Actioning broken regular/irregular cash arrangements 107-05040010

Broken recovery arrangements are allocated by Workload Manager in Customer First:

• select Inbox from the left hand menu
• change the selection in the Agent Inbox drop down menu to Work Management
• select Ready for work if there are no activities in the inbox that need action

If a Single Touch Payroll (STP) Display On Access (DOA) DOC appears when accessing the customer record, and the Broken Arrangement work item is allocated to non STP Recovery trained staff, see Step 2 in Table 1 of Single Touch Payroll debt recovery data match.

Use the Debt Recovery Script to action a broken arrangement:

For active (outbound) recovery, go to Step 3.

Go to the Payment Arrangement List (OPAL) screen. The most recent current or broken arrangements will show at the top.

Is the broken arrangement an irregular arrangement (IRR BKN)?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 6

Does the customer have an arrangement in place other than the IRR BKN?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 8

Check the Document List (DL) and the Income and Asset Task Selections (ITS).

Does the record indicate the customer has capacity to pay the IRR payment?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 14

Check the customer's record for a history of broken arrangements. Review these screens:

• Payment Arrangement List (OPAL) for previous arrangements made to avoid other recovery action
• Repayment History (OPRH) for customer payments as per their agreed arrangement.
• Repayment Schedule (OPRS) for repayments already missed
• Document List (DL) for broken arrangements without unforeseen events or financial hardship
• Key Dates (OPKD) for letters issued
• Income and Assets (ITS) for capacity to pay the debt in full

Has the customer continued to make payments (according to their arrangement) since missing a payment?

• Yes, go to Step 13
• No, go to Step 7

If the customer has a poor payment history, consider different payment methods. For example, if a payment method breaks more than once, it may not be suitable to use this method again. An option may be a direct debit arrangement for when the customer's wage is paid.

Go to Step 8.

When actioning broken arrangement activities assigned via WLM, customer contact is required. Make reasonable effort to contact the customer by phone.

If leaving messages, see Safeguarding customer privacy when raising and recovering debts.

Was contact with the customer successful?

• Yes, go to Step 9
• No, go to Step 14

Safeguard the customer's privacy before discussing the reason for the call.

Discuss:

• the reason why the customer did not make the payment
• the customer’s capacity to pay
• if the payment method is suitable
• the customer’s willingness to pay the outstanding amount
• the customer’s payment history

Has the customer missed paying, or paid less because of an unforeseen event or financial hardship?

• Yes, go to Step 10
• No, go to Step 14

Consider whether the customer is experiencing vulnerability based on the reasons provided.

Offer additional support services if appropriate, such as;

• Payment and Service Finder
• Referral to external support services

If the customer advises they are experiencing vulnerability, such as family and domestic violence or self-harm, consider a Short-Term Hardship (STH) temporary write off. See Identifying customer vulnerability and risk issues and/or Family and domestic violence.

Is the customer experiencing vulnerability?

• Yes, offer to apply a STH temporary write off. If the customer:
• accepts, see Temporary write off of Centrelink debts. Document the initial amount offered and reason for the decision
• declines, go to Step 11
• No, go to Step 11

Tell the customer that to negotiate their repayment to the amount offered, more details are required about their circumstances.

The aim is to negotiate an amount that recovers the debt in the shortest time possible, without placing the customer in hardship.

Note: non-current customers may have unknown sources of income and the income and asset information held on record may not be correct.

Capture as much detail as possible about the customer’s financial circumstances to ensure the amount accepted reflects their capacity to pay. Household income and expenses should be considered when a customer and partner are living together,

The customer may have already provided this information earlier in the call. If further details are needed, some suggested questions to ask are:

• ‘To help us decide the most appropriate arrangement, I need to understand a little more about your current circumstances. Can you tell me more about what’s happening at the moment?’
• ‘Is there anything else impacting your ability to make repayments?’
• ‘Has anything happened recently to make it harder for you to make repayments?’
• ‘Can you give me an idea of what kind of income and expenses you have?’
• ‘How long might you need this assistance for?’

Actively listen to the customer and acknowledge the customer’s circumstances and responses provided.

Strategic Debt Recovery staff only:

• a further assessment of the customer’s financial circumstances may be required to verify the customer’s true capacity to repay the debt if:
• there is reason to believe the customer has a higher capacity to repay, or
• there is doubt about their circumstances

See Financial circumstance assessment for debt recovery.

Does the customer have the capacity to maintain a suitable arrangement?

• Yes, for:
• BKN CSH, go to Step 13
• BKN IRR, go to Step 14
• No, defer payments. See Temporary write off of Centrelink debts. Document the initial amount offered and reason for the decision

If there is contact with the customer, ensure they continue to make payments according to their arrangement and advise them:

• the payment can be missed
• it is important to contact if they cannot pay by the due date
• of the recovery actions that may take place under the cost effectiveness guidelines

If there is no contact with the customer, coding a missed payment can reset the arrangement status from BKN to CUR allowing the customer to continue the existing arrangement.

See Updating payment arrangement schedule and code the missed payment, go to Step 16.

Procedure ends here.

Use the Debt Recovery Script to action a broken arrangement, where possible.

If the script is unavailable, manually end the arrangement:

• on the Activity List (AL) screen:
• 'S'elect the DMN/RCV broken activity
• press [Enter]
• on the Payment Arrangement List (OPAL):
• 'S'elect the CSH BKN or IRR BKN arrangement
• press [Enter]
• key 'T' for today in the Cease date field on either the:
• Regular Cash Payments (OPRC) screen, or
• Irregular Cash payments (OPIC) screen
• Press [Enter]
• the cash arrangement will show on OPAL as CSH CAN

Is another arrangement needed?

• Yes. If customer contact has been made, see Arranging cash repayments to recover debts. If customer contact has not been made and the debt value is:
• over $1,500, a no arrangement (NOARR) activity will generate after 1 day. Procedure ends here
• under $1,500 go to Step 15

• No, go to Step 16

When a broken arrangement is ceased for debts under $1,500 a no arrangement (NOARR) activity will not generate.

Staff must make a reasonable effort to contact the customer.

Was customer contact successful?

• Yes, see Arranging cash repayments to recover debts
• No, staff must:
• DOC the attempt using the Unsuccessful Engagement Fast Note
• send a 'Request client to contact office by phone' (Q164) letter
• DOC the record and include the address to which the letter was sent to

Procedure ends here.

When an arrangement has been ceased, record a DOC with the following detail:

• in Ext Detail: Recovery: IRR/CSH Arr Ceased
• in the Txt field, record:
• CRN balance
• Debt Id’s
• date/s of payment/s that were not made
• reason for ceasing arrangement: for example, unable to contact customer
• specific details of warnings of other recovery action
• any relevant details of the discussion if the customer was contacted
• close the DOC

When a payment has been missed, record a DOC with the following details:

• in Ext Detail: Recovery: Missed payments
• in the Txt field, record:
• CRN balance
• Debt Id’s
• date/s of payments that were missed to bring payment back to a CUR arrangement
• reason for missing payment. For example, customer has continued to make payments as per agreed arrangement
• specific details of warnings of other recovery action
• any relevant details of the discussion if the customer was contacted
• close the DOC