The Assistant Commissioner's Office of Federal Finance,
Financial Management Service is pleased to announce that we have
signed a Financial Agent services agreement with Fifth Third Bank
of Cincinnati, Ohio for the Credit and Debit Card Acquiring Service.
The signing of the agreement was the end result of an exhaustive
search for a card processing bank that would be able to offer new
functions to meet the needs of credit and debit card processing in
the future.
Overview
The Card Acquiring Service, formerly referred to as the Plastic
Card Network (PCN), was established in 1987 and is one of the collection mechanisms
FMS manages for federal departments and agencies. Through the Card Acquiring Service, the Government collects obligations via a credit or debit card transaction.
The objective of the network is to increase collections received by the Government, and
process these transactions in a an efficient and timely manner.
Payments include assessed fees, fines, and other monies due the federal government.
Card acquiring services are provided at both domestic and international locations.
The Government currently accepts the following cards from the public:
MasterCard®
Discover®
VISA®
American Express
Debit Cards (regional and national)
Most federal agencies that accept credit or debit cards for payment, including Visa
and MasterCard branded products must do so through the Card Acquiring Service.
The U.S. Postal Service, Army/Air Force Exchange Service, Navy Exchange, the Smithsonian,
and certain other non-appropriated funds instrumentalities are authorized to obtain credit
and debit card acquiring services on their own and thus do not participate in this program.