Susan Smith , Staff Reporter
MARKS
PAYMASTER JAMAICA Limited boosted its customer base this month when it signed an agreement with the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) which will enable approximately 13,000 students to pay tuition fees at the Paymaster branches islandwide.
Manager of Business Develop-ment and Client Services of Paymaster, Danielle Henry, told Wednesday Business that the service was commissioned earlier this month to facilitate the university's campaign in collecting outstanding tuition fees. "It's a part of UWI's thrust to collect the amount owed to them by the due date and Paymaster is simply bringing convenience to its clients by providing this added customer service," she stated.
A spokesperson of the UWI says it is still too early to say how much money has already been collected under the new arrangement. "We can say that several students have used it so far but it is difficult to say how much money has come in because this is the second day of soft launch with Paymaster," reveals the source. Since the start of the year the UWI has intensified its efforts through advertising campaigns to secure the outstanding sum owed by students before January 31, 2005 deadline.
142 OUTLETS ISLANDWIDE
Ms Henry said preparation of the technology interface to accommodate the additional 13,000 students started in November last year. With 142 Paymaster outlets islandwide, students have the options of making several payments on their accounts using cash, managers' cheques, credit or debit cards or via the internet along with a student identification card. The UWI spokesperson said the university's decision to use Paymaster Jamaica is not an indictment on the banks and other payment outlets made available to the students but is simply to "supplement the options for students and not to put them in a position to say, "the bank was crowded or I had no time to go to the bank." Paymaster Jamaica was started in 1997 by managing director, Audrey Marks. It has a customer base of approximately 40 clients and over 750,000 customers, excluding its newest potential influx of customers. It has already established a similar payment plan with The Northern Caribbean University.
