Immediate payment by payment method Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card 003-10030020

Services Australia's preferred way to pay customers is into their bank account by the New Payments Platform (NPP), Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) or Direct Credit.

NPP enables immediate delivery of payments to customers. Customers will also have the flexibility to access the funds as they need, rather than withdrawing the full amount at an ATM in one transaction.

An EBT card should be issued only in limited circumstances.

The Resources page has a list of financial institutions that accept NPP payments.

EBT cards:

• must only be issued to customers to meet their immediate needs
• are issued for a minimum of $20
• are only payable in multiples of $20 or $50. To make sure the customer can withdraw the full amount from an ATM, do not pay amounts such as $10 or $30
• allow immediate access to cash via the ATM network

If the EBT card is lost, any funds withdrawn by a third party are not recoverable.

The following payments can be paid by EBT card:

• Urgent payments due to exceptional and unforeseen or extraordinary circumstances
• Urgent payments due to expenses associated with a funeral
• Urgent payments due to Centrelink delay
• Hardship advance or anticipated payment
• Crisis Payments

EBT cards are not available for Urgent payment requests by self-service channels.

Situations where an EBT card may be appropriate include:

• Priority direct credit is unavailable and payment by direct credit may increase the customer's hardship or will not meet their immediate need
• The customer is in the process of getting a bank account and does not have an alternative payment destination
• If a fee will be charged to receive the RTGS payment
• If the customer's bank account is overdrawn. Note: customers should still be able to access at least 90% of their income support payment when sent to an overdrawn account. See Protection of customer payments for more information
• If the customer has not previously had a regular payment into the account, do not use priority direct credit. For example, when reissuing a returned payment or if the customer advises of new account details. Note: this does not apply for crisis payments

Suitably skilled Service Officer(s) will:

• assess the customer's eligibility, including investigating alternative methods of payment and offering other assistance when appropriate
• verify customer circumstances if urgent payment is due to expenses associated with a funeral, and
• determine the amount and method of payment

Service Officers must tell customers to collect the card from a service centre by close of business on the same day if:

• an eligible urgent payment, hardship advance or anticipated payment is approved by a Smart Centre Service Officer, and
• an EBT card is determined as the best payment method

The system will not finalise the urgent payment request until the EBT card is activated.

Note: EBT cards are activated in person by attending a service centre. Customers must complete Proof of Record Ownership (PORO).

If the customer cannot get to a service centre that same day, the assessing Service Officer must use alternative methods of delivery, such as priority direct credit methods.

If a customer has a Managed Service Plan (MSP) in place:

• Services Officers must follow the servicing arrangements in the MSP
• Any decision to grant an immediate payment must be made in consultation with the customer's One Main Contact or Personalised Services officer
• If the customer is restricted from attending a service centre, staff must consider other payment methods (such as direct credit, NPP, RTGS or payment nominee) for any urgent payment

The system will regularly check for cards that have a balance of less than $20 from date of issue. On the 21st day after the activation of the EBT card, the system will:

• create a Manual Follow-up (MFU) for EBT cards with a balance of more than $20
• cancel cards with a balance less than $20

When the system cancels a card for a:

• current customer, the remaining balance is automatically reissued to the customer's default payment destination
• non-current customer, an MFU is created to prompt reissue of the card balance

The system automatically cancels EBT cards with a balance of $0.