FAQ/Help

Frequently Asked Questions:

■  Why use InstaPayment's Campus Card?

By becoming an InstaPayment customer, schools, camps and daycare centers can do away with the burdens of handling large numbers of checks, cash and paper notices to parents.  InstaPayment's Campus Cards create a cashless environment with email notifications of events and costs.  Notices and funds do not get misplaced or lost and transactions move automatically and rapidly.  The savings in time and effort is significant, allowing educators to focus on their primary task; education.  In many instances our systems have provided a safer environment for children and less worry about lost checks or cash for parents.

In addition, our Emergency Alert System is included with our financial services, allowing schools to instantly deploy recorded telephone voice messages, cell phone text messages

■  How does the Student ID card work?

It’s an easy process.  Once  a school or organization agrees to use our services, Parents log onto our CampusCards.com website to create their family account.  Funds can be securely placed there from a checking or savings account, or a credit card.  Each time a student or member uses an InstaPayment ID card in our linked card reader or POS register at the school, the card identifies the student.   When the student makes a purchase of lunch or items at the student store, the transaction is recorded and the purchase is deducted from the balance.  Once the balance hits a designated minimum, an automatic message is generated to parents so they can re-load the student’s account by adding additional funds.  It’s that simple.

■  What happens if a card is lost or stolen?

If a Student ID card is lost, the student reports the loss to the school office.    School or organization staff, with appropriate verification of the ID card can instantly de-activate the card.  In some cases a temporary smart card can be given to the student at the same time.  The school notifies InstaPayment; we will immediately create a new ID card and ship it to the school.  Parents will be billed $5 for lost cards plus shipping. After hours losses can be reported directly to InstaPayment from one of our web sites,  by calling our toll free number, 866-63–CHECK (2-4325) or via an email to our support staff.  All inquiries will receive an immediate response from our support team.

Since student photos and ID information are embedded on the card’s chip, any attempt to use a lost card will generate an alert  at the point of purchase, so stolen cards cannot easily be used.

■  How am I protected against fraud and identity theft?

Since we use “smart” cards, sensitive data is encrypted on the card’s chip.  Unlike magnetic stripe cards, from which data may easily be stolen, smart cards are impervious to attack from identity thieves.  InstaPayment uses the most sophisticated software and hardware available, meeting and in most cases, exceeding Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards for security and encryption.

■  Are my funds secure?

InstaPayment Inc. employs servers co-located within the highly secure Regional Data Center in Los Angeles, California, which employs 24 hour/day, 7 days/week armed security, digital camera surveillance, and biometric access.  Encryption is high level 256 Bit certified.  We are Payment Card Industry rules (PCI) compliant and National Automated Clearing House (NACHA) compliant.

■  How do I get MY Student's school enrolled?

That’s easy.  Ask your school’s Administration to contact us at 1-866-63-CHECK (2-4325).   We will explain the program to them and get the school signed up.  We do all of the heavy lifting, including hosting the websites on our own secure servers, so the burden on schools is very light.  As a matter of fact, we are eliminating a large financial service processing burden placed on schools and other organizations. 

■  How do I get my student enrolled?

Once your school becomes an InstaPayment client, they will send a notice home to all parents.  You simply go to www.CampusCards.com, create your family account based on your student and the student's school and follow the simple steps to fund it.  We will work with the school to issue your Student ID smart card and get them up and running.

■  What's different about your cards?

InstaPayment Inc. utilizes the latest technology in payment cards, known as “Smart” cards.  Our ID cards are similar to existing cards, which are printed with school graphics, student photo and ID information.  In addition to standard cards which may have bar codes for library use, InstaPayment cards contain a computer chip that stores encrypted information. 

The secure information on the InstaPayment Smart card cannot be stolen as it can be in the case of magnetic stripe cards.  Large amounts of specialized information can be placed on the chip, such as emergency contact data, and medical data as well as account balances.

■  We don't have any problems now; why should we change?

This is indeed one of the most frequently asked questions.  Many schools and parents believe “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”  However, the evidence we have gathered about school notices and parent check payments left in student backpacks, lockers or in the trunk of the family car proves how frustrating current payment methods can be.  We know how much time and effort go into processing hundreds, and in larger schools, sometimes thousands of checks.  Not to mention the burden of handling paper money and coins. 

We know that school lunch lines move so slowly that sometimes students do not get a proper meal.  In some cases students hesitate to get lunch at all because they must wait in line and lose their free time during lunch and nutrition breaks. 

By becoming an InstaPayment customer, many of these problems go away, and in a very short time.  Simply because your school or organization is currently operating with standard methods does not mean things can’t be a LOT BETTER!

■  How much does this system cost my school or organization?

We do not charge the schools, daycare centers or other organizations who take advantage of our system.  When parents load their student’s account, there is a nominal $1.50 convenience fee.  There are no monthly or annual fees, no recurring automatic charges or annual license fees to any organization using our system.  That’s it, simple.  So budget concerns are not necessary!

■  What other benefits does InstaPayment offer?

A key additional element of our system is our Emergency Alert System (EAS), which allows school administrators to instantly generate voice, cell phone SMS text messages and email messages to families and parents.  In the event of a disaster or emergency, families can be notified of school status by multiple methods in a matter of minutes through this rapid broadcast technology.

Our system is SIS/SIF compliant, so we work with standardized school databases across the country.  Future added elements may include time and attendance, student activity attendance, vending machine purchases, off-campus vendors, fund-raising, security/access control, field trip headcount, library book tracking, bus passes, and others – all on a single, encrypted Student ID card!

■  How much time does it take to train the school staff?

For most functions less than an hour, typically ten minutes or so.  Our Point of Sale (POS) terminal is simple and intuitive.  It is based on the National Retail Foundation terminals, the same used at fast food restaurants and merchants everywhere, allowing students to buy meals in seconds with their Student ID smart cards. 

Administrative functions, done through our SchoolID.net site, are hosted on our secure servers, and allow easy manipulation of messages, functions and reports.  School Administrations can view purchase activities, generate payment messages and invoices, view accounts and receivables, create cafeteria menus, provide simplified nutritional reporting for state and federal requirements and a wide range of other functions saving the schools and other organizations far more time than is expended learning to use our systems.

■  If I don't have access to a computer, how can I use your system?

By taking a check or cash to your school or organization's office, funds may be added to your student’s account by office staff.  A $1.50 convenience fee is charged to your InstaPayment account when this is done.

Need help, have questions? Call us toll free at 1.866.63.CHECK (866.632.4325)