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On Line Tithing payment

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:27 am
by dstorry
I was just given this link by a ward member and asked to check it out.

Can you please tell me if this is a legitimate process?.

http://mormonlifehacker.com/2010/07/pay ... nline.html

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:48 am
by aebrown
dstorry wrote:I was just given this link by a ward member and asked to check it out.

Can you please tell me if this is a legitimate process?.

http://mormonlifehacker.com/2010/07/pay ... nline.html
Using this process for personal convenience is strongly discouraged. See this post (and many other similar ones on the forum):
aebrown wrote:The Church Donations Department is not set up to receive electronic BillPayments for the convenience of members. However, BillPay to your ward is possible (a paper check will be generated by the bill payment service). See Donations by bill payment service for issues to consider if your ward allows it and you choose that option.

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 5:51 pm
by thrust
aebrown wrote:Using this process for personal convenience is strongly discouraged. See this post (and many other similar ones on the forum):


Please explain why this is strongly discouraged. I have been paying tithing using dstorry's link on mormonlifehacker for over a year now with no issues. The official church Electronic Donation Information form linked in the mormonlifehacker link lists a ldschurch.org e-mail and phone numbers. I think this process should be part of Wiki and explained as a legitimate good alternative, instead of a lousy link to paying via bill pay check to the ward's bishop if it is allowed. Correct me if wrong, but this process needs to be accepted and communicated. It works and I am happy with how I pay tithing now.

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 6:39 pm
by jdlessley
thrust wrote:Please explain why this is strongly discouraged. I have been paying tithing using dstorry's link on mormonlifehacker for over a year now with no issues. The official church Electronic Donation Information form linked in the mormonlifehacker link lists a ldschurch.org e-mail and phone numbers. I think this process should be part of Wiki and explained as a legitimate good alternative, instead of a lousy link to paying via bill pay check to the ward's bishop if it is allowed. Correct me if wrong, but this process needs to be accepted and communicated. It works and I am happy with how I pay tithing now.
This is an issue we took up with the Church finance department. We even had a wiki article explaining the process similar to the one described on the mormonlifehacker site. The response we got was that the electronic donation process was provided for those with special circumstances such as military stationed in temporary or remote locations overseas where banking services are not available and other special needs.

The explanation we got was that each electronic donation had to be manually processed (checked against a membership number). There is a limited staff to do this manual processing and the Chruch is not yet set up to handle a large number of donations this way. We were asked to remove the wiki article.

The circumstances under which a member applies for the electronic donation process is not known. There is no way for the Church to screen each application. So each application is presumed to have a special need. Having this process publicized at this time would create a flood of applications and an unmanageable work load created for those doing the manual processing.

The good news is that with the CUBS converstion is the first step in getting the necessary structure in place to permit electronic donations for those of us in the US. There are other steps that must be taken before this can be implemented for the general Church membership in the US. When this will be complete we do not know.

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 6:40 pm
by aebrown
thrust wrote:Please explain why this is strongly discouraged. I have been paying tithing using dstorry's link on mormonlifehacker for over a year now with no issues. The official church Electronic Donation Information form linked in the mormonlifehacker link lists a ldschurch.org e-mail and phone numbers. I think this process should be part of Wiki and explained as a legitimate good alternative, instead of a lousy link to paying via bill pay check to the ward's bishop if it is allowed. Correct me if wrong, but this process needs to be accepted and communicated. It works and I am happy with how I pay tithing now.
It is strongly discouraged because it requires manual processing by the Donations Department. Imagine if 10,000 people signed up to use this service tomorrow. The Donations Department would be unable to keep up. We have been specifically asked by management of the Donations Department to discourage this, and we support them in this desire. Of course we have no control over third-party sites.

I have been assured that efforts are underway to move to an automated system, but that will take some time -- there is no published schedule for this to be accomplished. In the meantime, the nice people at the Donations Department have a hard time saying no, which is why you are able to use this service, but we kindly request that everyone respect their request at this time.

Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 5:20 pm
by thrust
aebrown wrote:It is strongly discouraged because it requires manual processing by the Donations Department. Imagine if 10,000 people signed up to use this service tomorrow. The Donations Department would be unable to keep up. We have been specifically asked by management of the Donations Department to discourage this, and we support them in this desire. Of course we have no control over third-party sites.

I have been assured that efforts are underway to move to an automated system, but that will take some time -- there is no published schedule for this to be accomplished. In the meantime, the nice people at the Donations Department have a hard time saying no, which is why you are able to use this service, but we kindly request that everyone respect their request at this time.
jdlessley wrote:This is an issue we took up with the Church finance department. We even had a wiki article explaining the process similar to the one described on the mormonlifehacker site. The response we got was that the electronic donation process was provided for those with special circumstances such as military stationed in temporary or remote locations overseas where banking services are not available and other special needs.

The explanation we got was that each electronic donation had to be manually processed (checked against a membership number). There is a limited staff to do this manual processing and the Chruch is not yet set up to handle a large number of donations this way. We were asked to remove the wiki article.

The circumstances under which a member applies for the electronic donation process is not known. There is no way for the Church to screen each application. So each application is presumed to have a special need. Having this process publicized at this time would create a flood of applications and an unmanageable work load created for those doing the manual processing.

The good news is that with the CUBS converstion is the first step in getting the necessary structure in place to permit electronic donations for those of us in the US. There are other steps that must be taken before this can be implemented for the general Church membership in the US. When this will be complete we do not know.


Thank you for the explanation jdlessley and aebrown. I wish CHQ/Donations Department would communicate this information (that is only to be used by special circumstances) in the Word document within the mormonlifehacker site. This document has been around for at least a year and a half and has been circulating around the Church. I know I have communicated and forwarded this information to many members over the last year. I am thankful that the Donations Department has continued my monthly donations.

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 1:07 am
by marianomarini
Technicaly speaking, why is so difficult on-line offerts payment?
Instead to pay directly to CHQ why not to pay to local unit bank account? You can insert the receipt into the envelop with the slip of fonds division.
Clerk can insert the correct ammount to each of one into MLS and money is already into the bank!
Here in Italy we are suggest to write "bonifico" (bank tranfert) into check number editbox.

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 6:22 am
by aebrown
marianomarini wrote:Technicaly speaking, why is so difficult on-line offerts payment?
Instead to pay directly to CHQ why not to pay to local unit bank account? You can insert the receipt into the envelop with the slip of fonds division.
Clerk can insert the correct ammount to each of one into MLS and money is already into the bank!
Here in Italy we are suggest to write "bonifico" (bank tranfert) into check number editbox.
You asked this same question over a year ago, and it was answered here. Please understand that the banking system in the US, and particularly the way the Church uses banking systems, is quite different from Italy.

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:48 am
by marianomarini
aebrown wrote:You asked this same question over a year ago, and it was answered here.
Exact. But, as I said in the same thread, it sound like in Italy. One bank. One general bank account with many (one per unit) sub-account.
I don't see so great differences.
When clerk deposit weekly money, where they go? Local account I suppose.
Maybe Zion Bank doesn't accept bank transfert to local sub-account?

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 9:30 pm
by lajackson
marianomarini wrote:Exact. But, as I said in the same thread, it sound like in Italy. One bank. One general bank account with many (one per unit) sub-account.
I don't see so great differences.
When clerk deposit weekly money, where they go? Local account I suppose.
Maybe Zion Bank doesn't accept bank transfert to local sub-account?

Not only are the banking laws of the United States different, but there are even differences from state to state within the United States. This sometimes seems hard to understand in a country where the banking system is so much farther ahead than here. This is partly due to more effective privacy laws outside of the US.

In any event, the Church is working behind the scenes to update the way they do some things, but they are still restrained by the restrictions of the banking system over which they have no control.