Bank Midwest Bill Pay Issues Disrupt Excelsior Springs Utility Payments

Excelsior Springs, Mo. – Some residents in Excelsior Springs are experiencing problems with their automated water bill payments due to issues involving third-party payment processors used by banks, not a failure within the City’s billing system, city officials confirmed.

City Manager Molly McGovern said the issue has been traced to the processing systems used by banks to transfer bill payments to the City’s utility account. “Our city finance director, has been working with Bank Midwest to resolve this. It is not happening on our side,” McGovern said.

While complaints initially appeared to center on Bank Midwest, McGovern clarified that the problem is not isolated to a single bank. “The problem is with the third-party processor the bank is using,” she said. “We have experienced this occasionally with other banks as well.”

The complication arises when customers use their personal bank’s “bill pay” feature, which often routes payments through an intermediary processing company. “The customer may not realize that when they select bill pay with their bank, it goes through the bank’s third-party processor to the City’s account,” McGovern said. “A breakdown can occur between any of those steps.”

One customer shared a notice from Bank Midwest dated April 3 stating their water payment to the City was returned due to being “unable to be applied to the account number specified.” The bank declined to retry the payment and instructed the customer to submit a new one.

McGovern emphasized that the City has multiple payment options that do not involve third-party processors. “They can pay on the city website, in person, use the drop box in the Hall of Waters circle drive, by mail, the kiosk in the hall, or through EFT,” she said. EFT, or Electronic Funds Transfer, is a direct digital payment from a customer’s bank account to the City’s, bypassing any third-party processors.

Some residents initially believed the issue originated from the City. However, after tracing failed transactions, City staff determined the problem occurred within the payment chain managed by the banks.

“We showed the bank what their processor documented when the prior transactions were successful,” McGovern said, noting that conversations with Bank Midwest and other financial institutions are ongoing.

Customers who continue to experience issues are encouraged to review the timing of their payment authorization with their bank and compare it with the date payment was received by the City to better understand where the delay or failure occurred.

When contacted for comment, Bank Midwest declined to address the nature of the problem but advised any customers experiencing payment failures to contact them directly.