Today, Pay.gov released a significant update to the Merchant Mariner User Fee Payment webpage. The National Maritime Center, or NMC, initiated this update to streamline and simplify the fee payment process as part of a continued effort to better serve the maritime community.

Changes to the Pay.gov online fee page include:

• A single-page layout where all fees are now selected and calculated on the same page;
• Updated endorsement names to reflect the fee schedule published in the Code of Federal Regulations (46 CFR 10.219);
• An option to select the fee(s) for both officer and rating endorsements. The system will automatically calculate the appropriate fee in accordance with the regulation;
• An option to pay required exam and/or issuance fees at a later date;
• A link to the NMC Live Chat has been added to the fee page, allowing users with questions to connect quickly with an NMC customer service agent for answers during normal business hours.

The new Pay.gov MMC user fee page should reduce the number of payment errors and refunds.

View the full announcement on the NMC webpage for further details.

This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official source documents, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These documents remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.