(CMR) The Water Authority – Cayman will no longer be accepting and processing credit card standing orders as of December 31st.
Cayman Marl Road received a number of customer queries and complaints on the matter and reached out to the Water Authority who informed us that the decision was taken at a board meeting back in May of this year. It was decided that the authority's finance department would no longer accept credit card standing orders as a means of paying water bills effective 15th June 2017. They have not been accepting any new standing order requests and had informed existing customers that they had six months to make alternative payment arrangements – that time is up at the end of the year.
They informed CMR, that
the authority began offering the credit card standing orders many years ago as a means to assist customers before the availability of online payment options. The process is semi-automated but still requires manual effort on the part of the Authority’s Finance Department. The Board’s decision weighed this against the fact that only approximately 3% of the Authority’s total customer base used this payment option.
We understand from other sources that 3% could account for at least 500 persons. They have indicated that they are offering customers the ability to be more self-servicing and also streamline their own process but may look at alternate options such as direct debit.
Not everyone is pleased with the decision, however, and one customer said they are the only utility company to not offer this convenience stating:
Not every customer has access to online banking or the time to come into the office but they may still have a credit card. Bank payments made online take 3-5 business days to be reflected on a person's account. I just think this is a service that was a convenient one for many
The Authority does offer several other payment methods that can be found on their website.
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