Murphy utility customers who have been paying their monthly bills by credit card draft have a little more than a week to change their payment method or risk incurring late payment charges or defaulting on bills.

Customers at risk are those who have provided a credit card account number to the utility billing department and authorized a monthly draft from the card. The credit card draft program ends Feb. 15 with the destruction of all credit card numbers on file with the city.

The utility department is ending the credit card draft service for credit security reasons. Customers who pay with cash or check are not affected.

Utility customers who want to continue to use a credit card for payment must enroll in Auto Pay by visiting murphytx.org/141/Billing-Payments. Enrolling in Auto Pay requires customers to enter credit card information into a secure third-party portal, thereby increasing security and minimizing the number of people who have access to the information.

Customers with questions on how to complete the process can call customer service at 972-468-4100, or visit the customer service desk on the first floor of City Hall, 206 N. Murphy Road.

For more stories like this, see the Feb. 7 issue or subscribe online.

By Joe Reavis • [email protected]