BasicsCard balance or transaction summary enquiry 103-01230030

If not already done, confirm the customer's identification before proceeding with interview. See Authenticating a Centrelink customer and use the Centrelink customer authentication quick guide. Note: there is no requirement to sight or photocopy customer identity documentation.

Promote the use of voiceprints for phone self-service.

If an income managed customer has a payment nominee, the BasicsCard will be issued to the payment nominee on behalf of the customer.

If it is the payment nominee contacting, ensure that the BasicsCard was issued to the payment nominee. Check that the payment nominee arrangement exists and the payment nominee's identity.

Tell the customer/payment nominee of the BasicsCard Balance Enquiry line (Freecall) in case they wish to use this for future enquiries.

The BasicsCard Balance Enquiry Line is an automated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) line for BasicsCard balances only. Customers cannot be transferred to a Service Officer from this facility.

A recorded message advises customers that if they require any other Income Management business they must call the Income Management Line.

See the Resources page for a link to the Income Management Line and BasicsCard Balance Enquiry Line numbers on the Phone us page on the Services Australia website.

To view the BasicsCard status including balance and card number:

• In Customer First > Workspace > Income Management and under the BasicsCard heading, select BasicsCard Summary, go to Step 4
• To access manually, see Step 1 in Table 2
• If Customer First is unavailable use BasicsCard Alternative interface, see Step 4 in Table 2
• If all other options are unavailable, the BasicsCard Contingency Support System may be activated. See Step 6 in Table 2

The following is displayed on the BasicsCard Summary page:

BasicsCard details

• Current Card Number
• Name on card
• Card status
• Expiry Date
• Card balance remaining $
• Daily spend remaining $
• Allocation Method

Income Management account

• IM available balance $
• IM current balance

BasicsCard Regular Expenses

• Category
• Next delivery date
• End date
• Amount $
• Frequency

BasicsCard card limits

• Daily spend limit $
• Maximum card balance $

Tell the customer their card balance, daily spend remaining and card status.

Customer/payment nominee can consent to vary the daily spend limit to an amount between $20 - $1,500. The maximum card balance can be varied to an amount between $100 - $3,000.

The default limits are $1,500 for daily spend and $3,000 for the maximum card balance.

Does the customer/payment nominee want to change the daily spend limit or maximum card balance of their BasicsCard?

• Yes, see BasicsCard changing daily spend, maximum card balance limits and allocation method
• No,
• and the customer requires further transaction details, go to Step 6
• and no further details are requested, procedure ends here

Access the Transaction Summary screen. This can be located under Workspace > Income Management > BasicsCard > Transaction summary. Note: a transaction summary can be printed from this screen.

The transaction history for successful and/or declined transactions display can be refined by selecting the option of:

• Today's Transactions
• Last 30 Days, or
• by entering the specific dates needed in the Transactions - From Date: and To Date: fields

Transactions that have 'Centrelink' in the Merchant Name: field will indicate transactions between the Income Management account and the BasicsCard account.

• Positive (+) transactions will indicate funds transferred to the BasicsCard from the Income Management Account
• Negative (-) transactions will indicate funds recalled from the BasicsCard to the Income Management Account

If necessary, discuss with the customer/payment nominee the transaction history.

If the customer/payment nominee disputes the balance or the transaction summary, see BasicsCard dispute resolution.

If requested by the customer/payment nominee, print a copy of the transaction summary.

The Income Management Summary screen allows Service Officers view all customer information relating to Income Management in one place. Including how a customer’s Income Support Payment (ISP) is split. For more information see: Income Management Summary Screen

Additionally, to view the payment split on the Payment Summary screen, navigate to the PS in Customer First. (S)elect the payment to view:

IncMgmt is the portion that is allocated for Income Management.

Net is the payment that will be allocated to the unrestricted account.

Important: payments from the GPY payment system on the PS are paid from the Income Management account by the following payment methods:

• BasicsCard transfers
• IM one off and regular expenses
• Restricted Direct Payments
• Unrestricted Cash Payments
• Disbursements

Customer/payment nominee can consent and request to change the allocation method for funds transferring to the BasicsCard.

The default method customers will be on is the residual payment method. Customer/payment nominee can opt-out of this method and go onto the partial payment method.

Does the customer/payment nominee want to change allocation method of their BasicsCard?

• Yes, see BasicsCard changing daily spend, maximum card balance limits and allocation method
• No, procedure ends here

Within Customer First:

• locate the customer's record via the Customer Reference Number (CRN) or using the Name Search (IN) screen
• go to the BasicsCard task selector (BCTS) screen and 's'elect Balance Enquiry
• the BasicsCard Balance Enquiry (BCBE) screen will present and will show the following:
• Current Card Number
• Expiry Date
• Date and Time
• Card Balance
• Daily Available Amount Remaining
• Card Status

Note: the BCBE/BCDBE screen can be printed if there is a need.

Does the customer/payment nominee require some transaction summary information?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, no further action is required. Procedure ends here

Go to the Transaction Summary (BCTR) screen. The BCTR screen can also be selected from the BCTS screen. A transaction summary can be viewed and printed via the BCTR screen.

The Transaction History for successful and/or declined transactions display can be refined by selecting the option of:

• Today's Transactions
• Last 30 Days, or
• by entering the specific dates needed in the Transactions - From Date: and To Date: fields

Transactions that have 'Centrelink' in the Merchant Name: field will indicate transactions between the Income Management account and the BasicsCard account.

• Positive (+) transactions will indicate funds transferred to the BasicsCard from the Income Management Account
• Negative (-) transactions will indicate funds recalled from the BasicsCard to the Income Management Account

If necessary, discuss with the customer/payment nominee the transaction history.

If the customer/payment nominee disputes the balance or the transaction summary, see BasicsCard dispute resolution.

If requested by the customer/payment nominee, print a copy of the transaction summary.

Procedure ends here.

From the Account or Card Search page:

• Select the 'Search by Card No' and enter the 16 Digit BasicsCard Number. Press 'Search'
• The 'Transaction History' screen will display card balance, transactions and status
• If the customer requires a Transaction History statement, this can be printed from this screen

The Service Officer will not be able to DOC the customer's record in the BasicsCard Alternative Interface. Manually record the details of contact for a DOC to be updated on the customer's record when Centrelink system is available.

Procedure ends here.

The BasicsCard Contingency Support system allows access to limited functions for BasicsCard when the Centrelink system and BasicsCard Alternative Interface are not operational.

Check the Network News Update (NNU) page for advice regarding any BasicsCard outages and to confirm if the BCSS has been activated.

The BasicsCard Contingency Support System will allow the following functions:

• display current BasicsCard status
• obtain BasicsCard balance
• obtain Income Management account balance
• suspend, reactivate or unblock a BasicsCard
• change/reset a BasicsCard Personal Identification Number (PIN)

The BasicsCard Contingency Support System will automatically update details of any transactions completed when systems are restored.

To access the contingency system, use the link in Resources to the login page for the BasicsCard Contingency Support System. Note: add this address to 'Favourites' for future use.

See the Resources page for links to the training presentation available on the BasicsCard and TPO Management team homepage.