Immediate methods of payment 003-10030000

‘Real time payment methods’ refers to the

• New Payments Platform (NPP)
• Same Day Direct Entry (SDDE)
• Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and
• Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card

Real time payment methods can be used in certain circumstances where a customer cannot wait the standard 1 or 2 business days for receipt of their payment. Staff should only consider/offer real time payment delivery where Operational Blueprint advises it is appropriate.

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

• Direct credit into their bank account (default option and can be changed if needed)
• Priority Direct Credit (PDC), including:
• New Payments Platform (NPP)
• Same Day Direct Entry (SDDE)
• Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS)
• Used for real time payment delivery to Farm Household Allowance and Status Resolution Support service customers via a dedicated guided procedure.
• Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card
• Customers without access to a suitable payment destination may be entitled to have their payment wholly or partially delivered via EBT
• EBT cards should only be issued with enough funds to meet a customer’s immediate needs and must not be used as an ongoing replacement to a valid payment destination
• Customers must present to a service centre to collect an EBT card
• For more information, see Real time payment delivery via Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card

Note: Rural Agency/Remote Area service centres do not have access to EBT cards. Due to the remote location of these sites, the method of payment is restricted to either direct credit, PDC or RTGS.

When issuing an immediate payment, the system will select direct credit as the default payment method.

In most circumstances, direct credit payments are delivered to the customer's bank account the following business day for payments made in the Newstart system, or in 2 business days for other payments.

PDC combines the New Payments Platform (NPP) and Same Day Direct Entry (SDDE) services as a single payment delivery method.

• NPP operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year including weekends and public holidays
• NPP payments are delivered to the customer in real time
• The customer's account must be enabled for NPP by their bank or financial institution ('NPP reachable') to receive payment via NPP
• SDDE operates Monday to Friday between 8:30am-4pm AEST, excluding national public holidays
• SDDE payments are generally delivered to the customer within a few hours
• Payments made outside of operating hours will be held until the following business day

PDC automatically determines whether to deliver the payment by NPP or SDDE.

• PDC will attempt to deliver payments via NPP wherever possible
• PDC will deliver the payment via SDDE if:
• the NPP service is not available (i.e., during an outage)
• the account is not NPP reachable
• the account is NPP reachable, and the payment fails to deliver
• The successful payment method will be displayed on the Payment Summary (PS) screen

RTGS is a priority direct credit payment method that facilitates the real time settlement of payments between financial institutions.

The RTGS service operates on weekdays between 8:00 am - 3:30 pm (New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria (Vic)), with payments settled every 15 minutes from 9:00am.

RTGS payments can take a few hours to appear in a customer's account after settlement. This depends on the size of the financial institution and their processing capabilities. Payments to smaller banks and credit unions may take up to 2 business days to be received into the customer's account.

RTGS payments are not processed:

• outside of operating hours, or
• on days Sydney and Melbourne are both observing public holidays (including national and concurrent local public holidays)

RTGS payments must be finalised in Customer First by 3:00pm to ensure inclusion in the final settlement of the day.

All fees, charges and processing timeframes applicable to RTGS payments are determined by the receiving financial institution, and are not controlled by, or available to, Services Australia. Customers need to negotiate any fees and charges directly with their financial institution.

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 must be made in multiples of $20 and $50, and are limited to:

• a minimum of $20
• 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.

Make sure the customer record is the correct one by asking authentication questions to verify Proof of Record Ownership (PORO) before 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 one 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.