Payments On-Line Through Your Banking Institution

If you make your payments on-line through your bank or through various software available for this purpose, please review the information below.  

• When you request an on-line payment be made on your behalf through your bank or through personal accounting software, the bank will debit your account immediately. The bank debits your account so that the funds cannot be used for another payment. However, the City of Columbia does not receive that payment immediately. Once you have requested the payment be made to the City of Columbia, your payment is sent through an EFT clearinghouse. The clearinghouse then prepares your payment to be sent to the City of Columbia. This process, depending on the accuracy of the information you have entered for your payment, may take up to a week to get delivered to the City of Columbia. The City of Columbia then processes your payment. You must remember that your checking account will be debited immediately, but the City does not receive your payment immediately.

• If you choose to make your payments on-line through your bank or a third-party payment processor, it is imperative that you enter your payment information accurately. You must enter your full account number as it is displayed on your remittance stub. If you enter inaccurate or incomplete payment information, your payment may be returned to you for more information. If your payment is returned to you, your payment post date will be the date that the payment is received back with the correct information, not the original payment date. Applicable late penalties will be applied.  

• If you move from one location in the City of Columbia to another location still in the City of Columbia, you must update your payment information in your on-line banking. If you do not update this information, your payment may be credited to an obsolete account or an account that no longer belongs to you. You will be held responsible for applicable penalties if your payment is posted to an old account due to not updating your payment information. 

• For the City of Columbia to research a payment that has been made on-line through your banking institution, you must provide documentation from your banking institution of when the payment was made to us. For reasons provided above, your bank statement does not provide enough information nor does a copy of the payment request from your on-line software. You must obtain from your banking institution documentation showing when they forwarded the payment to us along with the payment/account information that was attached with your payment.