Changes to phone payments

Perth and Kinross Council has changed the way its tenants can make payments over the phone.

The move is designed to increase the security of payments and will be phased in over a three-month period, starting this week.

A spokesperson for Perth and Kinross Council said: “At the moment when a customer contacts the council to make a payment for council tax or any other service or charge, the customer reads out their credit or debit card data over the phone. This is then entered into the payment system manually by council staff.

“When the new system begins, the call will be handled as before until the credit or debit card details need to be entered. At this point, the customer’s call will be passed to a specialised secure payment system where the customer will be led through an automated process to take their debit or credit card details and make the payment.

“If a customer has a problem with the automated service they will be transferred to the council contact centre where an operator will offer assistance.”

She added: “Although Perth and Kinross Council already has an automated phone system to take some payments, the new process offers the customer the chance to speak to a member of staff.

“The tenant can then make the payment during the same call whilst their personal card data is protected by using the specialist payment service.”