---

Payment Methods:

Check

Please include your PID and telephone number on your check. Mail or hand deliver to:

145 Narrows Drive Birmingham, AL 35242

Cash

We will accept cash during regular business hours. Monday-Thursday, 8 am to 4 pm, Friday, 8 am to 3 pm at

145 Narrows Drive Birmingham, AL 35242

If paying with cash, please bring the exact amount, including exact change. We do not keep cash on hand and cannot make change. If you do not have exact change but still wish to pay, we can apply the overage as a credit to your account.

We ONLY accept payments at the 145 Narrows Drive location

Credit Card/Debit Card/Bank Draft

We accept credit card, debit card, and bank draft payments through Stripe. The credit and debit processing fee for this payment method is 2.99% of the transaction amount plus a $0.30 per-transaction fee. Bank drafts incur a 0.8% fee of the transaction, with a maximum charge of $5.00. This fee goes to the payment processing company and cannot be refunded if a refund is issued. Payments can be made through the link at the top of the screen, “PAY FD SERVICE FEES” or by CLICKING HERE TO PAY

---

Payment Plans

As long as the balance is paid by September 30th, you may make as many small payments as needed. However, if you cannot have the balance paid by September 30th, please call the Business Office to arrange a payment agreement. A rebilling fee will be added in October, but once all agreed-upon payments are made in a timely manner, it will be removed.

---

Yearly Billing

Bills go out in June as a courtesy reminder. Fire District Service Fees are mandatory and must be paid in a timely manner. They are delinquent after September 30th. You are paying in advance for the fiscal year, which spans from October 1st of this year through September 30th of the following year. Late fees are added on October 1st. These charges cannot be waived unless there has been an error in our bookkeeping. Not receiving a bill does not constitute the removal of late fees. We are not responsible for address changes. It is the property owner’s responsibility to keep us informed of the correct billing address. If you sell your property, most title companies require an assessment letter stating whether the service fees are up to date. We will update the account name to reflect the new owner at that time. However, you may want to contact us to make sure it was changed if an assessment letter was not requested. In the event of nonpayment, Fire District Service Fees on delinquent properties are turned over to an attorney, who will attempt to collect. If unsuccessful, this may result in foreclosure proceedings. The fire district has first lien rights above mortgage companies.

---

Mortgage Companies

Mortgage companies have become more aggressive in paying fire dues. Unless specifically requested, we always send the bill to the property owner. We do not bill mortgage companies. When you receive your bill for Fire Department Service Fees, call your mortgage company to see if they will be paying them from your escrow account. Mortgage companies generally use third-party tax services for items that can cause a lien to be placed on your property, i.e., taxes, fire dues, municipal assessments, etc. These institutions research your property to gather all that information (generally during October) and send it to your mortgage company. The mortgage company bills your escrow account (usually about the first of December) and pays the third party, which in turn pays us (generally in the last couple of days of December). Payments made to us between October and December are not reflected in their records, which will still show a balance due.

If your mortgage company sent you a letter stating that they paid your fire dues and you have paid them yourself . . .

We accept the first payment we receive, regardless of who pays it. Any other payments are returned to the payer. There will not be a double payment on your account, and the mortgage company/tax service payment cannot be refunded to the property owner if they have already paid. Usually, the property owner’s payment was received first and applied. The second payment has been returned to the mortgage company/tax service that sent it, but the refund process generally takes 2 to 3 months to show the credit to your escrow account. Also, if they pay it once, chances are they will pay it again in the future. The best way to avoid the confusion is to let them pay it. If you doubt that it was paid, please call the CVFD Business Office in the middle of January and check. If they paid it in the past but not this time, arrangements for payment by the property owner can be made.