Paying taxes with credit card costs you

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Paying your Erie County property taxes with a credit card will end up costing you. Whether you pay online or in-person, you'll be charged a 2.5 percent fee.

Joe Maciejewski, director of real property tax in Erie County, stated, "If the taxpayer wants to use the convenience of using a credit card, there is a fee and it's going to be picked up by that individual and not by the taxpayers in Erie County."

For a bill of $4,000, paying with a credit card would cost an additional $100. The money does not go to Erie County, but rather to the bank that issued the card.

In Buffalo, paying online costs homeowners 2 percent fee. Using a debit or credit card to pay your real estate taxes in the Town of Amherst means a 2.5 percent fee.

In Lockport, the fee charged goes to a third party called Xpress-Pay.com. Officials say operation of this site costs a lot of money, something the public may not be aware of.

To avoid the nuisance fees, you'll need to send a check or get a money order.

"If you come in into our office with your check money order or check, there's absolutely no fee," Maciejewski said. "It's when you use that plastic there is a fee and no matter where you are, in government or the [Walden] Galleria, there is a fee for using that."