What is Clear?
Clear is a 0% interest MasterCard,
which is offered exclusively as a voluntary Employee benefit
through participating Employers. The Clear
Card can be used anywhere in the world that MasterCard is
accepted. Payments for purchases are made through a series
of equal automatic payroll deductions over 2 to 6 months (depending
upon where the purchase was made and the dollar amount of
the purchase).
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How does Clear differ from
traditional voluntary benefits currently available?
No other voluntary benefit offers Employees the ability to
make purchases with 0% interest anywhere in the Visa/MasterCard
network and pay for purchases through a series of automatic
payroll deductions for up to 6 months.
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How much will Clear cost
my company?
There is no charge for the Employer to participate in the
Clear program. However, you
will need to consider the internal resources required to implement
and maintain the program. Total configuration time is approximately
16 hours for payroll personnel and IT personnel. After implementation,
minimal support will be required from both IT and Payroll.
IT support would include file and database maintenance. Payroll
support will be working with Clear
Employer Services if an error/exception is encountered during
file processing. In addition, there is a small annual fee
to the participating employees. This fee will be deducted
in equal installments from their paycheck.
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How does Clear automate
the payroll deduction process?
At a high level, Clear interfaces
with your payroll software; transmitting and receiving files
in order to automatically deduct variable amounts from participating
Employees payroll, each payroll cycle. (see IT and Payroll
section below for specific details)
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We use a third-party payroll
processor. Does Clear integrate with their system?
Yes. We'll work with you and your payroll administrator to
work out the specific details for seamless operation of Clear
at your company.
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What Employer information
is required from my company to begin the program?
Employer information related to Address, Contact Information
(Technical and Payroll), Employer Bank Information (for the
deduction remittance), and Tax Information will be required
upon initial Employer agreement to participate. The Employer
will also need to exchange three data files (Employee Information
File, Deduction File, and Receipt File) with the Clear
system in order to support Employee eligibility, enrollment
fulfillment and transaction processing.
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I'm concerned about providing
Employee information. What is Clear's policy on privacy?
Clear has a team of privacy
experts that developed our privacy policy. Every effort was
made to take Employer and Employee concerns into consideration.
(please refer to section above regarding Securing Data) Also,
Non-Public employee personal information is protected under
the provisions set forth in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB).
Enforcement of GLB is regulated by the following agencies:
(the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the
Securities and Exchange Commission, and the National Credit
Union Administration), the State insurance authorities, and
the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
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What kind of technical and
administrative support does Clear provide?
We handle all the administration, tracking and employee customer
service for Clear, so the support
level is very high. That said, we have experts available to
answer any questions you may have - from systems architecture
to enrollment eligibility - any time you need us. Just call
us toll-free at 877-481-8288. (Your employees may call a separate
toll-free customer service number.)
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Will you be making deductions
when Employees are not working?
If an Employee leaves your company, the Employee would be
required to pay the balance due on their account (Final Payment)
in accordance with the Cardmember Agreement, or they can contact
us to have the account converted to a Pay Down Account. If
the Employee is still with the company but is on temporary
leave (like disability or FMLA) the Cardmember's Account will
convert to an interest bearing Pay Down Account with a minimum
monthly payment requirement.
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How does Clear work with
wage garnishment and minimum wage laws by state?
Clear does not garnish wages
- we extend a credit line to participating Employees. Payments
to the outstanding balance are made through payroll deductions,
in accordance with the Employee/Cardmember agreement. The
minimum salary requirement of $20,000 per year insures compliance
with all state and federal minimum wage guidelines.
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How will we notify Clear
of terminations and Leave of Absences?
You will update the status of the Employee in your HR/Payroll
Processing System as you normally would do. When Clear
receives the next EIF, status change will be flagged by the
Clear System and the Cardmember
Account status will change accordingly.
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Will Clear and/or Merrick Bank/
MasterCard share a list of our employees with potential merchants?
No. Merrick Bank, MasterCard and Clear
do not share Employee information that is provided by the
Employer to any third party unless it has been contracted
solely for providing a service to assist or provide assistance
to potential Clear Cardmembers
or Clear Cardmembers for the
purpose of actions relating to the Clear
Card.
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Can Clear use the employee
information for solicitations and marketing efforts?
Clear is only permitted to solicit
the Clear Card to the employees
that are eligible for the program. This information is provided
to Clear in the Employee Information
File (EIF).
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We are concerned about low-wage
employees overextending themselves through the card?
One of the most worthwhile benefits of the Clear
Card is that it is truly a financial budgeting tool. This
is accomplished by having a fixed and defined credit limit.
This credit limit is set at up to 4% of an Employee’s
Qualifying Income.
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What is your dispute resolution
policy and procedure?
As soon as the Cardmember contacts our customer service department,
the following steps occur:
- Future deductions for the disputed purchase are deferred
until the dispute is resolved.
- If the dispute is resolved in the Cardmember's favor,
all deductions are fully reimbursed and future deductions
are eliminated.
- If the amount to be reimbursed is greater than the next
deduction, then that next deduction is reduced to zero,
and the remaining reimbursement balance is carried forward
to the second (and future) deduction(s) until the Cardmember
is fully reimbursed.
- If, however, the dispute is resolved against the Cardmember,
all deductions will be rescheduled and subsequently deducted
from future paychecks.
All other deductions will commence as originally scheduled.
Please note: During the course of the dispute resolution,
the available credit will be decreased by the amount of the
dispute.
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What are your reporting
capabilities?
You are able to sign on to the Clear
website 24 hours a day and review consolidated balance reports
for your company's employees. As always, your employee's privacy
is of the utmost importance to us, therefore, you will only
be able to view deduction totals and not the items, or shops
from which the items/services were purchased.
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What happens if we do not
achieve the minimum participation at enrollment or if our
enrollment drops below the minimum participation requirement
in the future?
Similar to other Voluntary Benefit offerings at the work place,
our Client Services team will maintain communications with
your company to review the enrollment performance of Clear.
We will be evaluating any issues effecting participation along
and providing recommendations for increasing participation.
All options will be considered during these communication
sessions before any adverse action is taken.
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How
does the Soldiers and Sailors Act affect our program?
Clear will comply with all of the regulations, regarding credit
cards, which have been defined in the Soldiers and Sailors
Act.
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How does Clear use
"cookie technology" file features?
We reserve the right to store information on a user's computer
in the form of a "cookie". A "cookie"
is a small text file placed on your computer hard drive by
our web server. Cookies are commonly used and do not harm
your system or collect information from your hard drive. Cookies
will not contain information that will enable persons to contact
you via the telephone or U.S. Mail. You can set up your web
browser to inform you when cookies are present or to prevent
cookies from being set-up. Please check your browser's guidelines
should you wish to prevent cookies. However, if you do not
allow cookies, some of the features available on our web site
may not be accessible to you.
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Payroll and IT:
Is it truly automatic
once the interface is built or is there any manual intervention
required?
It is an automatic process if your company has a compatible
Payroll System (ADP, Oracle, SAP, Lawson, PeopleSoft, Tessaract,
Ceridian and ProBusiness) and has elected to use the Web Methods
Clear Adapter. However, employers
have the option of selecting, or the present payroll system
may have limitations that require, a semi-automated or manual
process.
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Will Clear be able
to create an automatic interface for my non-compatible Payroll
System?
Clear’s Software Development
team is continuously developing relationships with HRIS/PR
software companies to insure the Clear
product is available to as many Employers as possible. We
are currently developing Payroll Adapters for an additional
16 HRIS/PR Systems and are being contacted by many more companies
seeking to become a partner.
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What are an employer’s
Payroll and IT personnel required to do during the Implementation
process?
Information Sharing
- General business process information
- Process flow of Payroll System
- Data gathering – 2 days of information-sharing
with designated contacts from Payroll and Information
Technology
Training
- Designated Payroll personal will be trained on access
and utilization of the Clear
Adapters and Online functionality
Configuration and Testing
- Total configuration time is estimated to be 16 hours
with Payroll personnel, including training.
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How many hours/days
will be required for initial installation?
Total configuration time is approximately 16 hours for payroll
personnel and IT personnel.
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What are the minimum
server requirements to run Clear?
- Windows 98 (or greater) or UNIX
- 128 MB RAM
- 128 MB of free Hard Drive space
- Internet Connection
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What files are exchanged
and how frequently?
The following files are exchanged to maintain Clear:
- Employee Information File (weekly, from Employer to Clear)
- Deduction File (each pay cycle, from Clear
to the Employer)
- Receipt File (each pay cycle, from the Employer to Clear)
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Will I need to set
up separate data fields in order to implement Clear?
No. Clear will map the necessary
data from your existing fields.
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Why do I need to send files to Clear once
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a week ?
The EIF is sent to Clear once
a week to update any HRIS/PR System changes you staff has
made. Status changes that effect eligibility of the Employees,
such as terminations, LOA, and Salary changes are examples
of data that will be automatically processed and updated by
the Clear System. In addition,
if you process weekly pay cycles, the receipt file will also
be sent to verify any payroll deductions. In turn, these amounts
will be added to your Employee’s Clear
credit line.
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What does the payroll
department need to do to send the EIF and Deduction Receipt
file to Clear?
WebMethods is used by Clear
because of its industry leading functionality in transmitting
data within the B2B space. By using WebMethods, Clear
has the ability to schedule file generation and/or secure
file transmission from the Employer’s HRIS/PR Systems.
Clear will supply the WebMethods
partner server software to the Employer.
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How does Clear secure
data?
Clear Employees:
Background screenings are completed on all Clear
Applicants prior to employment. All Employees are required
to sign a confidentiality agreement, upon hire date, that
protects the security of the Employer Data. Failure to abide
by the conditions of the confidentiality agreement may result
in immediate termination as well as prosecution to the fullest
extent of the law.
File Transmission:
Physical access to our hardware is controlled by a card-access
system located in the Network Operations Center. Access by
non-badged personnel is by escort only. The card-access system
is connected to a database that logs access. Additionally,
every part of the equipment room is viewable by a closed-circuit
video surveillance system monitored 24 hours a day in the
Network Operations Center. Background screenings are required
for all hosting facility personnel.
Physical Storage:
Further security measures prevent the actual reading of the
payroll and Cardmember data as well as other sensitive information
that is stored encrypted in our database using Oracle's Data
Obfuscation Toolkit™. This toolkit allows data to be
physically stored in a DES3 encrypted format.
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Does Clear require
a great deal of maintenance?
The amount of time required for maintenance of the system
is limited to just a few hours a month. One example of your
responsibilities would be to purge excess files on a regular
basis.
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*Terms and Conditions Apply. Please see Important
Disclosures for more information.
‡ Subject to state law.
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