including the Bank of America, to participate in the PCN and accept credit card payments on behalf of the government.

BAMRS

The Bank of America, as an authorized PCN agent, accepts credit card payments made to the federal courts. Courts can access the secure BAMRS Web site to view and print a variety of reports for Internet credit card transactions. These reports assist courts with the daily reconciliation of credit card payments.

Attorneys initiate the Internet credit card payment process from CM/ECF. In a procedure that is mostly transparent to the attorney, a number of systems interact to complete the transaction. This section describes the three related processes that occur when an attorney makes an Internet credit card payment:

• CM/ECF docketing—the attorney files a document and pays by credit card.


• Credit card payment authorization—the charge against the attorney's credit card is either authorized or declined.


• Credit card payment settlement—funds are transferred to cover the previously authorized credit card payment.

CM/ECF docketing

The following diagram illustrates how CM/ECF docketing proceeds when filing fees are paid by conventional methods or by Internet credit card.

Filing requirements

Attorneys who pay filing fees by credit card over the Internet must:

• Receive authorization from the court.
• Use an Internet browser that has been set to 128-bit encryption.
• Have filed the document that requires a fee from the Internet.

Docketing process for Internet credit card payments

The CM/ECF docketing process follows these steps when an attorney uses the Internet credit card feature to pay filing fees:

1. The attorney logs into CM/ECF through the Internet and files a document that requires a filing fee.

2. CM/ECF dockets the case, generates electronic notices, and displays all outstanding fees incurred by that attorney (for this case and any other cases with unpaid fees).

3. CM/ECF offers the attorney the option to "pay now" or "continue filing."



• If the attorney chooses to continue filing, CM/ECF records the charge and displays it each time the attorney dockets an event. This feature is helpful when an attorney is filing documents for several cases. When entering the last case, the attorney can make one payment for all outstanding filing fees.

• If the attorney chooses to pay now, processing continues with step 4.

4. The attorney's browser session is redirected to the Govolution Web site. This process is mostly transparent to the attorney.

5. The attorney selects the card type and enters the credit card number and expiration date.

NOTE: The attorney has three opportunities to enter a valid card number. After three unsuccessful attempts, a message appears telling the attorney to contact the court.

6. The payment is either authorized or declined by the bank that issued the credit card. For a detailed explanation of the authorization process, see "Credit card payment authorization" later in this section.

7. The attorney's browser session is returned to CM/ECF.

8. The docketing process continues in CM/ECF:

• If the payment is authorized, CM/ECF presents an electronic receipt to the attorney.


• If the payment is declined, the attorney should:



Contact the card-issuing bank to determine why the charge was declined.




If the card-issuing bank says the charge should not have been declined, contact the court for assistance.

• Choose to pay later by mail or at the court.

Credit card payment authorization

When an attorney pays a filing fee using the Internet credit card option, the charge must be authorized by the bank that issued the credit card before CM/ECF will accept the payment. From the attorney's perspective, the process occurs within CM/ECF. In reality, however, the authorization process involves communication between CM/ECF, Govolution, the Bank of America, and the card-issuing bank.

Diagram of Authorization process

As shown in the preceding diagram, a credit card payment is authorized in the following manner:

1. The attorney logs into CM/ECF through the Internet and files a document that requires a fee. CM/ECF dockets the case and offers the attorney the choice of paying the associated fee now or continuing to file and paying later. In this example, the attorney elects to pay now.

2. CM/ECF redirects the attorney's browser session to the Govolution site. The transfer of the attorney's browser session between the court CM/ECF site and the Govolution site is mostly transparent to the attorney.

3. At the Govolution site, the attorney is prompted to enter a credit card number and expiration date.

       NOTE Steps 4 through 7 occur in the background, transparent to the attorney.

4. Govolution requests payment authorization from the Bank of America.

5. The Bank of America requests payment authorization from the bank that issued the attorney's credit card.

6. The card-issuing bank either authorizes or declines the charge against the attorney's credit card.

7. The Bank of America informs Govolution that the payment was authorized or declined.

8. Govolution displays a message to the attorney indicating whether the payment was authorized.

9. The attorney's browser session is redirected back to CM/ECF.

10. Govolution sends the credit card transaction data to CM/ECF.

11. CM/ECF does one of the following:


• If the payment was authorized, CM/ECF dockets the fee and generates a receipt for the filing fee.



• If the payment was declined, CM/ECF adds the fee to the attorney's account and lists the fee on the Internet Fees Due report (court) and the Internet Payment Due report (attorney).>