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NACHA, which oversees the U.S. automated clearinghouse system, this week announced that the University of Georgia has adopted its Secure Vault Payments technology as an option for paying tuition online. The association hopes Secure Vault catches on with colleges and universities, government agencies and nonprofit organizations, NACHA executives tell CardLine. Secure Vault Payments move Web-based ACH transactions between consumers' and merchants' financial institutions without the need for consumers to exchange account information with merchants. The system's low-cost, secure payment platform is particularly appealing for high-ticket purchases such as school fee and tuition payments and charitable donations, which can reach thousands of dollars, NACHA says. Many universities process credit card tuition payments through third-party services that charge consumers "convenience" fees of about 2.75% per transaction. Until now, the University of Georgia has accepted tuition payments through direct debit transfers from consumers' bank accounts or through MasterCard, Discover or American Express credit cards. (Visa is not included because it typically opts out of many of these third-party university services.) NACHA launched Secure Vault Payments launched last year as a pilot involving several consumer Web sites (CardLine, 5/5/08).