PayID delivers real-time cash
DO you have a PayID?
Whenever I ask, I usually receive a blank stare and then this response: “What’s a PayID?”
Well, it is actually handy and means you can do away with BSB and account numbers.
I registered for a PayID as soon as my bank allowed last year, but few people seem to know what it is.
For those in the dark, a PayID allows Australian banking customers to transfer money by just knowing a person’s mobile number, email address, ABN or organisation name.
So rather than having to dig up someone’s BSB and account number, you only need one of these details.
All you have to do is set up a PayID via your online banking login and Bob’s your uncle.
Link it to your mobile number or email address for example and then you can share this with people when they owe you money.
When you go to pay in your internet or phone banking you click on the PayID tab.
PayIDs were rolled out at the start of 2018 as part of the new payments platform, but about 18 months on only 3.5 million Australians have registered one. And only 10 per cent of transactions made nationally are done using a PayID.
One of the biggest problems was not all banks jumped on the NPP at the same time. Instead it has been a staggered rollout and some banks are still yet to join.
This loses the interest of people if it is not all done in one fell swoop.
Disaster struck recently when scammers successfully got their grubby mitts on the personal information of more than 90,000 Australians across dozens of institutions relating to their PayIDs.
Queensland-based credit union CUA was to blame for the breach that sent the NPP into a spin and all banking boffins into a state of panic.
Scammers managed to access customers’ PayIDs and their linked personal information, including phone numbers, customer names, BSB and account numbers.
Certainly not what the NPP or banks needed, particularly at a time when customers are wary enough tS iS of their financial institutions.
While no money has yet been reported as being lost through the scam, customers impacted by the data breach have been put on high alert.
It is another reason why technology is often frowned on by older generations.
But what the NPP has done is speed up our ability to get cash. Previously we had to wait days to receive money from someone else after making an electronic transfer.
It was a pain in the bum to say the least.
But the NPP has allowed transactions to be sQ made in real-time, allowing many of us to get our cash on the spot.
Hopefully more Australians will sign up to PayIDs and this recent disaster will not be repeated. Sophie Elsworth is a personal finance writer at News Corp.