Credit Card Payment Service for Small Law Firms

The days are (hopefully) long gone when lawyers thought it was unseemly to accept client payments via credit card.  My former firm (two-lawyer family law practice) began accepting credit cards with some trepidation a decade ago.  Amazingly, we discovered that our gross receipts increased approximately $100,000 the first year we accepted credit cards.  Although our practice was growing somewhat, we attributed most of that increase to client payments by credit card.  Clients who were slow to pay if they had to come up with a check or cash suddenly paid more willingly.  And new clients without the money for a large retainer were more able to afford our services if they could charge it and pay it off over time.

But accepting credit cards can be complicated.  There are swipe terminals to deal with and long-term contracts.  Plus there are merchant fees that you must pay.  I recently learned of a service called ePayOps that accepts credit card payments from your clients via a Web interface and either sends you a check or makes an electronic deposit directly into a bank account you designate when you sign up.

The beauty of this service is that there is no administrative or financial burden on the lawyer.  The client pays the 2.8% "convenience fee" plus $2 for each transaction.  All of that is spelled out in the service agreement the client must accept before making the payment.  It is purely voluntary, of course.  It is just another option available to the client. 

The process is incredibly simple.  The client goes to the ePayOps Web site, types in your telephone number, and makes the payment.  A confirming email is sent by ePayOps to both the client and the lawyer.  The standard ePayOps $100 one-time sign-up fee is waived if you use the promotion code 0306 on the registration page.     

I corresponded with two solo attorneys from Michigan who have used ePayOps for about a year and they both highly praise and recommend the service.   

Comments

[Joe Hepperle]

If you had to use this service as a payer, you would be saying things like, "...stay clear of this one".

The clear sign that this is a less-than-professional site is the fact that they have virtually no links on their page. No "help" button, no "sitemap" link, nowhere to go if there are problems. They do give a toll free number, but they never really answer the line. So, you sit for hours listening to 'muzak' sure in the knowledge that they will answer soon. Hah! Fat chance!

This looks like a cheapo online 'business' that is probably operated by some guy out of his garage using a standard PC set up in 'server' mode using DSL.

You should check with those two solo attorneys to find out what they really meant.

They didn't use the service... their clients did. They may have received payments from this website, but how many of their clients DIDN'T get through? How many of their clients had so much trouble from this site that they just gave up?

Or maybe it is those two solo attorneys who are operating this out of their garage?

My personal opinion? Two thumbs down.