How do transaction processing fees work?

How Transaction Processing Fees Work

We use Stripe as our transaction processor for card and ACH payments. Stripe handles all the personal financial information you and your residents share when you make payments.

Whenever a resident pays dues online, transaction processing fees apply. This article explains who pays those fees and how they're calculated.

 Who Pays the Transaction Processing Fee?

When you create a dues item, you'll see a checkbox labeled Enable Service Fee.

• If you activate this checkbox: Your residents pay the transaction processing charge on top of their actual dues amount.
• If you don't activate this checkbox: The transaction processing charge is deducted from the amount that Stripe transfers to your bank account.

 How Are Transaction Processing Fees Calculated?

Card payments:

• 3.5% of the face value of the dues item + $0.30

ACH payments:

• 1% of the face value of the dues item + $0, for items ≤ $625
• 0% of the face value of the dues item + $6.25, for items > $625

Important: You must manually set the ACH service fee to 0% + $6.25 for items over $625. The system does not set this automatically.

 Why the Total Isn't a Simple Add-Up (Card Fee Example)

It's tempting to assume the fee applies via simple math — but it doesn't. Here's why.

Take a $100 dues item as an example:

• It might look like the card fee should simply be: 3.5% of $100 + $0.30 = $3.50 + $0.30 = $3.80, for a total of $103.80.
• But if you charge $103.80, you'd only actually receive $99.87 — not $100.

Why: Transaction fees apply to the total lump sum being processed, not just to the original dues amount. The processor doesn't distinguish between "dues" and "fee" — it only sees one payment total.

The correct formula:

```

(Dues amount + 0.30) / (1 - Processing fee percentage)

```

Applying this to the $100 example:

```

(100 + 0.30) / (1 - 0.035) = $103.9378238 → rounds to $103.94

```

Good news: If you activate the "Enable Service Fee" checkbox and enter the correct fee values, the system calculates this for you automatically — you don't need to do this math yourself.

 Bank Account Verification Fee (ACH)

• Setting up a bank account for ACH payments involves a one-time $1.50 account verification fee.
• This fee is deducted from the amount transferred to your bank account.
• The deduction may not line up with a specific resident payment, since it's tied to when the resident sets up the account — which can happen well before they ever use it to pay dues.
• If a resident removes and later re-adds a bank account, the $1.50 verification fee applies again.