Bernalillo County treasurer issues warning about digital wallet company

Cathy Cook, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·3 min read

Feb. 28—The Bernalillo County Treasurer's Office is discouraging taxpayers from using third-party online bill payment systems.

A warning issued Tuesday singles out doxo, a digital wallet company, saying digital wallets such as doxo are not affiliated with the county and have "mimicked the BernCo website and logo to imply an association."

But there are other third-party sites and digital wallets offering similar services that taxpayers should be wary of, Deputy Treasurer Ryan Travelstead said.

The Treasurer's Office has been reviewing the first half of property tax payments, which were filed in November and December, and received complaints from taxpayers who used doxo to file and did not see the payments come out of their bank accounts quickly or had the payment arrive at the Treasurer's Office late, incurring penalties. This is the first year the office has had such complaints, Treasurer Nancy Bearce said.

The Treasurer's Office cannot control when a payment is received or make sure that all of the needed information is included with the payment when a third-party site is used, the warning said. Late or incorrectly filed payments could result in penalties.

"Property owners have this automatic payment service available through us (for) free," Bearce said. "So we were kind of confused about, 'what autopay are they talking about?' and as we dug into it more and more, we found out about these digital wallets that they were paying for and using."

Bernalillo County has its own online system for paying taxes, which can be found through the bernco.gov/treasurer site. The Treasurer's Office can also be reached at 505-468-7031.

"Digital wallets may charge extra fees for their services," Bearce said in a statement. "BernCo's online payments are free. There is a small vendor fee from the credit card company but the online payment at our website includes security and encryption."

Bernalillo County sent 276,684 property tax bills this year, ranging from $5 to more than $500,000. Bernalillo County has more properties to tax than any other county in the state, Bearce said.

Doxo sends funds to billers on the same business day that the funds are received, doxo spokeswoman Liz Powell said via email, and offers a payment timeline to show users when payments are sent.

"Any delays in posting happen after a payment has been received by a biller," Powell said. "If we don't have a direct partnership with a biller (as is the case with the County), we don't have visibility into their systems and processes for handling the payments once received."

Doxo does not mimic the county branding, Powell said.

"The doxo experience is clearly branded doxo throughout the bill pay experience and there is no use of the County's logo and there is no 'mimicking' — there are more than 120k billers in the doxo directory that use the exact same experience," Powell said.

Digital wallet complaints

The digital wallet company in question has been the subject of similar warnings from other municipalities and utility companies. There are news reports of warnings about doxo from the Houston Water Utility, Memphis Light, Gas and Water and a lawsuit from the Coachella Valley Water District in California, alleging trademark infringement.

Doxo has a webpage that says Bernalillo County bills can be paid. The page lists Bernalillo County contact information under the heading "Useful information for County of Bernalillo (NM) Customers."

A disclaimer near the top of the site says that doxo is not an affiliate of the county and no endorsement has been implied.

Doxo has 10 million paying users who can make payments to over 120,000 businesses, according to Powell. The company offers a service comparable to banks that help customers with scheduling bill payments, Powell said, and has a free payment option if customers link their bank account information.

The company has over 1,000 users that list Bernalillo County as one of their billers, Powell said. According to Powell, the company did not hear of issues from the county prior to the warning.