PACER Billing question

[concerned]

I know I owe PACER $6.00, but I have never received a bill for it. Should I just send it in? Why haven't they billed me yet?

[serioso]

I believe they only debit your account once you have accumulated $10 worth of information downloads. In my case, I have racked up about $15 and have not yet been debited on my credit card.

[StaciMM]

They bill every 3 months. Jan-March will be emailed/mailed a notice about balance in early April and the amount debited a few later. (The notice will say when.) They don't debit until you're at $10.

If you've stayed to $6, you're doing good!

[concerned]

Thanks. That makes sense. I figured that there was some sort of minimum amount, but I just wanted to make sure.

I have been trying to not obsess about it and just check it periodically. It's been getting more difficult since I am so anxious for it to be closed and done--lol!

[serioso]

From Pacer website:

How much does PACER cost?

The United States Congress has given the Judicial Conference of the United States, the judicial governing body of the U.S. Federal Courts, authority to impose user fees for electronic access to case information. For a history of the electronic public access fee and a current electronic public access fee schedule, click here. All registered agencies or individuals will be charged a user fee. Access to web based PACER systems will generate an $.08 ($.07 before January 1, 2005) per page charge. The per page charge applies to the number of pages that results from any search, including a search that yields no matches (one page for no matches.) The charge applies whether or not pages are printed, viewed, or downloaded. Access to dial-up PACER systems will generate a $.60 per minute charge. Users will NOT incur both per minute and per page charges for a PACER session. You will be billed on a quarterly basis for your transactions. You will be allowed to enter a client code of your choosing each time you login to PACER to help facilitate managing the costs.

A measure was approved by the Judicial Conference of the United States in March 2001 stating that no fee is owed until a user accrues more than $10 worth of charges in a calendar year. Consequently, if an account does not accrue $10 worth of usage between January 1st and December 31st each year, all balances will be deleted from our records. This policy change will be effective for the calendar year of 2001, and statements will not be mailed to PACER users whose accounts do not have a balance due of at least $10. Once the balance due exceeds $10, a user will receive a statement by mail which includes the current and previous charges in a calendar year. Please read the announcement detailing this change.

The Judicial Conference, at its September 2003 session, amended the language of Section I of the Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule for the appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts, the United States Court of Federal Claims, and the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (adopted by the Judicial Conference pursuant to sections 1913, 1914, 1926, 1930, and 1932 of title 28, United States Code). The previous schedule placed a cap on the per page charge for Internet access to data obtained electronically from the public records of individual cases in the courts, with a maximum $2.40 ($2.10 prior to January 1, 2005), the equivalent of 30 pages, for electronic access to any single document. The amendment extends this cap to all case documents, including docket sheets and case-specific reports, with the exception of transcripts of federal court proceedings. The cap will apply to all PACER, RACER, or CM/ECF sites. For example: previously, a 50 page document cost $4.00 at 8 cents a page. This same document now only costs $2.40. Users will receive the entire 50 page document but only be charged $2.40. Each attachment in CM/ECF sites is considered a separate document. Therefore, the cap will apply to each attachment over 30 pages separately.

http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/faq.html#GP8

[FilingOnMyOwn]

Its deferrable indefinately with a balance under $10.00. Which basically means, you still owe the money, but as long as it never exceeds $10, you never actually have to pay it

[concerned]

Its deferrable indefinately with a balance under $10.00. Which basically means, you still owe the money, but as long as it never exceeds $10, you never actually have to pay it

I like this idea! Serioso--thanks for the information. That's good to know.