What is the difference between direct credits and direct debits?
A direct credit is where a third party electronically deposits money into your account as per your authority. For example, you may provide authority to your employer to deposit your salary into your account or you may provide authority to Telstra to deposit your share dividends into your account. The benefit of direct credits is that funds can be accessed as soon as they are received into your account. If the payment was received by cheque, in most instances, you will have to wait for the funds to be cleared before being able to access them. A direct debit is where you give authority to a third party to withdraw funds from your accounts when a payment is due. For example you may give your insurance company authority to withdraw your premium amount from your account when it becomes due. Direct debits eliminate the need for you to physically make the payment by cash, cheque or BPAY each time it becomes due as you authorise the third party to automatically debit your account whenever your
