Accepting Electronic Payment via ePay

On this page:

e-Payment (ePay) is one of UB’s methods for departments to accept credit and debit card payments (MasterCard, Visa and Discover) and ACH (electronic checks) for state financial transactions related to graduate application fees and tuition deposits over the web.

The university uses a single gateway, Nelnet Business Solutions, which facilitates the acceptance of real time and non-real time transactions. Departments are required to utilize this gateway when accepting state financial transactions over the Internet.

Best Practices

It is strongly recommended that you:

  • Use ePay for the collection of graduate application fees and tuition deposits to minimize the risk associated with cash receipt collections.
  • Review monthly the transactions to your internal accounts receivable record.
  • Utilize SIRI to review the revenue from ePay transactions on the SIRI > MONEY > IFR Account tab.

Creating a Payment Link on Your Website Using ePay

  • Request service for accepting credit cards over the web by submitting an ePay Application. A separate request is required for each fee the department collects.
  • When your request is approved, Financial Management sends you a unique link for your website.
You must have an approved rate on file before submitting an ePay application.

Read more about Developing and Managing Fees .

  • Your web support staff places the link on your departmental website that will transfer payees to the secure payment screen for that particular fee. 

Your Customer's Experience

  1. On a payment page, payees are directed to enter pertinent payment information (name, address, credit card number, expiration date) as well as any other information you specified in your application.
  2. The payee is directed to click the submit button. 
  3. Internally, a check is done verifying the completion of all required fields. Payment verification check is also performed to ensure the cardholder name, credit card number and expiration date are valid. 
  4. If the transaction is authorized, the payee receives a receipt that includes a payment confirmation number as well as any departmental message.
  5. If the transaction is not authorized, the payee receives an error message defining the problem. 

Credit Card Processing

Payment Verification

  • A payment verification check is performed utilizing the Vital processing network to ensure the card holder name, credit card number and expiration date are valid. 
  • As with paper checks, ACH payments made by e-pay may be rejected several days after the transaction due to insufficient funds.  You will be notified if there are insufficient funds, and your account will be adjusted accordingly.

Payment Transaction Records

  • A file is transmitted from the ePay application to the university’s general ledger on a daily basis for bank reconciliation purposes and posted to departmental accounts every 15 days. 
  • Departments are not required to complete Cash Receipt Transmittals for ePay transactions.   
  • The ePay Transaction Viewer provides real time information regarding payments made via ePay. You can review individual payments comprising the daily or summarized fee deposits for a particular day or for a range of dates. 
  • If your department decides to receive the data electronically, it is responsible for providing the additional programming required including any integrations needed for the application.

Contact an Expert

Leah Kerr.

Leah Kerr

IFR, Revenue Accounting and Treasury Management

Financial Management

Phone: 716-645-0232

Email: leahkerr@buffalo.edu

Related Forms and Links

Forms

Links