Banking Details

Overview

Through this service, you can change or update the Banking Details as held by the Department of Social Security of how you receive your benefits. If you are currently receiving benefit payments by cheque, you must change your details to start receiving payments by direct deposit in a bank. If you are already receiving your payments by direct bank deposits, you may change both the bank as well as the account number (International Bank Account Number – IBAN).

You can also opt to receive a payment notification via SMS with the date when your benefit will be deposited. Through this service, you cannot change your banking details to start receiving cheque payments.

What you’ll get

With this service, you will have access to the following features:

Facility to update your banking details held with the Department of Social Security online.
Facility to change your payment method from a cheque to a direct credit into your bank account.
Facility to receive a payment notification via SMS to be informed when your benefit has been deposited.
By authenticating with your own e-ID, if you are registered with the Department of Social Security as an Agent or an Administrator, can change the banking details of the social security beneficiary that you are responsible for.

Eligibility

General eligibility criteria:

A person registered under the Social Security Act (Cap. 318.), can update his/her banking details held by the department of social security even though one is not a beneficiary to date.

Requirements

To use this service, you will need:

An active e-ID account issued the Maltese government agency Identità.

Additional Information

The indicated bank account must be a Savings or Current account, but not a Loan Account.
The indicated bank account must be in the name of the beneficiary, or in the name of the beneficiary’s administrator registered with the Department. If the indicated bank account does not match the name of the beneficiary, it is highly probable that the bank will reject the payment transaction.
If a person is presently not a beneficiary but is registered under the Social Security Act, banking details held by the department must still be updated and the indicated bank account must be in the name of the registered person.
The bank account details provided will be commonly used for all other benefits.
If a beneficiary has a garnishee order, he/she is to inform the preferred bank about the amendment to Article 381 of the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure (Cap. 12.), to have a bank account issued in the beneficiary’s name accordingly.
In accordance to Article 381(1)(b) of the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure ( Cap. 12.), it shall not be lawful to issue a garnishee order upon – any benefit, pension, allowance or assistance mentioned in the Social Security Act or a private pension or any other pension, benefit or allowance issued by the Government or other foreign government: Provided that in the case of private pensions and pensions issued by foreign governments the amount which is not subject to attachment shall not exceed the amount established for the highest pension issued by the Government.

When a Payment is not Received

If a deposit in the bank account is not finalised because of an incorrect account number or closure of an account, the claimant is to notify the Department of Social Security immediately online. The following procedure is to be adhered to:

The Department of Social Security will notify the Bank regarding the transaction.
The Bank carries out the necessary checks to specify the reason why the direct credit was not finalised.
If the transaction is cleared, an alternative Bank account number is to be provided by the beneficiary for payment to be processed.

This procedure normally takes from ten (10) to fifteen (15) days to be finalised.