LAS CRUCES — The New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division is now accepting Visa credit cards at all state and municipal MVD offices.

The MVD began accepting VISA on Dec.6 after the credit card company changed its policy on accepting extra fees. Before then, MVD was not allowed to accept VISA at its field offices, but only for transactions online or by phone.

Visa would not allow different charges for identical services where credit cards incurred an extra fee. This was a U.S. policy with VISA, not something that just affected the New Mexico MVD.

The company later broadened what it considered a "tax" payment which enabled governmental entities, such as MVD, to accept Visa while still having different fees based on credit card or cash.

To gain acceptance and increase competitiveness among government organizations and higher education institutions, we expanded the Visa tax payment program in 2012 to include all government transactions and higher education tuition payments. The expanded program permits qualified government organizations and higher education institutions to assess variable service fees in both face-to-face and card-not-present environments, said Ted Carr, a Visa spokesman.

DMVs that accept Visa receive numerous benefits, including guaranteed payment, fraud protection and greater customer satisfaction. They can also improve operating efficiencies by eliminating paperwork and other expenses associated with cash- and check-handling, such as the time it takes to count cash and deposit checks in the bank, he added.