tithing EFT contributions

does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints get charged a an EFT fee when members pay tithing online?

azianchick wrote:does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints get charged an EFT fee when members pay tithing online?

The Church uses the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system to transfer funds when a member uses the Donations site. An online search shows that some ACH vendors charge as low as 15 cents per transaction. My bank does not charge me to make an ACH transfer to the Church or anyone else. The bank covers the transfer as a cost of doing business and as a convenience to me as a bank customer.

I have no insight into whether or not the Church pays the bank that handles the Donations transfers for them. It is quite possible that the bank does not charge the Church at all. I am sure that if the Church does pay the bank for those transfers, they have negotiated a stellar rate way below the 15 cents seen elsewhere.

One thing I do know, however, is that the Church will not tell us if they get charged a fee. I believe that would be considered sensitive financial information the Church would not disclose to the public. But if I had to guess, I would guess that the Church does not pay an ACH fee because the bank covers any ACH fee for them.

Totally my own personal opinion, of course.

Well, someone is paying something to process the paper checks handed to the bishop. So what the church pays for ACH many be irrelevant.

russellhltn wrote:Well, someone is paying something to process the paper checks handed to the bishop. So what the church pays for ACH many be irrelevant.

I would hope that the Church is taking steps to conserve tithing funds in any way possible. As I mentioned earlier, it is quite possible that the Church is not paying anything for ACH transfers.

Banks used to pay for the processing of paper checks, but with the advent of electronic processing, many banks now charge their customers who write checks. I am not aware of a bank that charges for depositing checks, as the Church would be doing.

What do you mean by EFT transfer, is that a Bill Pay from your bank or is that the online web tool @ lds.org?

if I understand it correctly, EFT as in electronic fund transfer (funds taken out of my checking account and put into wherever the Church keeps all of the tithing funds). I use the online web tool at lds.org for submitting my tithing payments.

thank you so much for replying with your time and knowledge!

I asked because EFT's have been around for decades and provided by the church mostly to ExPat's living abroad where a formal church org was not able to receive their tithing. The online Payment system is rather new to the game. There are two systems which is why I asked which one you used, but it sounds like everyone assumed correctly the one you were referring to.

I just want to pay my tithing.

susankaysmith wrote:I just want to pay my tithing.

You may put your tithing contribution in an envelope and hand it to a member of the bishopric.

You may use the online Donations system at LDS.org if you have a checking or savings account in a country where the Church is able to receive the donation electronically.

You may use your bank Bill Pay system to set up an electronic donation to the Church in countries where the Church is able to receive the donation electronically.

Personally, I prefer the second method (Donations at LDS.org). I have used the third method in the past. Almost all of us used the first method when that was the way most of us could pay tithing.