Reissue a payment at a customer's request 103-04040010

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Question/ Issue

1

Customer has nominee arrangement in place

• If a nominee arrangement is in place, the customer has the right to interact with Services Australia about their payment, however the existence of a nominee arrangement is an indicator that care must be taken when assessing the customer's request. Contacting the nominee before making a decision about the request is considered appropriate to make sure that all care and consideration is given to the welfare of the customer
• A correspondence nominee may request a payment to be reissued on the customer's behalf but the payment must be made to the customer
• A payment nominee cannot request a payment to be reissued on the customer's behalf. This request must be made by the customer
• If approved, the payment must be reissued to the same person the regular payment is made to. Therefore, if a payment nominee exists, the payment must be reissued to the nominee unless the nominee agrees for the payment to be made to the customer or a third party.
  Note: a nominee is not entitled to be issued or collect an EBT card; however, an EBT can be issued to the customer if the nominee consents to this arrangement
• If a guardianship order is in place with the Protective Office/ Guardianship Authority (or other state based authority, for example, Public Trustee), the customer is legally unable to handle his or her own affairs. For this reason, the guardianship authority should be contacted about the request for a payment to be reissued. The existence of this type of nominee arrangement will display on the Nominee Relationship Summary (NORS) screen on the nominee's record as INV - involuntary (CRT or PAI)

Note: a third party who is not a nominee or a person with permission to enquire (PPE) only cannot request a payment to be reissued on the customer's behalf.

2

Customer is Under 18 dependent YA or ABSTUDY

• Dependent Youth Allowance (YA) or ABSTUDY customers under 18 years of age, who have their regular payments directed to their parents, may qualify for a payment reissue, but the payment must be made to the parent unless the parent directs otherwise
• A parent cannot request a payment to be reissued on behalf of their dependent child, unless the parent is the customer's correspondence nominee. A parent is not entitled to be issued or collect an EBT card

3

Customer is paid via a Group payment schedule

• Group schedule arrangements occur when the customer lives in residential care, or when a public trustee is managing the customer's affairs. Contacting the organisation's administrator before making a decision about the request is considered appropriate to make sure that all care and consideration is given to the welfare of the customer. If the customer is paid to the public trustee, payments cannot be redirected to the customer without prior approval of the trust officer
• The payment must be made via the organisation unless the organisation's administrator directs otherwise
• The replacement payment issued via the schedule can only be issued to the institution nominated on Entitlement Period End Day (EPED) B, a payment issued on any other EPED will fail to deliver. See Group payment schedules and payments to organisations. If the payment is required by the organisation sooner the payment maybe issued as a manual cheque
• An administrator cannot request a replacement payment on behalf of the customer, unless the administrator is the customer's correspondence nominee

4

Customer has a Permission to Enquire (PPE) recorded

A third party who only has Permission to Enquire (PPE) cannot request a payment to be reissued on the customer's behalf.

5

Payment made to a joint bank account and withdrawn by ex-partner

As the customer had legal access to the account, despite that, they may have preferred the payment to be delivered to another account, the agency has met its payment obligations. The customer would not be entitled to have the payment reissued.

6

What is Legal Access?

A customer has legal access to a bank account when they are a signatory to the account, that is, the account is in the customer's name whether singularly or jointly with someone else and the customer is legally able to withdraw funds (regardless of if the account is open or closed). Legal access does not include situations where the customer has access to someone else's account because they have been given the access card and PIN number.

7

Does a payment have to be returned before it can be reissued to the customer?

The original payment does not need to be returned before it is reissued if it has been verified the customer does not have legal access to the account or the customer will not be placed in severe financial hardship due to the delay. The customer must be advised they will have a debt if they receive the original payment and it is not returned to the agency by the financial institution.

If the payment destination details were correct, but the payment has not been received, the customer is to be referred to the financial institution to have the matter resolved.

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Question

1

If there has been a delay receiving an NPP payment?

NPP payments are delivered in real time only if both the customer’s Bank/State/Branch (BSB) number and nominated account has been NPP-enabled.

There should be no delay in a customer receiving an NPP payment. If the funds have not been credited to the customer's account and the customer confirms the account details are correct, the NPP may be unavailable. In this instance, RTGS will be presented as the next preferred payment option.

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Question

1

If there has been a delay in receiving RTGS payment?

Customers are to be advised that the RTGS payment will be delivered by close of business on the day the payment was processed (9 am the next day for some credit unions). Some financial institutions may make the funds available sooner.

If the funds have not been credited to the customer's account, contact the financial institution to determine when the funds will be made available in the account the payment has been made to.

An RTGS payment (that has not been returned) requires approval from the ICT Service Desk before being reissued. Doing so without prior approval may result in the customer being paid twice for the same period.

Reporting delay

The delay in the payment being received or a fee being charged must be reported using mySupport - select the mySupport webform according to the payment type the customer is receiving (for example, if payment type is JobSeeker Payment select the 'JobSeeker Payment (JSP)' webform).

Complete all required details on the mySupport webform.

2

When was the urgent payment processed, time and date?

• If an RTGS outage has occurred a description of the problem, environments or financial institutions affected and the estimated time it will be fixed (if known) will be published as a Newsflash
• Payments processed between 8 am and 9 am will be bundled together and sent to the RBA at 9 am (Sydney/Canberra/Melbourne time)
• Some financial institutions and some types of savings account use a manual process to clear and credit the customer's account. This manual process may result in payments only being processed three times a day or processed at the institutions close of business on the day the payment was issued
• If the RTGS payment has been selected for QOLing, it is vital that it is checked and finalised immediately as a delay may result in it not making the cut-off time (3:30 pm Sydney/Canberra/Melbourne time). If this occurs the payment will be sent to the RBA at 9 am the next morning
• Local public holidays where the financial institution processing centre is located may result in the payment not being processed on the same day
  Note: this would only affect small institutions, as large institutions are able to move the work to another location to clear and credit the customer's account. Information about local public holidays will be published as Operational Messaging - daily update

3

Has the customer checked the account since 9 am the following business day?

The RBA has advised that RTGS payments will be delivered by close of business on the day the payment was processed, if the payment is processed by 3.30 pm (NSW and VIC time), (9 am Sydney time the next day for some credit unions and building societies):

• If the payment missed the 3:30 pm Sydney time cut-off due to QOLing or there was a break in communications between the agency and the RBA the RTGS payment will be processed at 9 am the next business day. Communication problems will be published as a Newsflash
• If the financial institution received the payment but failed to process it by close of business, the payment will be credited to the customer's account at 9 am the next business day

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Question

1

What financial institution was the payment made to?

The NPP payment option will be presented, if the customer’s Bank/State/Branch (BSB) number has been NPP reachable. However, in order for the payment to be successful, the customer’s nominated account must also be able to use the NPP.

If payment cannot be made via the NPP due to the customer’s nominated account not being enabled to use the NPP, or the service itself is unavailable, an error message will display. Tell the customer to speak with their financial institution about the NPP for more information.

Unlike RTGS payments, crediting of the saving account will not be delayed if it is attached to a Visa or MasterCard, or debit card as NPP payments are made in real time.

2

Was the account overdrawn when the NPP payment was made to it?

When an account is overdrawn (even if it is only by a few cents), it no longer behaves like a savings account and requires manual intervention by the financial institution's staff for the funds to be credited to the account. The customer must attend the branch and arrange to have the debt finalised.

3

Was the payment destination changed on the same day the NPP payment was processed?

An NPP payment can be made into an account the customer has a history of using to receive their regular Centrelink payments.

4

Is the customer the 'actual' account holder of the account?

It is important to check with the customer that they are 'actually' the account holders and they are not:

• using a friend's account, or
• known by a different name by the financial institution. For example, account is in maiden name

5

What did the financial institution advise?

Often a financial institution will provide more information and assistance to a Service Officer than the customer, particularly smaller institutions. Often the matter can simply be resolved with a phone call. The payment will be clearly marked with the reference 'Centrelink Emergency'.

6

Has the payment been recorded as RTN (Returned) by the financial institution on the PS screen?

If the transaction has failed or the payment has been returned by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) or the financial institution, it will appear as RTN on the Payment Summary (PS) screen. Follow process in Immediate payment by payment method New Payment Platform (NPP).

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Question

1

What financial institution was the payment made to?

Some financial institutions and some types of savings account use a manual process to clear and credit the customer's account. This manual process may result in payments only being processed three times a day or all processed at the institutions close of business on the day the payment was processed.

For this reason, customers are to be advised the payment will be delivered by close of business on the day the payment was processed (next day for some credit unions and building societies), if the payment is processed by 3.30 pm (NSW and VIC time). Some financial institutions may make the funds available sooner.

2

If a passbook is attached to the savings account?

If the customer has a passbook account, they are required to attend the branch to have the passbook updated. Until this has occurred, the customer will not be able to access the funds.

The customer should be given the option to choose another payment method before the urgent payment process is finalised.

3

Was the account overdrawn when the RTGS payment was made to it?

When an account is overdrawn (even if it is only by a few cents), it no longer behaves like a savings account and requires manual intervention by the financial institution's staff for the funds to be credited to the account. The customer must attend the branch and arrange to have the debt finalised.

If a customer contacts about their income support payment or Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) payment being used to repay an overdrawn account, see Protection of customer payments.

4

Was the payment destination changed on the same day the RTGS payment was processed?

An RTGS payment is only to be made into an account the customer has a history of using to receive their regular Centrelink payments.

If the payment destination was changed on the same day the RTGS payment was issued and the RTGS payment has not been received in the bank account on the Payment Summary (PS) screen:

• Check the BSB, account number and name is correct
• If correct, the customer should check the old bank account

5

Is the customer the 'actual' account holder of the account?

It is important to check with the customer that they are 'actually' the account holders and they are not:

• using a friend's account, or
• known by a different name by the financial institution. For example, account is in maiden name

The account holders and the customer name are checked before the payment is credited to the account. If a mismatch has occurred, the payment maybe delayed while it is manually checked or the payment may be returned depending on the financial institution's internal process.

6

Has the payment been recorded as RTN (Returned) by the financial institution on the PS screen?

• If the transaction has failed or the payment has been returned by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) or the financial institution, it will appear as RTN on the payment summary screen. Follow process in Immediate payment by payment method Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS).
• For Child Care Subsidy (CCS) payments, check the Payment List in workspace. Returned payments have a Returns Reason in the text field. CCS payments will automatically reissue once the customer's bank account details have been updated.