the partner, if the customer is a member of a couple
the customer, if the request is submitted by their nominee. If the customer is partnered, the partner must also provide consent to the nominee request

See Home Equity Access Scheme consent for more details.

If the advance request is submitted online, an online task creates for the customer and/or partner to provide their consent. If consent is not provided within 21 days:

the advance request automatically cancels unless it has already been allocated to a staff member for processing.
and the request has already been allocated to a staff member, or the request for consent was issued manually (for example, via the Request for Information letter), the advance request will reject

Home Equity Access Scheme National team must code ineligible reason = AVW on the Home Equity Access Scheme Advance (HEASADV) screen

Calculation examples

This table provides examples of how HEAS advance payments are calculated, and the impact (if any) on fortnightly loan payments.

The examples are based on the maximum pension rates applicable as at 1 July 2022. These amounts may not be current.

See Rates and thresholds, for current rates.

Table 2

Example	Description
Key definitions and formula	Maximum Pension Rate (MPR) The maximum pension rate used for HEAS advance payments is the sum per annum (p/a) of the: Maximum basic rate Pension Supplement components Energy Supplement, and Rent Assistance (if the customer gets RA) The customer's marital status is used to determine the applicable MPR. The customer's MPR can be viewed on the Pension Rate Calculation (PRC) screen. Actual Rate The customer's Actual Rate is the amount of pension payable per fortnight (p/f) after application of the income and asset tests. The customer's actual rate can be viewed on the Pension Rate Calculation (PRC) screen. Maximum available advance amount The available advance payment amount is calculated by: dividing the customer's annual Maximum Pension Rate (MPR) by 2 (that is, to work out 50% of the MPR), then deduct the sum of all advance payment amounts received in the last 26 fortnights (including and prior to the calculation date) The customer's available advance amount can be viewed on the Home Equity Access Scheme Advance (HEASADV) screen in Process Direct. Maximum rate for fortnightly loan payments (max HEAS rate) The most a customer can receive as a fortnightly loan payment is calculated as follows: 150% of the MPR p/f (that is, 1.5 times the Maximum Pension Rate per fortnight), minus any of the following: direct deduction income advance payment deductions Impact of advance payment on fortnightly loan rate The amount of advance paid to a customer will reduce the maximum fortnightly loan rate. The reduction is calculated by: dividing the advance payment amount by 26, and deducting the amount from the maximum available fortnightly amount The reduction: will not cause a customer's maximum fortnightly loan amount to go below their maximum pension rate. This allows customers to use the loan to top-up to their maximum pension rate to the maximum fortnightly loan rate may not impact the customer's actual fortnightly loan rate is calculated and displayed on the HEASADV screen when the requested advance amount is coded
Customer 1, single: reduced pension rate requests the maximum advance elects 150% of MPR has requested maximum advance which is 50% of MPR advance payment $12,838.80 fortnightly payment: $987.60 Age Pension $800 LON $187.60	Age Pension Maximum Pension Rate (MPR) = $987.60 per fortnight (p/f) Age Pension actual rate (after the application of the income and assets (I&A) tests) = $800 Maximum loan rate p/f = $1,481.40 (MPR x 1.5) Maximum Advance amount $12,838.80 (MPR x 26 x 50%) Fortnightly deduction from Max HEAS rate for advance paid $493.80 (advance paid / 26) Fortnightly LON component (max) = $187.60 (Max HEAS rate - actual rate - fortnightly deduction for advance) ($1,481.80 - $800 - $493.80)
Customer 2, single: with maximum pension payment requests the maximum advance elects 150% of MPR has requested maximum advance which is 50% of MPR advance payment $12,838.80 fortnightly payment: $987.60 Age Pension $987.60 LON $0	Age Pension MPR = $987.60 Age Pension actual rate = $987.60 Max HEAS rate = $1,481.40 (MPR x 1.5) Max Advance amount $12,838.80 (MPR x 26 x 50%) Fortnightly deduction from Max HEAS rate for advance paid $493.80 (advance paid / 26) Fortnightly LON component (max) = $0 (Max HEAS rate - actual rate - fortnightly deduction for advance) ($1,481.80 - $987.60 - $493.80)
Customer 3, single: no pension payable (HEAS only customer) requests the maximum advance and a fortnightly HEAS loan of $800 requested maximum advance which is 50% of MPR advance payment $12,838.80 fortnightly loan payment requested: $80 maximum loan payment available $987.60 Age Pension $0 LON $800	Age Pension MPR = $987.60 Age Pension actual rate (after I&A tests) = $0 Max HEAS rate = $1,481.40 (MPR x 1.5) Max Advance amount $12,838.80 (MPR x 26 x 50%) Fortnightly deduction from Max HEAS rate for advance paid $493.80 (advance paid / 26) Fortnightly LON component (max) = $987.60 (Max HEAS rate - actual rate - fortnightly deduction for advance) ($1,481.80 - $0.00 - $493.80) Note: customer will get $800 per fortnight of LON only, as this is less than the maximum fortnightly loan available of $987.60
Customer 4, partnered: with a reduced pension payment rate (I&A test) elects 150% of MPR	Age Pension MPR = $744.40 Age Pension actual rate (after I&A tests) = $400 Max HEAS rate = $1,116.60 (MPR x 1.5) Fortnightly LON component (max) = $716.60 (Max HEAS rate - actual rate) ($1,116.60 - $400)
Customer 5, partnered: with a reduced pension payment rate (I&A test) requests the maximum advance elects 150% of MPR has requested maximum advance which is 50% of MPR advance payment $9,677.20 fortnightly payment: $744.40 Age Pension $400 LON $344.40	Age Pension MPR = $744.40 Age Pension actual rate (after I&A tests) = $400 Max HEAS rate = $1,116.60 (MPR x 1.5) Advance amount paid $9,677.20 (MPR x 26 x 50%) Fortnightly deduction from Max HEAS rate for advance paid $372.20 (advance paid / 26) Fortnightly LON component (max) = $344.40 (Max HEAS rate - actual rate - fortnightly deduction for advance - actual pension payment) ($1,116.60 - $400 - $372.20)
Customer 6, partnered: with a maximum pension payment rate requests the maximum advance elects 150% of MPR has requested maximum advance which is 50% of MPR advance payment $9677.20 fortnightly payment: $744.40 Age Pension $744.40 LON $0	Age Pension MPR = $744.40 Age Pension actual rate = $744.40 Max HEAS rate = $1,116.60 (MPR x 1.5) Advance amount paid = $9,677.20 (MPR x 26 x 50%) Fortnightly deduction from Max HEAS rate for advance paid $372.20 (advance paid / 26) Fortnightly LON component (max) = $0 (Max HEAS rate - actual rate - fortnightly deduction for advance) ($1,116.60 - $744.40 - $372.20)
Customer 7, partnered: with no pension payable (HEAS only customer) requests the maximum advance elects fixed HEAS rate of $400 requested maximum advance which is 50% of MPR advance payment $9677.20 fortnightly payment: $400 Age Pension $0 LON $400	Age Pension MPR = $744.40 Age Pension actual rate = $0 Max HEAS rate = $1,116.60 (MPR x 1.5) Advance amount paid $9,677.20 (MPR x 26 x 50%) Fortnightly deduction from Max HEAS rate for advance paid $372.20 (advance paid / 26) Fortnightly LON component (max) = $744.40 (Max HEAS rate - actual rate - fortnightly deduction for advance) ($1,116.60 - $0 - $372.20) Note: customer will get $400 per fortnight of LON only, as this is less than the maximum fortnightly loan available of $744.40.
Customer 8, partnered: with no pension payable (HEAS only customer) requests the maximum advance elects 120% rate of fortnightly payment has requested maximum advance which is 50% of MPR advance payment $9677.20 fortnightly payment: 120% of MPR = $893.28 Age Pension $0 LON $744.40	Age Pension MPR = $744.40 Age Pension actual rate = $0 Max HEAS rate = $1,116.60 (MPR x 1.5) Advance paid $9,677.20 (MPR x 26 x 50%) Fortnightly deduction from Max HEAS rate for advance paid $372.20 (advance / 26) Fortnightly LON component (max) = $744.40 (Max HEAS rate - actual rate - fortnightly deduction for advance) ($1,116.60 - $0 - $372.20) Note: customer will get $744.40 per fortnight of LON only, as this is the maximum fortnightly loan available of $744.40. That is, once the deduction of $372.20 for the advance payment is included.
Customer 9, partnered: no pension payable (HEAS only customer) requests partial advance elects 120% rate of fortnightly payment has requested advance but as they would like to retain fortnightly payment of 120% of MPR, customer would be entitled to 30% of MPR as an advance advance payment (30% of MPR) $5806.32 fortnightly payment: 120% of MPR = $893.28 Age Pension $0 LON $893.28	Age Pension MPR = $744.40 Age Pension actual rate = $0 Max HEAS rate = $1,116.60 (MPR x 1.5) Advance amount $5,806.32 (MPR x 26 x 30%) Fortnightly deduction from Max HEAS rate for advance paid $223.32 (advance paid / 26) Fortnightly LON component (max) = $893.28 (Max HEAS rate - actual rate - fortnightly deduction for advance) ($1,116.60 - $0 - $223.32) Note: customer will get $893.28 per fortnight of LON only as requested.
Advance request where customer nominated a Maximum loan amount (MLA) less than the system generated MLA	The customer is partnered maximum Advance Payment that can be requested is $10,747.10 Customer advised a Maximum Loan Amount of $20,000 Current balance is $12,000 Customer will have $8,000 available to request as an Advance Payment

HEAS advance payment via online services - Date of effect examples

Table 3: this table contains examples of a HEAS customer completing an Online Service request for a HEAS advance payment.

Examples	Description
1	1 January 2024 Customer Action: 1 January 2024, HEAS customer uses their HEAS Online Service to request a HEAS advance payment HEAS Online Service: Determines the customer's request for a HEAS advance payment needs an assessment by a Complex Assessment Officer (CAO) and straight through processing is not likely Workload Management: Creates and prioritises a work item and is automatically transferred to the CAO workload management queue
2	5 January 2024 CAO: Selects prioritised HEAS advance payment work item to determine the HEAS assessment needed, including: A Request further information (RFI) from the customer Approve advance payment, or Reject advance payment
3	5 January 2024 CAO: determines more information is needed: sends RFI to customer places work item on hold until 20 January 2024
4	19 January 2024 Customer: HEAS customer returned RFI and is digitally scanned to the HEAS customers Document Tools in Customer First.
5	20 January 2024 CAO: selects the held work item selects the RFI in the customer's Document Tools assesses the requested HEAS advance information Records the outcome in the HEAS Advance screens in: Process Direct (HEASADV), or Customer First (HEAA), and Corrects the Date of Event (DOE) to 20 January 2024, the day the activity is completed

HEAS advance payment via SA497 form - Date of effect examples

Table 4: this table contains examples of a HEAS customer completing a Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS) - variation (SA497) form to their local service centre for a request for a HEAS advance payment.

Examples	Description
1	1 January 2024 Customer: 1 January 2024, HEAS customer returns Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS) variation (SA497) form to their local service centre to request a HEAS advance payment Service Officer: digitally scans SA497 to the customers record Workload Management: Creates and prioritises a work item and is automatically transferred to the CAO workload management queue
2	5 January 2024 Complex Assessment Officer (CAO): Selects prioritised HEAS advance payment work item to determine the HEAS assessment required including: A Request further information (RFI) from the customer Approve advance payment, or Reject advance payment
3	5 January 2024 CAO: determines more information is needed: sends RFI to customer places work item on hold until 20 January 2024
4	19 January 2024 Customer: HEAS customer returned RFI and is digitally scanned to the HEAS customers Document Tools in Customer First.
5	20 January 2024 CAO: selects the held work item selects the RFI in the customer's Document Tools assesses the requested HEAS advance information Records the outcome in the HEAS Advance screens in: Process Direct (HEASADV), or Customer First (HEAA), and Corrects the Date of Event (DOE) to 20 January 2024, the day the activity is completed

Operational Information

Advance payments for Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS) loans 065-22051321

Forms

Contact details

Services Australia website

Documents required for HEAS advance requests

Calculation examples

HEAS advance payment via online services - Date of effect examples

HEAS advance payment via SA497 form - Date of effect examples