SASSA warns a brand-new bank account can bounce your grant back
The agency says accounts that are not fully activated and verified can have payments rejected, leaving recipients without money until it is sorted out.
Moving a SASSA grant to a brand-new bank account can leave a recipient without money, the South African Social Security Agency has warned.
The agency raised the problem while urging grant recipients not to change their payment methods and banking details more often than they need to. As The South African reported on 7 October, a grant payment can bounce back before it ever reaches the person it belongs to.
The reason is not always a mistake by SASSA. Opening a bank account does not mean the account is ready to receive money. Some accounts still need further activation or verification by the bank before they work fully.
SASSA warned that new accounts which have not been fully activated and verified by the bank can result in payments being rejected and returned. When that happens, the recipient has no access to the grant until the matter is resolved, a process that can take time and may require a visit to a SASSA office or the bank.
A single wrong digit can cause the same outcome. SASSA said errors in the banking information recipients provide can also lead to rejected payments.
The agency’s concern about how those details are captured is easy to understand for anyone who has queued at a pay point. Recipients often submit new details in a hurry, sometimes in crowded offices or with help from someone else, and mistakes in account numbers, branch codes or account holder names slip through.
Frequent changes to banking details put grant payments at risk and can cause avoidable delays, SASSA said.
For a household that depends on the money for food, transport or school costs, a returned payment is not an administrative inconvenience. It is a gap with no date attached to it. The grant is often the only regular income in the home, and a rejected payment lands at the bank and at SASSA at the same time, which means the recipient is the one who has to join the two ends back together.
The agency’s advice to recipients who are switching is specific. Confirm with the bank first that the new account is fully active. Check every detail on the form before submitting it. And keep the old account open until the grant reaches the new one, so there is no window in which the money has nowhere to land.
SASSA encourages recipients to keep stable banking arrangements and to change accounts only when it is necessary. A stable account, the agency said, helps a recipient build a reliable banking history and makes formal financial services easier to access.
The agency said it remains committed to the integrity of the social grants system and to paying the right grants only to eligible beneficiaries.
Source: The South African, Why opening a new bank account could leave your SASSA grant in limbo
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