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Actioning third party debts 107-04010100

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This document outlines how to investigate and action a third party debt, which results from a request for refund of payment(s) made to an incorrect account or recipient, and the financial institution has not returned funds to the agency.

On this page:

Investigating the third party debt

Actioning the third party debt

Customer disputes a third party debt

Investigating the third party debt

Table 1

Expand table

Step

Action

1

Third party debt

If actioning:

  • an undetermined third party debt, go to Step 2
  • a response from a financial institution following a Request for Refund (RFR) or QSS40 letter, go to Table 2
  • a customer contact about a third party determined debt, go to Table 3

2

Refund not processed within 28 day review period

If the financial institution does not return the payment to the agency by the end of the review period, the system will create an undetermined debt with a keyword of '3rdparty'.

Note: if the financial institution has returned the payment in full after the review due date, finalise ‘no debt’ (FND) the related debt shell if created.

See Finalised 'no debt' (FND) or 'zeroing' debts that are not legally recoverable.

If the financial institution has not returned the original payment in full or has not responded to the Request for Refund (RFR) letter, send a Request for refund - follow up (QSS40) letter to the financial institution. To send a Request for refund - follow up (QSS40) letter:

  • copy the BSB number of the third party payment from the Payment Summary (PS) screen
  • go to the Financial Institutions Details (RFI) screen
  • for the FI Code, key the BSB number > [Enter]. If a Processing Centre code:
    • displays, see Table 1 on the Resources page of Request the return of a payment made to an incorrect recipient. Address the QSS40 letter to the mailing address listed in the table
    • does not display on this screen, use the mailing address listed on the RFI screen
  • use the Fast Note - select Auto text, use Debts > Debt Raising > Debt Investigation-Debt staff only
  • place the debt on hold for 31 days
  • procedure ends here until:
    • response is received, or
    • activity becomes due

3

Response from financial institution

Staff must check all scanned documents on the record for the relevant period. The RFR/QSS40 letter may have been returned by the financial institution but scanned to the record under an incorrect category.

Has the financial institution responded to the Request for Refund or QSS40 letter with details of a third party?

  • Yes, go to Table 2
  • No:
    • go to the Financial Institutions Details (RFI) screen and check address and spelling were correct in the original QSS40 Request for Refund - follow up letter
    • resend the Request for refund - follow up QSS40 letter to the correct financial institution and address, if necessary
    • place work item on hold for 31 days

If the financial institution:

4

Financial institution does not respond

If the financial institution does not respond to correspondence or give sufficient details to identify the third party, attempt to contact the customer before raising the debt, see Table 1 in Debt raising support for customers.

Note: before attempting to make customer contact, check for any indicators that the customer’s contact details have not been updated around the time that the payment was transferred to a third party account.

If contact is successful and the customer:

  • advises they did not receive the payment, go to Table 3
  • does not dispute receiving the payment, go to Table 2 in Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS)

If contact is unsuccessful, issue a Q164 Request to contact letter. Select these options:

  • BENDBT, Centrelink Debt
  • CONTEL, Contact by telephone or Customer does not have phone
  • PHCONT, No at top
  • PPLACT, PPLACT or Null/Other
  • SSSAFA, SS Law or Student Assist Law or Family Assist Law

Hold the debt activity(s) for 14 days from the issue date of the letter, plus additional delivery days.

Go to Step 5.

5

Customer response to Q164

If the customer contacts in response to the Q164 letter, discuss if the customer had received the payment(s).

Did the customer contact in response to the Q164 letter?

  • Yes. If the customer:
    • advises they did not receive the payment, go to Table 3
    • does not dispute receiving the payment, go to Table 2 in Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS)
  • No, go to Table 2 in Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS)

Procedure ends here.


Actioning the third party debt

Table 2

Expand table

Step

Action

1

Response from financial institution

Did the financial institution confirm the customer received the payment?

2

Finalising the undetermined debt as Finalised 'no debt' (FND) on the customer record

The undetermined third party debt on the customer’s record must be finalised 'no debt' (FND) before taking action on the correct third party’s record.

To finalise a 'no debt' (FND) the undetermined debt in:

  • Process Direct use the Debt Assist workflow
  • Customer Record use the Debt Action script

See Finalised 'no debt' (FND) or 'zeroing' debts that are not legally recoverable.

If the script is not available, action the debt manually:

  • 'S'elect the undetermined debt activity DMN/NDB on the Activity List (AL) screen
  • go to the Modify/Assess Debt (OPMA) screen and complete the following:
    • Calculated Amount $ field, key 0
    • FND Reason field, key the reason why the debt amount is zero. See the Resources page in Finalised 'no debt' (FND) or 'zeroing' debts that are not legally recoverable
    • Addtnl Reference No field, key the third party Customer Reference Number (CRN) (if available). Otherwise, leave blank
    • press [Enter] twice to confirm the recalculated debt amount
  • on the Assessment Finalisation (OPAF) screen, in the Finished? (Y/Q/N) field, key:
    • Y, or
    • Q if the activity is to be Quality On Line (QOL) checked
    • press [Enter]

Record the details on a DOC.

If the payment has not already been reissued to the customer, see Reissue a payment at a customer's request.

3

Confirming the third party record

Where a third party has been identified as receiving the payment, undertake a thorough search to identify if the third party has an existing customer record. See Searching for a customer on the system and Online Search (OLS) facility.

If a customer record cannot be located, refer to Technical Peer Support (TPS) or a Quality Development Officer (QDO) for more support.

If the QDO cannot locate the record, they must escalate to the Level 2 Debt Helpdesk, using enquiry type Third party debt - Record not found. See the Resources page for link.

When the customer record is located, go to Step 4.

4

Raising the debt

Can the debt be raised using the Debt Action script?

5

Using the Debt Action Script

Recreate the debt shell on the third party record using the Debt Action Script in Customer Record but do not finalise the debt:

  • make sure the CRN of the intended party is recorded on the Debt Comments (OPDC) screen. Do not include the CRN or other identifying details of the intended party on the debt DOC
  • before running the script to complete the activity, note down the intended party’s CRN:
    • run the Debt Action script
    • on the Assessment Finalisation (OPAF) screen, go to the OPDC screen and re-key the intended party’s CRN as it may have been deleted by the script
    • go back to the OPAF screen once updates have been actioned
  • if the third party bank account has joint account holders, raise the debt against all parties, see Recovery from mutually liable co-debtors

Attempt to contact the third party before finalising the debt, see Table 1 in Debt raising support for customers. If the third party:

  • advises they did not receive the payment or they do not have legal access to the bank account, go to Table 3 > Step 1
  • contacts were unsuccessful, see Table 2 in Debt raising support for customers
  • does not dispute receiving the payment, go to Table 2 in Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS)

Procedure ends here.

6

Manually raise debt

Manually recreate the debt shell on the third party record but do not finalise the debt. See Create a new debt record manually on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS).

The Benefit Type is the type of payment incorrectly paid.

Third party debt Reason codes are:

  • CTD - Centrepay Third Party debt
  • RFO - Incorrect bank account (Third Party)

Do not include the CRN or other identifying details of the intended party on the Debt DOC. Instead:

  • go to the Debt Comments (OPDC) screen
  • record the CRN of the intended customer

Attempt to contact the third party before finalising the debt, see Table 1 in Debt raising support for customers. If the third party:

  • advises they did not receive the payment or they do not have legal access to the bank account, go to Table 3 > Step 1
  • contacts were unsuccessful, go to Table 2 in Debt raising support for customers
  • does not dispute receiving the payment, raise the debt manually:

Customer disputes a third party debt

Table 3

Expand table

Step

Action

1

Determine if the identified third party customer has legal access to the bank account

Be aware if the customer says:

  • they are victims of unauthorised access to their online account
  • their payment destination(s) have been changed without their consent or knowledge, or
  • the bank account was opened in their name without their knowledge or consent

If the customer has advised:

2

Remediation of a potentially fraudulent debt

Tell the customer to address the debt by:

  • getting a report reference number by contacting the state police. They can make their report:
    • online
    • in person
    • over the phone to the state police and getting a report number
  • contacting the fraud section of the bank(s) where the funds were deposited and advising:
    • they did not receive the payment and do not have legal access to the bank account(s)
    • will provide the police report reference number and Actioning 3rd party debts - Customer agrees to provide evidence Q999 letter from Centrelink
    • they are requesting evidence that they did not open the account and do not have legal access to the account(s)
  • providing the agency with suitable evidence that they did not receive benefit of the payment(s)

Some customers can be in receipt of multiple payments, there are scenarios where these payments may have been redirected to multiple banks.

Evidence may include any of the following:

Where a customer agrees to provide evidence to support their claim that they have no legal access to the bank account(s), this request must be:

Undetermined debts

Where the customer has agreed to provide evidence for an undetermined debt:

  • from the Activity List (AL) screen ‘H’old the undetermined debt activity
  • update the Resubmit Date, see Table 4 on the Resources page in Requesting information (CLK) to determine the appropriate Resubmit Date
  • complete Fast Note - select Auto text, use Debts > General Use > 3rd Party Debt and attach to undetermined debt shell. See the Resources page for templates
  • issue customer a Q999 letter for Actioning 3rd party debts - Customer agrees to provide evidence
  • follow the Identity fraud procedure and only where appropriate:
    • ask the customer if they would like to speak to the Scams and Identity Theft Helpdesk (SAITH)
    • if the customer agrees, transfer the customer to SAITH
  • when the activity becomes due, go to Step 3

Determined debts

Where the customer has agreed to provide evidence for a determined debt:

  • pause recovery of the relevant determined debt for 6 months. See Step 7 and Step 8 in Temporary write off of Centrelink debts and in the Reason field, key ORA
  • complete Fast Note - select Auto text, use Debts > General Use > Dtmnd 3rd party debt EVD
  • issue customer the Actioning 3rd party debts - Customer agrees to provide evidence Q999 letter. See the Resources page for preferred text
  • follow the Identity fraud procedure and only where appropriate:
    • ask the customer if they would like to speak to the Scams and Identity Theft Helpdesk (SAITH)
    • if the customer agrees, transfer the customer to SAITH
  • when the activity becomes due, go to Step 3

Where the customer has not agreed to provide evidence for an undetermined or determined debt, tell the customer the debt will be raised on their record based on the existing evidence available. See Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS).

3

Activity becomes due or customer contacts

If the customer contacts before the activity becomes due to request an extension to provide the evidence, the activity will need to be held again.

Does the customer know when they can obtain the evidence by?

  • Yes, hold activity for (insert number of) days
  • No, hold activity for 14 days and advise the customer to contact us again if request a further extension if required

Annotate the 3rd Party Debt Fast Note with details of the contact.

If the activity becomes due and the customer has:

4

Customer provides evidence they did not receive payment

Customer contacts or uploads evidence that they did not receive the payment.

Staff who do not action debt(s)

If a customer contacts about providing evidence for a third party debt:

  • do not run the review/appeal script
  • transfer the customer to debt CXone Agent Workspace / Services Australia Workspace Transfer Queue: CLK Debt Raising

If a work item presents:

  • use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Debts > Debt Raising > Debt Raising ACTion DOC Request
  • include a description of evidence provided

Debt staff

Review the evidence provided to confirm:

  • it relates to the identified payment which has caused the debt
  • that the customer does not have legal access to the bank account where the payment was issued
  • the police report, if provided, includes the case number
  • a statutory declaration - if this the only evidence provided, review the customer’s record for coding that would support the customer’s claim that they do not own the account. For example, compare the original information provided by the financial institution to the:
    • address history (ADH) screen
    • banking history on Payment Destination (PA) screen
    • payment history on the Payment Summary (PS) screen

Does the evidence provided confirm the customer did not receive the benefit of the payment?

5

No evidence is provided

Check the 3rd Party Debt Fast Note to see if the customer requested an extension for providing the evidence.

If the activity becomes due and the customer has not provided evidence, raise the debt on the customer's record. See Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS).

Note: a customer can provide evidence to review the debt at any time, see First contact about a decision and the internal review process.

6

Evidence is insufficient

Three contact attempts to the customer’s primary number must be made to discuss the evidence.

If the customer is subscribed to Electronic Messaging (EM), staff must send a Pre-call notification SMS before each attempt.

Was contact with the customer successful?

Note: a customer can provide evidence to review the debt at any time, see First contact about a decision and the internal review process.