Would you use Direct Debit to pay your rates?
Council is seeking feedback regarding the possible addition of Direct Debit as a payment option for council rates. Have your say using the online feedback survey at the bottom of this page.
Background
Currently Council offers the following payment options for rates:
- Mail: Mailing your payment
- In Person: Paying in Person at the Council offices via EFTPOS, credit card, cash or cheque
- BPay: Setup by you directly through your financial institution via internet or phone banking
- Phone: Billpay by phone using a visa or mastercard
- Internet: Payments can be made through the Service Tasmania website www.service.tas.gov.au
- Centrepay: Regualr deductions from your Centrelink payment
We are now seeking feedback from ratepayers to understand if they would prefer to have a Direct Debit option and if they would switch to this from their current preferred payment method.
What is Direct Debit?
A Direct Debit is an instruction from you, authorising a business or organisation such as Council to collect payments from your account when they are due.
If Council introduced Direct Debit as a payment method, you would need to complete a form to authorise Council to deduct amounts from your bank account at regular intervals. A bank account with a BSB and Account number would need to be specified. Credit card direct debit will not be available.
The advantage of Direct Debit is that you will receive a schedule of when payments will be deducted from your nominated account over a period of approximately eight months (from August to March, for example). If you adhere to the Direct Debit schedule, the current instalments for rates will not apply. However, if Direct Debits are rejected by your financial institution, you may be charged a dishonour fee by them. Council may also apply small administrative fees to your rates account if a Direct Debit is dishonoured. If Direct Debit dishonours continue to occur, you may be removed from the Direct Debit payment option.
What about BPAY? Isn't that easier?
BPAY is an easy payment option preferred by some people. Even if Direct Debit is introduced, BPAY will continue to be an available payment option. With BPAY, you can initiate and manage recurring payments through your online or phone banking. You can choose to make payments weekly, fortnightly, or monthly - based on your preferred dates. However, you must ensure that you have paid the amount owing for each rates instalment by the due date on your rates notice.
Have Your Say
We want to hear from you to understand if you think we should introduce Direct Debit as a payment option for your rates. If sufficient rate payers think its a good idea then we will investigate this further.
1. Complete this short online feedback survey to let us know what you think.
2. Written submissions will also be accepted if emailed to dvcouncil@dvc.tas.gov.au
Feedback closes 5pm Monday 13 May 2024.