Hi,
I am an international student who’ll begin studying in UCLA as a freshmen in Fall 2016. I have a few questions on UCLA payment and payment plans.
(1) While trying to pay the charge for Housing due July 1st (about $2,100.02), my dad was confronted with the following message right before confirming his payment for me. “If you choose to make a payment by using CASHNet®, SMARTPAY, you will be charged a service charge of $57.75.” (this service charge is separate from that $2,100.02.) I was wondering whether there is any way to avoid this service charge, and whether this service charge will be included every time I make a payment on BruinBill.
(2) Should I enroll in Autopay For Housing? It says that “DO NOT CONTINUE to enroll in the AutoPay Plan for Registration Fees and Campus Charges if you are enrolled in the BruinPay Plan (BPP). Enrolling in AutoPay pays the entire balance each month, and will supersede your BPP enrollment. Enrolling in Housing AutoPay does not affect BPP enrollment.” Or should I enroll in BruinPay Plan? What are the pros and cons? I found out that “there is a set-up fee each time you re-enroll in BPP.” About how much is this set-up?
(3) Are there great benefits of enrolling in BruinDirect? The stated benefits are:
•enrollment is immediate through your BruinBill
•get your refund within 2-3 business days
•avoid waiting for or losing mailed refund checks
•avoid going to your bank to make deposits
But why would there be refunds if my parent is making payment as a third party online? My parent is planning to make payments all electronically, and thus he will be making exact payments (for example, if the charge is $2159.48, he can make that exact payment)
(4) What does “3 quarterly or 4 semesterly installments” mean? Does this mean that payments are made three times in a quarter (i.e. 12 payments in a year, excluding summer sessions)?
I have a student banking account in U.S. via Commerce Bank, if this information helps at all. Any other tips/information is welcome. Please note that I have already looked at these websites: http://asksfs.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1103/kw/bpp, http://asksfs.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1101/kw/bpp/related/1/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xNDY2OTQxNDY5L3NpZC9UVmg4MSpUbQ%3D%3D