Citizens can now pay court costs, fines and fees online for most criminal and infraction cases that have been tried in district or superior court with the new expanded release of the Online Collections and Payments (OCAP) system statewide. Online payments are available 24/7 at onlineservices.NCcourts.org using the case file number, the county that issued the charge, and a credit/debit card.
“Expanding online payments provides benefits for the majority of court cases and our daily court operations,” said Judge Marion Warren, director of the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts. “We continue to modernize the North Carolina court system through the eCourts vision and commitment to providing secure, convenient public access to services and information.”
The online payments system initially launched statewide on May 31, 2016, for supervised and unsupervised probation payments. It has collected more than 3,300 payments throughout 92 percent of all counties. Additionally, 45 percent of all payments have been received after business hours, affirming the convenience provided to citizens.
“Online payments for probation have already cut down the lines at the Wake County Justice Center,” said Wake County Clerk of Superior Court Jennifer Knox. “Adding criminal and infraction cases will make a huge difference in helping the public and our staff.”
Expanding OCAP provides immediate benefits to citizens, as well as increases efficiencies for court officials and staff while reducing paperwork and foot traffic in the courthouse. Online payments are now available statewide for criminal and infraction cases in district and superior court, probation cases, and traffic citations.
Payments require a major credit/debit card, including American Express®, Discover®, MasterCard®, and Visa® cards. A convenience fee is charged at the time of each online payment and is remitted to a third-party company. Except for the convenience fee, most monies received do not stay with the courts but instead go to other state and local government agencies.
