# How can government offices refuse cash? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2006, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-government-offices-refuse-cash/358842 "2006-05-31T07:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-government-offices-refuse-cash/358842/41 "2012-03-17T04:16:07Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:31, topic:358842”] Our county assessor’s office also adds transaction fees to credit card payments. I’d love to know why they can do that when stores and gas stations are forbidden contractually from adding a fee for credit card users. [/QUOTE] Because government agencies , educational institutions ,utilities ,etc don’t necessarily sign the same contracts as retailers. Mastercard’s convenience fee program is open to the following: > [@](#): > > • Elementary and secondary schools for tuition > and related fees, and school-maintained room > and board > • Colleges, universities, professional schools, > and junior colleges for tuition and related fees, > and school-maintained room and board > • Local, state, and federal courts of law that > administer and process court fees, alimony, > and child support payments > • Government entities that administer and > process local, state, and federal fines > • Local, state, and federal entities that engage > in financial administration and taxation > • Government Services; merchants that provide > general support services for the government Of course, > [@](#): > > MasterCard cardholders cannot be assessed a > convenience fee that would discriminate > against the brand relative to other payment > card acceptance brands, such as American > Express, Discover, and Visa. which probably explains why I can pay my kids’ tuition with any credit card \*except \*Visa - I assume it’s the only card that doesn’t allow a convenience fee. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-government-offices-refuse-cash/358842/42 "2012-03-17T05:58:27Z")
:slight hijack: Here in Houston, the passport office at the federal court house _ **will** _ take cash. But only if the amount proffered is _ **exact** _! They would not make change in any amount, and would not accept _ **any** _ ‘over-payment’. :mad: Kind of ANAL, IMHO. ETA I wonder if they would’ve taken,\* BRAINNNS!\* ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-government-offices-refuse-cash/358842/43 "2012-03-17T08:20:03Z")
Zombie thread or not, there is a comment worth making. Traffic and parking tickets are often not of themselves fines - and thus may not actually be a debt. You often see a ticket that provides an “expiation fee” that if paid will prevent further legal action. If you don’t pay the fee, they escalate it, and then you get fined. Sometimes the escalated process involves an invitation to the local courthouse to explain a few things about the offence. The fine incurred will, needless to say, be much more than the expiation fee. So, if you want to “pay the ticket”, you are not, at that moment, discharging a debt; you are voluntarily paying a fee. Doesn’t make the behaviour of the various government agencies any less annoying, but they probably have better lawyers that you anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-government-offices-refuse-cash/358842/44 "2012-03-17T23:34:46Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Zombie thread or not, there is a comment worth making. > > Traffic and parking tickets are often not of themselves fines - and thus may not actually be a debt. You often see a ticket that provides an “expiation fee” that if paid will prevent further legal action. If you don’t pay the fee, they escalate it, and then you get fined. Sometimes the escalated process involves an invitation to the local courthouse to explain a few things about the offence. The fine incurred will, needless to say, be much more than the expiation fee. So, if you want to “pay the ticket”, you are not, at that moment, discharging a debt; you are voluntarily paying a fee. Doesn’t make the behaviour of the various government agencies any less annoying, but they probably have better lawyers that you anyway. I’ve never had a moving violation ticket yet, but occasional parking tickets and “fix-it” tickets. Here in Ca., the fine shown on the ticket is called “bail”. From that, I gather that when you pay a ticket, you are “technically” simply posting “bail” and then skipping out. As for how gov’t agencies can get away with anything… well… gov’t agencies can get away with anything. Or at least a lot of thing. They make their own rules. Who bells the cat? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-government-offices-refuse-cash/358842/45 "2012-03-18T00:37:26Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > In all the news stories we read about the growing numbers of homeless or otherwise _nouveau pauvre_ people, a fact often mentioned is the growing numbers of “unbanked” people, that is, who don’t have any kind of bank accounts. > > How do they got on at all? That question is never addressed. How do they get their social security payments? Even if they get a paper check in the mail, where do they cash it? At a payday lender? Probably depends on where you live, but in my experience, many larger grocery stores offer a check-cashing service (for a small fee, obviously. They _are_ a business.) I want to say you can also cash checks at the Post Office, but I may be mistaken there. Actually, I got a speeding ticket in Wichita once, and was dismayed to find that the preferred way for me to pay my fine was to write a check, put it in a deposit envelope with my name and citation number, and drop it in a deposit box… at the local Dillon’s grocery store.:eek: Mind you, this wasn’t self-evident by looking at the ticket. Took me a week of trying to call the courthouse before I finally gave up and just emailed them to figure out how I was supposed to give them my money.:rolleyes: And yes, the big concern against taking cash payments is that carrying large sums of cash make you a target for robbery attempts (one of my least favorite things about my short career as a hot wing delivery guy). Who would rob a courthouse? I dunno, but I imagine if anybody deals with large numbers of stupid people, it’s the legal system. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-government-offices-refuse-cash/358842/46 "2012-03-18T00:46:25Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > From a legal point of view, no. You approach the cash register with a single item. The cashier scans it and says “that’s $42.75, please.” You say “but I haven’t got any money.”… Old joke: A man walks into a bar and tells the bartender, “I have some terrible news. Line up ten shots of whiskey for me.” “Ten? Really?” the bartender asks. “Yup. Ten. It’s really bad news.” The bartender shrugs and pours all ten shots of whiskey. The man pounds them down, one after another. Then the bartender asks, “So what’s the bad news?” The man says, “I’m totally broke.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-government-offices-refuse-cash/358842.md?page=2)