Easy BPAY FAQs (2024)

BPAYis Australia’s most widely used bill payment service which enables bill payers to transfer funds electronically from their bank accounts to billers. It is offered as a payment channel by over 170 financial institutions through their phone and Internet banking services.

Since BPAY’s launch in 1997, electronic bill payment in Australia has grown at a phenomenal rate. BPAYcan be used to pay over 16,000 different bills Australia wide and each month BPAYprocesses over 18 million individual payments.

Over the last couple of years there has been a substantial increase in the number of people who have access to internet banking which has resulted in a large increase in the number of people using BPAY. Now 76% of the Australian bill paying population use BPAY* with 85% of BPAYpayments being made via the internet.

*source: TNS Research Nov 2008

By offering BPAY, you can improve cash flow, decrease costs and reduce administration time.

Cleared funds are deposited directly into your account each banking business day. BPAYis also quick and easy for your customers. It allows your customers to pay a wide range of bills with just one phone call or the touch of a computer key, seven days a week, day or night, within the security of their banking environment.

BPAYoffers an efficient and user-friendly solution for receiving payments that provides significant cost and time benefits for not only you, but your customers too.

Using BPAYfor payment collection is simple:

• You send your customer an invoice displaying a BPAYlogo, your unique BPAYBiller Code and their Customer Reference Number (CRN).
• Your customer logs into their Internet banking site or dials their telephone banking number and follows the prompts to make a BPAYpayment.
• Your customer will be asked to provide your Biller Code, their Customer Reference Number and the amount they wish to pay.
• The customer’s financial institution validates the payment and gives the customer a receipt number.
• Your customer’s payment details are forwarded to your financial institution via BPAY.
• Westpac deposits funds into your bank account.

BPAYpayments are all made within the secure environment of your customer’s financial institution Internet banking site or telephone banking system. The only parties who are authorised to have access to information about BPAYpayments are, you the participating biller, and financial institutions. Additionally, BPAYdoes not receive any identifying personal or individual account details at any point during the payment process.

As BPAYis part of Internet banking, consumers are also protected by the Electronic Funds Transfer Code of Conduct (EFT Code). Thousands of Australians pay their bills with BPAYevery day using the Internet and phone banking services of over 170 financial institutions, building societies and credit unions.

As with all aspects of Internet or phone banking, it is vital that your customers protect information such as PINs or passwords.

BPAYis an enabler for better environmental outcomes - for both Australian consumers and businesses. By offering your customer the BPAYpayment option, not only do they save paper by not writing a cheque or using an envelope, but a phone or Internet payment system eliminates the need to transport the cheque from their mailbox to yours, saving energy and reducing pollution.

• Your customer’s payment details
• The Biller Code
• The customer reference number
• The amount to be paid
• Whether the payment was made over the phone or using the internet
• What type of account is being used (Bank account or Credit Card Account) and from what bank
• The date that the payment was made and when payment was settled.
• The system also applies coding to ensure that if there is any mistake, the customer’s financial institution is able to trace the payment.

BPAYdoes not receive any identifying personal or individual account details at any point during the payment process.