RefPay Feedback
 

I see this has come up on other forums, but that was some time ago, and I'm looking for fresh feedback.

My association is looking into using RefPay. Has anyone here used it? If so, what are your thoughts on the service?

It is really good. It is basically like a bank account. They deposit the funds into your account, usually same day. I then can have it direct deposited right into my bank account. no more social security numbers or worrying about if the proper paperwork got done.

Schools still need SSNs, as they still need to send 1099s. Every school here needs a W9.

As for refpay, I like it.

No, it is not basically like a bank account. If these people go under and they still have your money, it's gone. It is not federally insured like a bank is.

The high school association here has been using it for 2 years now and personally I like it way better than dealing with each school individually. Some schools would pay you on the spot, some required you to sign and would send the check later. It was constantly a problem keeping track of who had paid and who hadnt. Now you can just pull up your refpay account and comapare it to your assignment list and instantly know if you have been paid or not.

As for the 1099, if Im not mistaken we get a single 1099 for all the assignments we have worked.

Works similarly minus the insurance. Not like any of us do it for the money anyway or will be broke if it did go under.

So it wouldn't bother you if you lost 1, 2, or 3 thousand dollars b/c you don't do it for the money? I know many officials who only do it for the money.

And the money is deposited originally to your RefPay account. It doesn't make it to your personal bank account until action is taken.

Like it. Never had any negative issues.

So as soon as it gets deposited into the RefPay account, have it transferred to your bank account. Simple enough.

Never said it wasn't simple. Still, the money is not in your bank account when you are paid as could be inferred by certain comments in this thread.

Actually it is "like" a bank account, as in it has similar features. It is not actually a bank account, although I doubt anyone here was confused about that fact.

I just check when I know money is coming. I've never had more than $120 or so in there at a time.

I'm not interested in paying their fees for automated transfers.

Picking on the diction doesn't change the fact that there's an important distinction here. The money isn't guaranteed. Not that it's really in danger, but I still move it asap.

I did not know that there was a fee for an auto transfer. I was told this by one of my fellow referees this Fall season. So I did some investigating. It appears that there indeed is such a fee and it is about $1.50. Why?

I sign-in and manually do the transfer so there is no fee charged to me as the official. There is of course a fee charged to the paying administrator for generating my paysheet. The highest possible fee at this time is about $2 per paysheet.

I'll add that I have been on both sides of this with RefPay. So I have seen all the fees charged to the paying administrator. I have contacted RefPay and advised them that charging the officials is not in their best interest. Keep the fees on the people who make the payment, not those who receive them. These people don't have an issue with it as it actually saves them money since they do not have to cut a check and mail it, which involves a postage cost as well as the cost of the paper, ink, and envelope, plus the time of the person who must perform these tasks.

Making the transfer costs them money...not anything near $2 but it costs. If they do auto-transfer, they probably incur more transfer fees...one for each payment you receive. But, if you manually transfer the money, they get to lump each payment into one paying only one fee to have the transfer made at the time you log in and make the transfer.

I chose to offer a different payment service on RefTown. It is a true direct deposit contracted out to a 3rd party. The money goes directly from the organization making the payment to the official's account. The money is never in RefTown's accounts and is immediately available to the Referee (after the Bank's normal electronic transfer delays). RefTown just facilitates the transaction. It is also cheaper for the organization than either RefPay or printing and mailing a check and it is free to the official.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm meeting with our board's president this week to go over our options, and present them at our semi-annual business meeting this weekend.

It sounds to me like RefPay has similarities to PayPal. That is, if you sell something on eBay, it credits your PayPal account, and you can decide where to move the money (typically, to your account). My question is, do some vendors accept RefPay for payment (like PayPal)?

Camron, thanks for the heads up about RefTown. We'll check that out, too. Any other RefTown users?

No but it can be momentarily. It really is easy and a good system. Do you like it or not?

That is why we said it is like a bank account as in similar, not it "is" a bank account. And your check that is supposed to come in the mail is way more guaranteed than RefPay.:rolleyes:

Maybe this is a better option.

I definitely like it. But it doesn't change what BBR said about the money not being insured or what I said about it not being in your bank account until action is taken by the payee.

I love RefPay's e-mail notification feature. EFT transfers are fee, as well.

For my bank, it takes a full day, so "momentarily" isn't really accurate.

Maybe you didn't read what I wrote.

It is NOT basically like a bank account in that it is not federally insure like money in a bank is. If they were to go under (bankrupt) and you had money still in your account, you're pretty much screwed. If some unscrupulous person in the company stole all the meny and flew to some far away country, again you're screwed.

BTW, it's also not basically like a bank account because you can't write checks on it, setup a bill pay system with it, nor can you draw any interest from the money.

The only features it has similiar to a bank is that you can transfer money out or have it placed on a prepaid MC. I believe my cons outnumber your pros 4 to 2.

No, it is not basically like a bank account. bainsey asked what are your thoughts on the service? Whether you agree with me or not, these are the things IO learned when we inquired about it. Posters who are not familiar with the service need to know these things before they make a decision regarding it's use.