Suggestions for online donations

Discussions about the Online Donation system.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34418
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: Suggestions for online donations

#11

Post by russellhltn »

martindad wrote:If I switched to this new system, I would have to remember to do this myself each week,
While there are advantages, there is no requirement to pay tithing weekly if you get a weekly paycheck. You could pay each time you sit down to do monthly bills or anything else that works as a "trigger".
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
User avatar
SparkyMartin
Member
Posts: 54
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:18 pm
Location: USA, UT, Herriman
Contact:

Re: Suggestions for online donations

#12

Post by SparkyMartin »

SmileyGwendolyn wrote:I paid my tithing online on 9-14-15. I noticed a -$5 on my bank receipt when I went to it later that day. When I called today about it, I was told that the church donation had attempted to come out of my savings account in which I don't have any money, instead of my checking account where I keep my money and do all my transactions. The bank person on the phone was able to refund the insufficient funds charge, for which I am grateful.
Then I called the church offices about it. The man told me that he would suggest that if the online tithe payer does not notice and check one of the boxes indicating that the donation should come out of the savings or checking accounts, that a red "!" would appear and not allow the donation process to complete until it was done. That is a good idea! Besides, I would think that if a person doesn't check either box that the default setting would go to checking instead of savings since most people used to write checks to pay their tithing! And since most banks give very little if any interest these days, most savings accounts have little money in them. The man at church offices also told me that if I'd take the time to also suggest this online, that you'd pay more attention to me as I'm a user of this online donation service.
You must make a choice between Checking or Savings when setting up the bank account. It will never default to one or the other. If you try to move one without selecting a value, it will not let you save the bank account until you select something.

Dave Martin - Online Donations QA
Last edited by SparkyMartin on Wed Sep 23, 2015 4:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
SparkyMartin
Member
Posts: 54
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:18 pm
Location: USA, UT, Herriman
Contact:

Re: Suggestions for online donations

#13

Post by SparkyMartin »

martindad wrote:I love the idea of the online donations system, but I cannot use it. My personal calendar is such that I rely on the recurring payments feature of my bank's online bill-pay system. My payroll is the same amount each week, soI have my bank automatically send a check to my bishop the same day for my tithing. If I switched to this new system, I would have to remember to do this myself each week, since you do not offer a recurring payments feature. Please add this feature as soon as possible - I want to use it because this new system will solve several problems for me: 1. My bishop actually loses some of the tithing checks sent to him. For example, he moved last year (to a new house within the ward) and several checks were sent to his old address before I found out his new address. He never deposited those checks (they were lost in the move somehow) and I had to re-issue them when I found out about it. 2. This system is much more helpful than doing it through my bank's bill-pay system because my bank does not allow me to put memos on my payments which tell my bishop the breakdown of my payment. 3. I can print my own donation statements at any time without inconveniencing my ward officers to do it for me. Again, PLEASE add a recurring payments feature to this service so that I can use it!
This method of bill pay is quite a hassle for the Bishop and the Finance Clerk. I recommend using Online Donations, but if you insist on Bill Pay, there is a method of Bill Pay that does not require any further action by you, your Bishop, or your Finance Clerk.
drepouille
Senior Member
Posts: 2859
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 6:06 pm
Location: Plattsmouth, NE

Re: Suggestions for online donations

#14

Post by drepouille »

There is another danger to using your bank's Bill Pay service. If you ever miss a paycheck, or lose your job, those recurring payments will still occur until you manually stop them. That could cause an overdraft if your balance is typically low. The clerk would then have to deal with an Insufficient Funds scenario. This is avoided by using Online Donations, which uses EFT.
Dana Repouille, Plattsmouth, Nebraska
mevans
Senior Member
Posts: 2049
Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 1:52 pm
Location: California, USA

Re: Suggestions for online donations

#15

Post by mevans »

martindad: You can use bill pay to pay directly to church headquarters in Salt Lake. This has been available for a long time, but has not been publicized.

In order to do this, you need to register. I believe you can email donations@ldschurch.org to receive the needed form. I'm not sure if they receive email at that address or if it's not monitored. I had a different email address that has been discontinued, but the bounce email I got a few years ago also gave me the following phone numbers: (801) 240-2554 or 1-800-453-3860 Ext 22554.
lajackson
Community Moderators
Posts: 11460
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:27 pm
Location: US

Re: Suggestions for online donations

#16

Post by lajackson »

martindad wrote:I love the idea of the online donations system, but I cannot use it. My personal calendar is such that I rely on the recurring payments feature of my bank's online bill-pay system. My payroll is the same amount each week, so I have my bank automatically send a check to my bishop the same day for my tithing.
The email address mevans supplied (donations@ldschurch.org) is a good one. If you email them, they will set you up with a true Bank Bill Pay account that will not leave your bank writing a check. Everything will flow directly through the system electronically.

I used it for over a year before Online Donations became active. You cannot directly donate to a ward missionary fund through Bank Bill Pay, but you can to all of the other donation categories.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34418
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: Suggestions for online donations

#17

Post by russellhltn »

drepouille wrote:There is another danger to using your bank's Bill Pay service. If you ever miss a paycheck, or lose your job, those recurring payments will still occur until you manually stop them. That could cause an overdraft if your balance is typically low. The clerk would then have to deal with an Insufficient Funds scenario.
Or worse, the tithing does go though and it's another bill that experiences the overdraft. Donations are not refundable.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
User avatar
aebrown
Community Administrator
Posts: 15153
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

Re: Suggestions for online donations

#18

Post by aebrown »

russellhltn wrote:
drepouille wrote:There is another danger to using your bank's Bill Pay service. If you ever miss a paycheck, or lose your job, those recurring payments will still occur until you manually stop them. That could cause an overdraft if your balance is typically low.
Or worse, the tithing does go though and it's another bill that experiences the overdraft. Donations are not refundable.
However, that's not a distinction between using Bill Pay for donations vs. the Online Donations system -- in either case if your donation is processed first, your balance might be low and other expenses could lead to an overdraft.

The situation drepouille was describing is where your bank balance is insufficient for the donation. In that case, the Online Donations system uses EFT and so an overdraft won't occur -- the EFT attempt will simply be rejected. By contrast, a Bill Pay transaction could possibly cause an overdraft that could lead to bank fees.
drepouille wrote:The clerk would then have to deal with an Insufficient Funds scenario.
However, I believe that most banks will not send out a Bill Pay check if there are insufficient funds. They will very probably charge you a fee for the overdraft, but since the check will never get to the clerk, the clerk won't have to deal with an Insufficient Funds scenario. The reason for this is that Bill Pay checks are not drawn against the individual's bank account, but rather against the bank's account, and so will almost certainly never bounce. The bank will transfer the funds from the individual's account before sending out the check, and if the transfer is unsuccessful, the check is not sent.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34418
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: Suggestions for online donations

#19

Post by russellhltn »

aebrown wrote:However, that's not a distinction between using Bill Pay for donations vs. the Online Donations system -- in either case if your donation is processed first, your balance might be low and other expenses could lead to an overdraft.
True, but it's missing the point. A reoccurring transaction will post regardless of your true income situation until you manually stop it. In the aftermath of whatever caused paycheck to missed, the member could forget to stop it. This could include delays until the hires gain control of the account after the member passes away.

Considering that donations are not refundable, I think automatic donations are a bad idea - there's no way to fix things when they go wrong.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
mevans
Senior Member
Posts: 2049
Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 1:52 pm
Location: California, USA

Re: Suggestions for online donations

#20

Post by mevans »

Regarding automatic donations: I use Bill Pay via Quicken. I don't have Quicken automatically schedule the transaction; it's just a recurring reminder for me to do the transaction (and make sure I have money to cover it).
Post Reply

Return to “Online Donations”