One month ago, the city of Roanoke debuted eChecks - a way for citizens to pay some of their bills online without having to mail a check, call in a credit card number, or wait on line at City Hall.

Since then, the city has logged almost $50,000 in eCheck transactions, while only about $24,000 in credit card payments, according to Evelyn Powers, Roanoke's treasurer.+

"From the very first day we introduced it ... we've had a hit," Powers said. "We've had activity every single day since we started."

The program lets people pay bills without using a credit card, benefiting both users and the city.

That's because American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa charge Official Payments (the company that handles the city's credit-card processing) for each transaction. This cost is passed on to customers in the form of a "convenience fee" of 2.75 percent of their bill.

Accepting payments by check means the city doesn't have to charge those fees, but retains the speed of an all-electronic payment. "I don't have a person back here opening up the envelopes and sorting them out," Powers said. "It's already there. We submit it, we hit it, we get the money."

In fact, the city gets that money almost immediately - by noon on the day it submits the payment information to Wachovia. Credit card transactions, in contrast, take 72 hours to post.

Consumers get a convenient transaction without paying a convenience fee, and they get their payment in more quickly. "They don't have to worry about getting to the post office or getting it in the mailbox or having a stamp," said Powers.

Missing a mail pickup can be the difference between avoiding a 10 percent penalty and getting socked with an extra $30 on a $300 bill. ECheck transactions are credited on the day they're submitted, and users get an e-mail confirmation.

Paying by eCheck is similar to paying by credit card. Users type in their bank's nine-digit routing number (it appears on the bottom of a check) and checking account number. They then authorize the city to withdraw the funds directly.

Powers said some people aren't comfortable sending their banking information through their computers, but, she pointed out, "All of our data is encrypted and is secured through VeriSign."

Webmaster John Cornthwait explained that when users enter their data, "The system writes their payment information to a secure database, where it's held until the next morning." When the treasurer's office opens, an employee opens that database, and does a quick check of each transaction.

Wachovia's rules require that the city then notify the bank before transmitting the previous day's payment information, which is sent via a secure file-transfer system. "There are a lot of laws regulating ACH [electronic] transactions," said Justin Eades, senior e-business developer for the city's Department of Technology.

Once the bank credits each account, the treasurer's office is notified and employees then mark each bill as paid.

"If the volume of eChecks supports it," Eades said, "we will automate that, too."Paying by eCheck To pay a bill, visit www.roanokeva.gov, choose "Services" from the right hand menu, then scroll down to "Pay Taxes and Bills" on the center menu. The first option you see will be to pay by eCheck.

After agreeing to the terms of payment, choose the kind of bill you want to pay (business licenses, EMS and other city invoices, parking tickets, personal property taxes or real estate taxes).

Enter your account number and the amount; you'll be asked for your bank's routing number and your account number there. The money is then withdrawn from your checking or savings account.