The CRN is a unique 2–20-digit number that appears on every customer bill. You use the CRN to identify the account or bill to be paid, without providing any personal information about the customer.

You can use CRNs like account numbers, putting the same CRN on every bill you send an individual customer. Or you can use them like invoice numbers, putting a different CRN on each individual bill. We call that a variable CRN, which can be used to track individual transactions for a customer that may receive multiple bills from you within a billing period.

You can even use an Intelligent CRN (iCRN) that ensures customers are only able to pay the exact amount you have specified, or by a particular date you have specified, or both. See What is an Intelligent Customer Reference Number iCRN (below)  and how do I set it up? for more information. All CRNs also include a ‘check digit’ validation (below) to ensure that your customers can’t enter the wrong details.

The check digit is a special number (or numbers) used in BPAY CRNs, calculated from the other digits in the CRN.

It ensures your customers don’t enter the wrong numbers, or transpose the digits when they are making their BPAY payment. So you can be confident that the bill they paid is the one they meant to pay.

Your bank can help with implementing a check digit routine.

iCRN stands for Intelligent Customer Reference Number.

You can use it to set the amount the customer is allowed to pay, or the date the bill must be paid by, or both.

iCRN may be useful for businesses like insurers that do not wish to be bound by a contract unless they receive an agreed amount on time, or where there is a requirement for a specific payment to be made in full or by a specified date, such as a fine or vehicle registration.

Your bank can help you set up iCRN for your bills.

No, your CRNs can be whatever length you need, up to a maximum of 20 digits. Remember though – the shorter the CRN, the easier it will be for your customers to enter.

BPAY View is a bill presentment and payment service that makes it easy for your customers to pay, with convenient and secure payments direct from their online or mobile banking.

With BPAY View, your customers will receive their bills in their online or mobile bank, with the option to pay straight away or schedule payment for later. BPAY View is supported by over 45 banks around Australia.

BPAY View gives your customers a secure, easy way to view, pay and store bills and statements, directly in their online or mobile banking.

They can schedule payments, get reminded on the due date*, and never miss a payment again.

Here’s a summary of how your customers can benefit from BPAY View:

• Easy access. Customers whose banks offer BPAY VIEW can access their bills anytime and from anywhere on their online or mobile bank.
• Convenience. Customers can view and pay multiple bills from multiple billers all from the one location, making it faster and easier to pay.
• Choice. Your customers can choose to use any payment method you allow, including BPAY.
• Organisation. Bills can be viewed, paid and stored in one electronic location — no more filing required.

*Process may vary between banks.

• Use BPAY View to send bills and statements online to your customers’ banking app in bulk – so you save time.
• Deliver bills straight to your customers’ banking platform – so they’re right where they need to be.
• Help your customers to pay on time, with electronic reminders.
• Get paid faster, with cleared funds in your account on the next Banking Business Day (a day where Sydney and Melbourne banks can settle funds).
• Drive traffic to your website by putting links to special offers in your bills.

When your customers view their bills on BPAY View, they can choose to pay them with any of the payment methods you allow — it doesn’t have to be by BPAY.

However, if they do pay by BPAY directly from BPAY View, the Biller Code and Customer Reference Number are automatically filled in and the customer can pay in one click*, making it faster and even more convenient to pay.

*process may vary between banks.

Just sign up as a BPAY View biller with your bank. Then, when you’re ready, send your bill data to BPAY or your Bill Service Provider. We’ll send bills and statements straight to your customers’ online bank, where they can then view the bill and pay.

To become a BPAY View biller, first contact your bank.

We’ll work with you, your bank and your Bill Service Provider to help test and implement your BPAY View system.

BPAY View may be used together with your proprietary bill presentment option, such as direct to consumer emails.

When your customers receive their summary bill from their online banking, they can click through to see the detailed bill, driving extra traffic to your site. In this way, you can use your bills to increase customer engagement, or create an effective and targeted sales and marketing tool.

Because BPAY View is a service delivered through your Bank, they set fees for BPAY View.

We’ll work with you and your bank to make sure BPAY View is the right solution for your business and help you implement it smoothly.

To start the conversation, please contact your bank.

When you send out a bill, it needs to have the BPAY logo, and your BPAY View Registration Number. Your customers will need to register to receive your bills and invoices via BPAY View.

See the BPAY Brand Guidelines for more information on adding BPAY details to your bill.

To get the most from this service and to help your customers get the most from BPAY View, we also suggest additional promotion to increase awareness of your BPAY View Services.

Our marketing team can help you with ideas and opportunities to inform your customers about your BPAY View service — please contact us on our Marketing Support Page to discuss your options.

You can also find some standard flyers about BPAY View on our Marketing Support Page. You can use this as a basis for your own marketing materials, or simply add your business logo to ours.

BPAY View can help reduce your business’ impact on the environment by switching off your paper bills.

Bill Service Providers support BPAY Billers and Member Financial Institutions at multiple points in the BPAY process, including technical certification for BPAY View, software integration, billing and receivables managements, and bill printing.

The following Bill Service Provider organisations have successfully obtained BPAY View Certification for current BPAY View Billers:

• Computershare
• Forms Express
• Fuji Xerox
• IQ mail
• Lane Print and Post
• Payreq
• PML
• Zipform

For further information and details on using a Bill Service Provider, you should contact your bank and obtain a copy of the relevant documentation

Your customer will receive a notification of a new bill from their bank (either in their online or mobile banking, or by email, or both).

When they log into their internet or mobile banking, they can view a bill summary in the BPAY View section, which includes information like the biller, payment amount and due date. Clicking on a link in the bill summary will take them to a more detailed bill that is hosted on your website (or the Bill Service Provider’s site), which can look exactly like a paper bill.

Just like your paper bills, your electronic bills need to include the relevant BPAY details. That way your customer has the information they need to pay your bill with BPAY.

You’ll need to include a payment methods section, with a section for the BPAY logo, Biller Code and Customer Reference Number (CRN). Here’s an example:

If you offer BPAY View, those details need to appear on the electronic bill as well.

See the BPAY Brand Guidelines for more information on adding BPAY details to your bill.

You can view real-time updates on any planned or unplanned outages affecting BPAY Group APIs via our API Status page. You can also subscribe to get email notifications whenever BPAY Group APIs creates, updates or resolves an incident.

If your customer makes a mistake, advise them to contact their bank.
The bank can assist if they have:

• paid too much
• used the wrong Biller Code or Customer Reference Number
• accidentally paid the same bill twice.

Here are the five types of error corrections and their causes:

1. Mistaken payments — your customer makes a mistake when paying you with BPAY.
2. Unauthorised payments — access to your customer’s online, mobile or phone bank is compromised by fraud.
3. Reversals — a system error has occurred.
4. Payment traces — a customer makes a payment, but you don’t receive it.
5. Biller-initiated error correction — you receive a payment, but you don’t know who it’s from, or the customer made a mistaken payment.

There are simple procedures for processing these errors that involve both you and your bank. You’ll need to contact your bank to find out what to do.

Check the time the payment was made — if your cut-off time was missed or the payment was made on a weekend or public holiday, it won’t go through until the next Banking Business Day, a day when Sydney and Melbourne banks can settle funds.

The BPAY brand guidelines aim to provide guidance as to how the BPAY and BPAY View logos and word marks need to appear in various mediums. If you have any questions about BPAY branding, please contact BPAY Marketing.

Note: If you have not updated your bill since 2012, please refer to our new brand guidelines.