[Linda Fury]

Hi There

I have had a call this morning from one of our local solicitors advising that they are implementing electronic settlements that will (hopefully) include the payments as well.

The Solicitor had suggested that the payments come directly through to Council’s bank accounts with a particular reference that will then mean the Bank Rec Officer will then have to deal with these payments.

My thought would be to supply them with the BPay reference on the 603 so payments can be made directly that way rather than having more work placed onto Council officers.

Has anyone else been approached about this and if so how are you handling it??

Is it something that as a collective we all tell the solicitors the same information and methods of payment??

Can anyone offer any suggestions??

It all sounds rather “new” at the moment – so if we can get to something together it would be helpful.

[Ken Bakon]

Hi Linda,
I like the BPAY reference on the 603 certificate suggestion.
Would these solicitors concerned consider using this payment method?

Something for the State Exec to take up I think

Ken

[Pete Timmins]

Hi Linda,

We were also advised by one of our local solicitors about this change. Like you we would only consider the BPay option.

Pete

[John Towers]

FYI.

In July 2011 I attended a meeting with Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) & various other interested/affected parties regarding the future of cheques.

Included in the meeting were representatives of various charitable groups, community organisations, LGNSW, Law Society, government departments & other bodies that had a significant reliance of accepting payments by or making payments via cheque.

There was much discussion & some groups were in favor of reducing a reliance on cheques however others were strongly against such a move. I don’t need to go into the pros & cons.

However, the major stumbling block to reducing a reliance on cheques was the Law Society particularly regarding solicitor’s trust funds (STF’s). At that time ALL transactions via STF’s were required to be via Cheque, there was no other option, & I believe that to still be the case. The possibility of a company/personal credit card being used & then reimbursed we were told was not legal & outside the legislation. This is why solicitors still apply for certificates etc by cheque or they utilise a search company & make a monthly payment to that company.

I have looked at the APCA website & whilst there is discussion regarding changing payment methods, nothing has happened at this time & will not happen prior to 2017. Also in looking at their timetable I noted that they have struggled to meet the deadlines placed on the various stages of the process, so I’m guessing that 2017 will be too soon as well.

In order for payments to be made by solicitors by methods other than cheque there will need to be legislation amended & I am not aware of anything being suggested in regard to this.

As for putting Bpay codes etc on 603’s, my question is would this be legal? The certificate is a legal document & what is to be shown on it is legislated. I know in NSC’s case we do not have the necessary real estate available on the document. It is I believe a decision for each Council to make taking into account their various circumstances.

As for payment directly in the Council bank account, I know that NSC would not allow this to happen. I’m sure you have all found, once an organisation gets access to the number all manner of payments start appearing & Council has great difficulty in reconciling the account. Further, it is not an accepted method of payment at any Council that I am aware of. If you are going to allow settlement payments to be paid directly into Councils account would you also allow large corporations to do the same thing?

Just some thoughts.

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