Immediate methods of payment 003-10030000

This depends on the customer's circumstances and access to banking. The following immediate payment methods may be available to the customer:

• Direct credit into their bank account (default option and can changed if needed)
• New Payments Platform (NPP)
• Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS)
• Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card

Note: Rural Agency/Remote Area Service Centres do not have access to EBT cards.

Advance payments should only be issued by direct credit. This goes into the customer’s bank account within 2 working days. However, if the customer would be severely disadvantaged by any delay in accessing the payment, Priority Direct Credit (NPP or RTGS) may be used for the advance unless:

• the customer's Bank/State/Branch (BSB) number is not participating in the NPP
• the customer's individual account is not NPP-enabled
• a fee is charged to receive an RTGS payment
• RTGS is not available
• the customer's bank account is overdrawn
• the customer is advising a new account. At least 1 regular payment from Services Australia must have been paid into this account for it to be used for NPP and RTGS, except for emergency payments such as Crisis Payment and Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP)
• the customer has a passbook account, or
• an urgent payment is being made due to agency error or delay, and payment to a bank account cannot be made by NPP or in real time, increasing the delay

If direct credit and priority direct credit cannot be used, then payment by EBT card should be considered.

In most circumstances, a direct credit payment is delivered to the customer's bank account in 2 working days, other than for payments made in the Newstart system that are available the next working day.

If the customer needs the payment earlier than a direct credit, and their BSB number has been enabled for the NPP:

• RTGS will be disabled, and
• staff should present the NPP as the preferred payment option to the customer

However, in order for the payment to be successful, the customer’s nominated bank account must also be enabled to utilise the NPP.

Successful payments via the NPP will be delivered immediately to the customer 24 hours a day every day of the year including public holidays. This payment option will only be presented if the NPP is available.

If the customer needs the payment earlier than a direct credit and payment via the NPP is not available, RTGS should be offered as the next available option.

The RTGS facility is operated by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) out of New South Wales and Victoria.

The hours of operation for RTGS payment are weekdays 8:00 am - 3:30 pm (NSW and VIC time). The first payment run for each day is 9 am.

An urgent payment by RTGS will not be available on national or concurrent public holidays in Sydney and Melbourne or to bank accounts that are not RTGS enabled. In these cases, if the customer needs the payment immediately, issue it via an EBT card.

The Immediate Payment requests script will check if an account is RTGS enabled before displaying it as a method of payment option.

RTGS can be selected as a payment method after 3:30 pm (NSW and VIC time) but the payment will not issue until the next business day. Payments to the smaller banks and credit unions may take up to 2 working days to be go into the customer's account.

If the activity has been selected by Quality On Line (QOL), it must be checked straight away. If QOL is not completed and the RTGS activity released and received by the RBA before 3:30 pm (NSW and VIC time), the RTGS payment will not be delivered until the next business day.

An EBT card allows an immediate payment to be paid to the customer electronically via the use of an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) card. Payments via an EBT card are limited to:

• a maximum of $200 for an urgent payment (early payment of fortnightly entitlement), or
• a maximum of $1,000 if the delay is due to Centrelink error

An EBT card can be used at any ATM. EBT cards cannot be used at EFTPOS facilities. Any ATM fee charged will be met by Services Australia.

Rural Agency/Remote Area Service Centres do not have access to EBT cards. Customers must not be referred to these sites to collect a payment. Due to the remote location of these sites, the method of payment is restricted to either direct credit, NPP or RTGS.

Make sure the customer record is the correct one by asking authentication questions to verify Proof of Record Ownership (PORO) prior to assessing or issuing, an immediate payment. See Authenticating a Centrelink customer for a detailed process.

If the customer contacts in person, it is preferable they also provide at least 1 photo identity document for a comparison. If this is not available and the Service Officer doubts they are speaking with the customer, they must ask further authentication questions. These must not be limited to details the customer's friends and relatives know such as their date of birth or how many children are in the family. The questions must be searching, but must not be so personal as to be intrusive. If appropriate, explain to the customer why they are being asked these questions.

If the Service Officer doubts they are speaking to the customer, do not release information. Verbally deny the urgent payment application.