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Immediate methods of payment 003-10030000

Priority Direct Credit (PDC) frequently asked questions

Table1

Item	Description
1	How much can be issued by PDC? Although PDC payments can be processed up to $3,000, the amount paid should be limited to the minimum amount required to satisfy the customer’s immediate hardship need. This is in accordance with existing policy for each payment type. Note: urgent payments have their own payment limits. For urgent payments due to: a minimum of $20 exceptional and unforeseen or extraordinary circumstances are limited to $200 (this is early payment of fortnightly entitlement) Centrelink delay the limit is $1,000
2	Why does the Immediate Payment workflow/IPPRE screen display ‘Real Time Gross Settlement’ instead of ‘Same Day Direct Entry’? Until recently, Services Australia used Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) as the default Priority Direct Credit option where NPP was not available/appropriate. Same Day Direct Entry (SDDE) has replaced RTGS. Naming updates will be applied to Customer First/Customer record at the soonest opportunity.
3	Why is NPP/SDDE not showing as a method of payment option in the workflow? The Immediate Payments requests workflow will only display NPP as a method of payment if: NPP is available, that is, there is no system outage Payment via NPP has not been attempted previously that day the payment is an eligible payment delivered in the ISIS system The workflow will only offer SDDE (displayed as RTGS) if NPP is unavailable. Eligible payments are: Immediate payments Emergency payments: Disaster Recover Allowance (DRA) Disaster Recovery Allowance for New Zealand Special Category (subclass 444) visa holders (NZ DRA) Australian Victim of Terrorism Overseas Payment (AVTOP) One-off Income Management payments: Restricted Direct Payments (RDP) Unrestricted Cash Payments (UCP) Note: while eligible for payment via Priority Direct Credit; the immediate payment workflow is not to be used to deliver the following payments: Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payments (AGDRP) Disaster Recovery Payment for New Zealand Special Category (subclass 444) visa holders (NZ DRP) AGDRP and NZ DRP payments will automatically issue via Priority Direct Credit once approved Crisis Payments Crisis Payments must be manually reissued via Priority Direct Credit. See Real time payment delivery to Centrelink customers
4	Why are SDDE hours of operation limited to 8:00 am to 3:30 pm (New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria (Vic) time)? SDDE is operated by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The hours of operation are set by the RBA and make sure that the payments issued by Same Day Direct Entry (SDDE) are delivered on the same day they are processed.
5	If it is close to the SDDE closing time, should an alternative method of payment be used? If an NPP payment fails and redelivers as SDDE before the 3:30 pm closing time, it should still be received by the customer same day. SDDE will still be available as a secondary PDC payment method after 3:30 pm (NSW and VIC time), but the payment will not be issued until the next business day. If the payment delivers via SDDE after closing time, an EBT card could be considered, but the customer would need to present at a service centre to collect the card before end of day.
6	Can a PDC payment be made to a Payment Nominee or parent? Yes, PDC payments can be made to Payment Nominee or parent's (of an under 18 dependent Youth Allowance or ABSTUDY customer) existing payment destination bank account, and is preferred to an EBT card.
7	Can a PDC payment be made to a customer who has a Payment Nominee arrangement or payments are being made to a parent? No, a PDC payment can only be paid to the Payment Nominee or parent's existing payment destination bank account. If the Payment Nominee or parent approves an alternative method of payment to be paid to the customer, the reason 'Payment nominee or parent approved alternative payment method' is to be recorded in the Immediate Payment workflow and an alternative method of payment is to be used, such as an EBT card.
8	If I change the payment destination, can I then issue the urgent payment by PDC? Except for Crisis Payments, AGDRP and NZ DRP, a PDC payment is only to be made to an account where the customer has a history of receiving their regular Centrelink payments. If the customer requests to change their payment destination, this is to be done as a separate activity. When the urgent payment assessment has been completed, the reason 'New payment destination account' is to be recorded in the Immediate Payment workflow and an alternative method of payment is to be used, that is, Direct Credit or an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card.
9	NPP payment does not appear within 30 minutes This may occur where there is a delay in the banking network. The payment will show as successfully delivered on the Payment Summary (PS) screen but has timed out from being delivered. In these instances, an automatic notification will have been sent to the ICT Service Desk, who will reissue the payment to the customer as soon as possible.

Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) frequently asked questions

Table 2

Item	Description
1	Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) RTGS is a payment mechanism that enables funds to be delivered to a customer's account (if it is RTGS enabled) within the business day, or by 9 am the next business day, rather than the standard 1 to 2 business days offered by traditional direct credit. The hours of operation of the RTGS service are based on New South Wales (NSW)/Victorian (VIC) local time Staff outside of NSW/VIC must consider any time differences when considering RTGS payments. e.g., for staff in Western Australia, the RTGS hours of operation are: 06:00am - 1:30pm when NSW/VIC are using Australian Eastern Standards Time (AEST) 05:00am - 12:30pm when NSW/VIC are using Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) RTGS is not available on weekends, or on any day that both Sydney and Melbourne are observing a public holiday. The RBA has advised that RTGS payments directed to some credit union and building society accounts: will not be available until 9:00 am the next business day, and may have processing fees and charges applied by the financial institution Before issuing a payment via RTGS, staff should check with the customer if their account is held with a credit union or building society. If concerned about timeframes or fees and charges, customers should be given the option to speak with their Financial institution before proceeding. Staff are to ensure customers understand that: Their payment should be delivered by close of business, but for some smaller credit unions and building societies it may not be delivered until the next business day, Some financial institutions apply fees or charges to RTGS payment processing, and Services Australia has no visibility or control over financial institution timeframes, fees or charges.
2	Does 'real time’ mean instantly? Why does it take hours for the payment to be delivered? Settlement in 'real time' means the payment transaction is not subjected to the traditional direct credit 1 and 2 business day waiting period. 'Gross settlement' means the transaction is settled on a one-to-one basis without being included with any other transactions. Once processed, payments are final and irrevocable. The time taken for a financial institution to credit an RTGS payment to the customer's account may vary depending on the size of the financial institution and their processing capabilities, and the destination account (e.g., the services attached to the account, or whether it is overdrawn).
3	What payments can be paid via RTGS? Only certain payments to Farm Household Allowance and Status Resolution Support Service customers can be paid via RTGS. See Real time payments to Farm Household Allowance (FHA) and Status Resolution Support Service (SRSS) customers for a full list.
4	How much can be issued via RTGS? FHA payments issued via RTGS are subjected to standard system limits where: FHA payment has been granted or restored, and the first payment exceeds system limits. If a payment amount above system limits is entered in the guided procedure, it will: reject with no warning or error messaging, and require ICT intervention before it can be reissued In all other cases, the amount paid via RTGS should be limited to the minimum amount needed to satisfy the customer's immediate hardship need. This is in accordance with existing policy for each payment type. Note: Urgent payments have their own payment limits. For Urgent payments due to: exceptional and unforeseen or extraordinary circumstances, the limit is $200 (this is early payment of fortnightly entitlement) Centrelink delay, the limit is $1,000
5	Can a payment be delivered via RTGS to a payment nominee? RTGS payments: Can be made to the payment nominee of a Farm Household Allowance (FHA) customer Can not be made directly to an FHA customer if there is an active payment nominee arrangement Nominee arrangements are not available to Status Resolution Support Service (SRSS) customers.
6	Can a payment be delivered via RTGS to a passbook account? If the customer has a passbook account, they need to contact their financial institution to have the passbook updated. Until this has occurred, the customer will not be able to access the funds.

General frequently asked questions

Table 3

Item	Description
1	Does the customer need to attend a service centre to be paid via real time payment methods? Customers do not need to attend a service centre for payments via PDC or RTGS, but will need to attend in person to collect EBT cards.
2	Can service centre Service Officers issue real time payments or is it just limited to smart centre staff? Yes, service centre and smart centre telephony Service Officers can issue real time payments.
3	Delays in receiving payment See Request the return of a payment made to an incorrect recipient.
4	Overdrawn bank accounts When an account is overdrawn, even if only by a few cents, it requires manual intervention by the financial institution for the funds to be credited to the account. The customer may need to contact the financial institution and make a repayment agreement with them before the funds are credited to their account. If the account is overdrawn, the customer must decide if they wish to have the payment made this way. The customer should be advised that: the Financial Institution may withhold some or all the overdrawn amount from the payment that there may be a delay in the payment being deposited into their account that Services Australia has no visibility or control over the Financial Institution’s decision Payment amounts should never be increased to compensate for potential withholding. If the customer does not want the payment into the account because it is overdrawn, the reason 'Customer's account overdrawn' is to be recorded in the Immediate Payment workflow and an alternative method of payment is to be used, such as an EBT card. If a payment has been made to an account that the customer has legal access to, but withheld by the financial institution, the agency has met its payment delivery obligation and the customer is not entitled to have the payment reissued. For more information see Protection of customer payments.
5	Closed bank accounts If the payment is made to a closed bank account the payment will be returned and should be reissued. The 'RTN' or 'REJ' code may not appear on the customer's Payment Summary (PS) screen immediately. For more information see Reissue a payment at a customer’s request
6	Incorrect recipients If the payment is made to an incorrect recipient's account the payment is to be recalled and should be reissued. If the customer does have legal access to the account, Services Australia has met its payment obligation, and they are not entitled to have the money reissued. If the customer does not have legal access to the account, the funds are to be recalled and reissued to the customer. For more information, see Request the return of a payment made to an incorrect recipient.