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

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Question/ Issue

1

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 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

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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.

2

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.

3

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

4

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 are 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’s 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.