Implementation Guide for Oracle Billing Insight > Customizing Payment >

Configuring Convenience Fee Payments

Oracle Billing Insight supports charging convenience fees to one-time payments (anonymous, instant, or scheduled) but not on recurring payments. You must create a custom class for calculating convenience fees if the default implementation does not meet your requirements.

The convenience fee amount can be based on:

• A fixed amount.
• A percentage of the payment amount.
• A custom calculation based on rules for your organization.

Two fee transaction models are supported:

• Single Transaction. In the single transaction model, you configure one merchant account, which is owned by the merchant. Oracle Billing Insight invoices or automatically debits the merchant monthly for the total fee processed, and the main payment and convenience fee are deposited into the merchant's bank account as one total amount.

  The cardholder sees one transaction on his or her statement representing the total amount including the convenience fee. The main payment amount and the fee appear as a single entry on the payment activity report.

• Dual Transaction. In the dual transaction model, you configure separate merchant accounts. One account is owned by the merchant and the other is owned by the hosting service provider. The main payment amount is deposited into merchant's bank account and the convenience fee is deposited into service provider account.

  Two transactions are processed, and once both transactions have processed successfully, the cardholder sees two transactions on his or her statement. The fee transaction processes first. The main payment amount and the fee appear as a single entry on the payment activity report, with the total amount and fee in separate columns.

Multiple payee accounts are also supported for other business needs. For example, the main payment could go to different accounts based on business logic, or you could direct business and consumer payments to different accounts. You can configure the transaction model and convenience fee type at the payment method level using the custom IGatewayAccountPlugin plug-in.

You can use the EDX_PMT_CONV_FEE_TYPES table to store the convenience types supported by your organization. Identify the convenience type you want to use for each payment method in the EDX_PMT_PAYMENT_METHOD table.

Oracle Billing Insight does not support convenience fees for ACH payments. In the account type database table, Oracle Billing Insight preconfigures the convenience fee type for ACH accounts as None.

To configure convenience fee payments

1. Create a custom class for calculating convenience fees in accordance with your organization's business rules if the default implementation does not meet your requirements. The default implementation calculates the convenience fee for each type of payment method based on the data in EDX_PMT_PAYMENT_METHOD table only.
2. In the Command Center, specify the following values in the payment gateway configuration to enable convenience fee support for credit cards in the Self-Service and the Agent applications. For details on how to update your payment gateway configuration, see Administration Guide for Oracle Billing Insight.

   Convenience Fee Parameters for the Credit Card Payment Gateway	Value	Description
   Enable Convenience Fee Payments for End User	Y	Enables convenience fee support in the Self-Service application.
   Enable Convenience Fee Payments for CSR	Y	Enables convenience fee support in the Customer Service Representative application.
   Convenience Fee Configuration Class	The name of your custom class	The name of your custom class for calculating convenience fees. Leave the default value if you are using the default implementation.
   Include Convenience Fee in Refunds	Y	Indicates whether to include the fee amount within refund transactions.

3. Configure the biller bank accounts in the Command Center.
4. If you are implementing more than two billing accounts for use with convenience fees, customize the IGatewayAccountPlugin with the logic that implements your chosen payment model and any business logic based on convenience fee type.

   The default implementation calculates the convenience fee for each type of payment method based on the data in the EDX_PMT_PAYMENT_METHOD table only.

   In the Command Center, specify the custom plug-in name in the Gateway Account Plugin Implementation parameter on the Global Configuration page.