PayTo FAQs
Here are some commonly asked questions by our merchants.
Here are some commonly asked questions by our merchants.
PayTo is an easy way to authorise and control payments from your bank account. PayTo can be used in several ways. A couple of examples are; a digital alternative to direct debit, and allowing you to pay directly from your bank account where you previously needed a card (like for in-app purchases and online shopping).
PayTo is an easy, secure payment option giving you more control over payments from your bank account.
You can see your PayTo agreements in your internet or mobile banking app, so you’ll know when payments will be debited from your account. You can pause, cancel and make certain changes to agreements there too.
PayTo also allows you to use your bank account directly for payments that previously needed a card. So now you just need your PayID, or BSB and account number – no need to remember card details and expiry dates!
PayTo was developed by New Payments Platform Australia [NPPA] — part of Australian Payments Plus [AP+] — in collaboration with the industry. It is a service offered by Australian banks, financial institutions and payment service providers like Zepto.
Very. When a PayTo agreement is created, the account is validated in real-time. And because PayTo payments have to be authorised from within the payer's online banking or app, there's the security that comes with bank-grade technology and safety. Businesses can be confident that the customer account is valid, and the customer has approved the PayTo agreement themselves.
Real-time notifications confirm whether the payment was settled or failed with granular reason codes (e.g. AM04 - The specified Payer Customer Account has insufficient funds).
Yes. While it's easy to describe it simply as digital, real-time direct debit for recurring payments, PayTo is much more than that.
PayTo payments can also be one-off or ad-hoc like in e-commerce or in-app contexts. Its always-on nature means PayTo can be a great way to improve the efficiency of outsourced functions like accounts payable and payroll — Zepto's partnership with OZEDI is a brilliant example of this. Interoperable with PEPPOL, PayTo can even support e-invoicing, reducing payment times and transforming procure-to-pay processes.
By design, whatever the use case, PayTo's pre-authorised payments are collected in real-time and funds are immediately settled in the recipient’s bank account.
Australians have been using PayID since 2018. Like PayTo, PayID was developed by New Payments Platform Australia [NPPA], part of Australian Payments Plus [AP+].
PayID lets users link easy-to-remember identifiers, such as their phone number or email address, to their bank accounts. It's a bit like giving a bank account a unique nickname. Users can then provide their PayID, instead of their BSB and account number, to people or organisations they wish to receive payments from in real-time.
An important benefit of PayID is the 'payee confirmation' step. The individual or business name associated with a PayID is shown to the payer so they can be sure their payment is going to the right person or business.
There are many differences between PayID and PayTo payments, but a simple place to start is to consider how each of these payments are initiated. PayID payments are 'push' payments initiated by a payer. Conversely, PayTo payments — like direct debit — are typically a 'pull' payment initiated by the payee. In this way, PayTo payments are collected from the payer's bank account.
And unlike PayID, more than simply being a way to label [or 'address'] bank accounts, PayTo is a completely new way for Australian consumers to pre-authorise real-time payments from their bank accounts. It is a major new pillar of Australia's payments infrastructure.
Yes. PayTo payments can be processed using either BSB & account number, or PayID [phone number, email, ABN or organisation identifier] details.
PayTo agreements contain the information and data required to support easy matching and reconciliation.
Notifications are generated when a PayTo agreement is paused, amended or cancelled, providing the insight needed to engage timely and maximise payment success.