Understanding Your Securus Phone Bill
Securus updated its form of bills to reflect recent regulatory changes and to increase transparency about your charges. This guide will briefly explain the features of your Securus phone bill.
Account Summary – This provides an overview of what changed from your last statement, showing the Previous Balance from your last bill, any Payments or Credits you made since then, any Adjustments, and the remaining Balance Forward in your Account. Amounts shown in parentheses are your positive account balance and any deposits you make.
Current Activity – This summarizes your account activity during this billing cycle with a summary of your Total Calls, Total Minutes of activity, and the charge for Total Usage (this is the aggregate of multiplying the applicable call rate by the number of minutes of each call).
Taxes and Fees – This section itemizes the federal and state governmental taxes and fees collected on your call charges. Securus calculates these amounts based on your call charges and passes the amounts collected to the applicable governments.
Total Amount Due – The Current Activity and Taxes and Fees are added together for Total Current Charges, and then subtracted from the remaining Balance Forward from the Account Summary. An amount in parentheses is the balance you have remaining in your account for further calls.
Payments / Adjustments – This section provides additional detail about the Payments, Credits, and Adjustments summarized in the Account Summary, reflecting deposits and any debits made to the account.
Call Detail – This section provides the call-by-call detail of your account activity during the billing cycle, broken down by the number called. If you allow calls to multiple phone numbers under your account, then there will be separate sections for each number.
The example below is the call detail provided for prisons and large jails. The split between Provider Rate / Min and Facility Rate / Min is not provided for smaller jails.
From Number – The phone number assigned to the facility from which the call originated.
To Number – The number called from the facility.
Destination – This is the city and state associated with the telephone number called.
Date – The date of the call.
Time – The time the call was made, represented using 24-hour time.
Type – This is an abbreviation reflecting the type of the call:
LOC – Local
IAA – Intrastate IntraLATA; IAE – Intrastate InterLATA
IEA – Interstate IntraLATA; IEE – Interstate InterLATA
INT – International
These are based on the area code and prefix of the number called, may be used for rating the call (e.g., to distinguish between domestic and international calls), and are used for determining applicable governmental taxes and fees.
These call types let you know whether the call is local, long distance, or international. If it is long distance, they also indicate whether the call is interstate (those from one state to another) or intrastate (those between parties within the same state).
“LATA” stands for Local Transport and Access Area, and it is a defined geographic calling area that is used to rate calls. Most states have several LATAs. An IntraLATA call is between parties within the same LATA. An InterLATA call is between calls in different LATAs. As used here, these calls are typically long distance.
Min – The duration of the call in minutes.
Call Rate Information – Domestic rates for prisons and larger jails may include a component collected by Securus and paid to the facility as a site commission (also referred to as a “Contractually Prescribed Facility Rate Component”). For international calls, the call rate consists of a domestic component and an additional component for the costs to terminate the call in an international destination. A blank field indicates that there is no applicable component for that call (e.g., a domestic call will have a blank for the international rate component).
Note that calls are charged in one-minute increments starting when you are first connected to the person calling you, and it does not cover preliminary disclosures or instructions for connecting the call.
Note that pursuant to FCC regulation, providers that pay site commissions under a contract with a prison or larger jail may recover up to $0.02 per minute through the Contractually Prescribed Facility Rate Component. The information contained in your bill may not reflect additional commissions Securus pays to the correctional agencies.
Provider Rate / Min
This is the part of the total per-minute call rate that Securus retains to recover its costs of providing telephone service (including the infrastructure supporting it).
Note that the breakout between Provider Rate / Min and Facility Rate / Min is only provided for prisons and large jails. For calls from small jails, the total call rate will be shown as a combined rate here, and the Facility Rate / Min will be blank.
Call rates that are a fraction of a cent are presented out to three decimal points and rounded up to the nearest tenth of a cent.
Facility Rate / Min
This is the part of the total per-minute call rate that Securus collects for the site commissions paid to the facility.
Note that pursuant to FCC regulation, providers that pay site commissions under to a contract with a prison or larger jail may recover up to $0.02 per minute through the Contractually Prescribed Facility Rate Component. The information contained in your bill may not reflect additional commissions Securus pays to the correctional agencies.
Site commissions that are a fraction of a cent are presented out to three decimal points and rounded up to the nearest tenth of a cent.
For further information about site commissions, please see the Frequently Asked Questions below.
Intl Term Rate / Min
International Termination Rates reflect the cost paid by Securus to international service providers for connecting (terminating) the call in the applicable country. The international termination charges are averages based on the actual termination costs incurred during the previous calendar quarter.
Call rates that are a fraction of a cent are presented out to three decimal points and rounded up to the nearest tenth of a cent.
Charge Amount – This is the total charge for the call, before adding applicable taxes and fees. This is calculated as the sum of the rate components (Provider, Facility and International) multiplied by the number of minutes of the call and rounded up to the nearest cent. The sum of the Charge Amounts for all calls is totaled below the table of call information.
Foot Note – The foot note provides you additional information about the Facility Rate / Min site commission that is part of your call rate. The foot note will indicate if this charge is required by the contract between Securus and the applicable correctional agency, or whether it is required by law (with additional information about the applicable statutes or regulations).
Total Usage – This adds the total Charge Amounts for all calls to all numbers reflected in the statement. This information is the same as Total Usage reflected under Current Activity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q What is a commission?
A A commission is a portion of the total call charge paid to the facility if the facility requires it. It is an amount in addition to the provider’s recovery of its own costs for providing the calling service and is not kept by the provider. Not all facilities have a commission and the amount charged can vary between different facilities.
Q How does a commission work?
A Whenever an incarcerated person makes a phone call at a location that requires a commission, the account holder is charged for the call rate, which includes the provider rate component, the commission amount on the call (i.e., the facility rate component), and any applicable federal, state, and local taxes. The portion of the total charge that is a commission (i.e., the facility rate component) is then passed through by Securus to the facility.
Q How do I know if the facility at which my loved one is incarcerated charges a commission on phone calls?
A At prisons and larger jails, your bill displays the commission cost (i.e., the facility rate component) for each call placed under the heading of “Facility Rate / Min”. On Securus’ website (at https://securustech.online/#/rate-quote) site commissions for all facilities are included in the per minute charge figure that is displayed.