Online Payments Questions and Answers

Yes, as long as it is changed before the date it was scheduled to be paid.

Yes. You can set up a future payment at any time prior to the bill due date.

Yes, simply login to your account and select “View paid or closed bills”. If you are a registered customer, you will receive an email notification.

Yes, although technically your debit card will be processed like a credit card and you will not be asked to enter a pin number. The convenience fee is the same as credit cards and varies based upon the payment amount. The exact convenience fee amount will be displayed during the payment process prior to submitting the payment.

Yes, if your town accepts partial payments, you may use one payment method for part of the transaction and another payment method for other parts of the transaction.

Yes, an email address is required for payment confirmation.  A payment receipt is sent via email.

You may need to register to receive electronic bills by email, but registration is not required for One Time Payments. One Time Payments require that you enter your payment information each time you make a payment. By registering, you avoid that step and gain access to your payment history.

Once you have registered, you will need only your email address and password to log in. To login the first time you use the system, you will need your account/bill number from your bill. The “locate your bill” screen gives instructions regarding the required information.

It is very simple. Here are the 3 steps taken by customers:
1. Customer receives email notification or accesses account via the Town of Columbia website. The website address of www.columbiact.org features an icon/button that you can click on. The icon/button reads “View or Pay Your Bill."
2. Customer locates and views bills and either enters payment information for a One Time Payment or registers to schedule a payment.
3. Customer receives an email confirmation with their payment amount and payment process date.

EFT transactions typically take 48 – 72 hours to settle. 

Paying online is only half of the benefit, by going paperless and not receiving paper bills, you can increase the effect you can have on the environment. There are several ways reducing paper consumption helps the environment, including saving trees and using less gas. According to the PayItGreen AllianceTM, if one in five households were to switch to electronic payments, statements and bills, we could collectively save 1.8 million trees each year and avoid using 103 million gallons of gasoline to mail bills, statements, and payments. If you’d like to be part of that one in five, just sign up to “go paperless” in your account under my profile, paperless options.

After you submit your payment, you will see a payment confirmation screen. It will contain your payment confirmation message. It will show an approved number for credit cards or a processed number for electronic check. You will also receive a confirmation email after your transaction is submitted. The email will include your account number (unique id), invoice number/ bill number, amount paid, and confirmation message. If your electronic check does not pass through the bank, you will receive an email informing you of the rejected payment. You may need to call your town tax office in order to pay again.

You should click on “Forgotten Password?” at the bottom of the login screen. You will need your account/bill number and email address to retrieve your password. If you’re unable to locate this information, you may call the tax office at (860) 228-0230 and they can provide you with the information.

The Auto Pay date will not appear under scheduled payments. Auto Pay will be debited from the customer’s account on the due date.  

Yes, one time registration is required for each bill type to access the resident portal. You need to register for each of the bill types and accounts you wish to pay online. If you own two parcels you will need to register both parcels. If you own multiple vehicles, you will need to register each vehicle. Once the initial registration process has been completed for each of your accounts, viewing and paying future bills will be in place. However, if you register your accounts with the same email and password, you will get a list of accounts to choose from in your customer portal.

No, we are only permitted to accept credit card payments online via Invoice Cloud.

It is convenient, saves time, reduces errors, allows you to receive bills anywhere at any time and helps the environment by saving trees. You can continue to receive a paper bill, but if you elect to go paperless, you can always print out a copy of the bill if needed.

There are no signup costs or subscription fees. The non refundable convenience fee when using an ACH transfer (electronic check) from your checking or savings account is $.95 per transaction. The non refundable convenience fee when using credit cards, debit cards and PayPal is a percentage-based or flat rate fee of 2.99% with a minimum of $3.95. The convenience fee is automatically calculated based upon the dollar amount of the bill being paid and is shown on the payment page before you submit your payment for processing. There are fees imposed by Invoice Cloud and by the Town of Columbia for returned payments, and your bank may charge you a fee based on the bank's fee schedule.

You can pay by credit or debit card or you may issue an electronic check from your bank account (checking or savings). Please check the Town of Columbia's website to find out which credit and debit cards are eligible.

A partial payment occurs when only part of an bill is paid and may apply if your town has elected to allow partial payments. Please contact your town's tax office for more information.

If you elect to opt in to Auto-Pay, it means that your bills will be paid automatically on their due dates using your default credit card or bank account. This will avoid any late fees and free you from having to remember when to pay.

The Town of Columbia wanted to make paying bills easier for their customers, but didn’t have the electronic presentment and payment systems required to display, safely process and store financial information. Columbia chose Invoice Cloud because it is easy to use, and the security is the strongest available. All the data collected is double encrypted and stored on secure servers. The data is not sold or released for any purpose other than to complete transactions.

Under “How would you like to pay” click on the drop-down box and choose EFT Check.

By registering, you have access to all of your bills regardless of type and all of the features of the payment portal. These features include the ability to view all current bills, see previous bills and payment dates, update your profile information, access the online customer service system, go paperless (if bill type allows), schedule  payments for a specific dates, and sign up for Auto-Pay. You also avoid having to enter your payment information each time you pay a bill.

Yes, you will have 24/7 access to your account for bill review and payment, payment history and customer service requests.