Louisiana Department of the Treasury
Fiscal Control Division
Electronic Payment Acceptance
and Merchant Account Number Assignment Process
The Louisiana Department of
the Treasury’s Fiscal Control Division, works closely with
state agencies and banks to utilize the latest cash management
techniques to provide timely and accurate deposits and disbursements.
For example, the Fiscal Control Division is expanding
the use of electronic media for receipts and disbursements to include
e-commerce to provide the opportunity for the public to do business
with the state on the Internet. Additionally, the Fiscal Control
Division is working to expand the acceptance of credit cards as
a method of payment to the state.
To
obtain electronic payment approval from the State Treasury, an
agency is required to complete one or more of the applicable forms
below:
- the American Express Agency Participation
Agreement and Setup-Form and/or
- the Discover
Agency Boarding Form, Discover
Agency Participation Agreement Form, and Discovery
Merchant Information Form and/or
- the Paymentech
Agency Participation Agreement and the Paymentech
Additional Location Addendum forms.
Once the appropriate form(s) is/are completed, the
agency must proceed as follows:
forward the completed forms to
State Treasury, Fiscal Control Division,
Attention: Director.
State Treasury’s Fiscal Division will review
the request. Upon approval, State Treasury will sign the form(s)
State Treasury will subsequently forward the applicable form(s)
to the credit card issuers. The credit card issuer(s) will assign
a merchant account number(s) to the State Agency.
Acceptance by Credit Card
Company
- Upon notification of acceptance by the credit card company(ies),
the State Treasury will send a letter of acceptance to the State
Agency applying for electronic payment service(s) with American
Express, Discover, Visa, and/or MasterCard. Such acceptance
will enable the agency to accept the payment cards at a discount
rate as noted in the letter of acceptance and designated in
the corresponding contract(s) between the State (through the
Louisiana Department of State Treasury) and the credit card
company(ies).
- To benefit from that discount rate, the State Agency will
be asked to sign an Agency Participation Agreement (APA) form
which will enable it to be covered by the Master Agreement of
the appropriate credit card (s).
- If the State Agency is already using one or more of the credit
card services (American Express, Discover, Visa, and/or MasterCard)
but not receiving the discount rate, it will be asked to contact
the Department
of State Treasury’s Fiscal Division for information
on how to obtain a rate adjustment.
