Changes to cash and cheque services

What you need to know

We understand that access to cash is important for many Australians, which is why Macquarie customers can continue to withdraw cash from more than 24,000 ATMs across Australia as normal.

We will also pay for any fees customers may be charged when withdrawing cash from ATMs in Australia with their Macquarie debit card^.

Macquarie customers can also make cash withdrawals at the point of sale with their Macquarie debit cards from more than 3,000 participating retail outlets across Australia, including at popular stores like Woolworths, Big W, BP, Caltex and participating IGA stores.

^{^}We don’t charge fees to use ATMs overseas, however clients may be charged a fee by international ATM operators.

What’s changed?

We don’t have a traditional branch network but we used to provide limited cash and cheque services at three Macquarie locations. These services were used by less than 0.1% of our customers, and we have been communicating with them to ensure they have alternative arrangements.

From Monday 20 May 2024, we stopped offering cash and cheque services in these locations. This means that you will not be able to:

deposit or collect cheques at a Macquarie office
deposit cash at a Macquarie office
order new chequebooks.

From Friday 1 November 2024, you will not be able to:

write or deposit personal cheques
deposit or request bank cheques
deposit cash or cheques at NAB branches
make a super contribution or payment via cheque.

Please note any cheques received after Thursday 31 October 2024 will be returned to the sender.

What you need to do

Macquarie customers can continue to withdraw cash from more than 24,000 ATMs across Australia as normal. We also pay for any fees customers may be charged when withdrawing cash from ATMs in Australia, with their Macquarie debit card.
Start using Macquarie Online Banking or the Macquarie Mobile Banking app to make digital payments securely. View the steps below or view digital payments guide for more information.
If you have an adviser, we encourage you to speak to them about making digital payments on your behalf.
If you receive payments (including dividends) by cheque from your share registry or other third-parties, you’ll need to update your bank details with them to receive these digitally.

Getting started with online banking is easy

For security purposes, we need to record your mobile number before you can start transacting online. Once your mobile number is recorded, you’ll be able to authorise transactions and other account activity such as logins and updates to account details. If you need to update your mobile number, simply give us a call and we’ll update it with you over the phone.

Follow these steps to register for Macquarie Online Banking: 

go to macquarie.com.au and select ‘Log in’, then select Macquarie Online
from the login page you can select ‘New to internet banking? Register now’ to register with your Macquarie ID and mobile number.

If you’ve forgotten your login details, you can click on the ‘Forgot log in details?’ to reset your Macquarie ID or password.

Each time you want to log into online banking, simply enter your Macquarie ID and password. We recommend keeping these details handy. However, for privacy and security purposes, it’s important to keep your login information confidential.

Download Macquarie Authenticator

Macquarie Authenticator is an enhanced verification system which is more secure than SMS. If you’ve downloaded the Macquarie Authenticator app you’ll start to receive notifications to your phone to approve or deny account transactions.

Making an online withdrawal

Once you’re logged into Macquarie Online Banking (following the steps above), simply select Pay and then click on Make a payment to process a withdrawal from your account.  

You can also make withdrawals and more via the Macquarie Mobile Banking app. Learn more about Macquarie Mobile Banking.

Digital ways you can pay

Digital payment options and how they work

Digital payment options vary from bank to bank. When someone is making a payment to you from another bank, they’ll need to confirm your account number, BSB and account name (which is generally your full name) to make a digital payment from their bank.

Once they’ve confirmed your account details, they can choose a payment method. Here are some common digital payment options and how they work.

BPAY:

BPAY stands for bill payment; it’s a way of paying your bills online
To make a BPAY payment, you’ll need to confirm the recipient’s biller code and customer reference number.

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT):

Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is the transfer of funds from one bank account to another
To make an EFT, you can simply enter the recipient’s BSB, account number and account name
EFT is most commonly used for one off payments.

Direct Debit:

A Direct Debit is an automatic transaction which transfers money from one account to another
People use a Direct Debit to pay regular bills such as your monthly phone bill or gym membership
Setting up a Direct Debit means you don’t need to do anything once the payment is set up; the funds will automatically come out of your account. You can also cancel a Direct Debit at any time.

PayID:

With PayID, you can pay to a recipient’s bank account quickly and securely by entering their mobile phone number, email, ABN or organisation identifier, instead of their bank details.
It’s important to note that PayID can only be used if the recipient has PayID set up.

Common types of payments

Here are some of the common types of transactions you might be making today, and how you can make them digitally.

I want to:	You can this digitally using:
Pay a bill	BPAY^®, Direct Debit or EFT
Send money to a friend, colleague or family member	EFT or PayID
Deposit money into my account	EFT, Direct Debit or PayID
Make payment by personal or bank cheque	BPAY^®, EFT, or Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS)
Pay my home loan	Direct Debit or via salary credit or EFT
Pay my car loan	Direct Debit, EFT or BPAY^®, depending on your car loan product
Pay my credit card	BPAY^®, or Direct Debit
Make a contribution	SuperStream, BPAY^®, Direct Debit or EFT (note, options available are to super accounts only and depend on the contribution type).
Receive an income stream payment or make a lump sum withdrawal	EFT
Receive dividend payments	Contact your registry to update your bank account details to receive payments electronically/digitally
Receive payments from third parties (e.g. ATO)	Contact your third-party provider to update your bank account details to receive payments electronically/digitally

Additional information

Processing super contributions and cheques

We’re aware that certain super contributions can currently only be processed via cheque. Where we are able, we’re solving for these scenarios and expect to have an option before November 2024.

Processing dividends

If you receive dividends via cheque, we encourage you to contact the share registries and update your bank account details so they can deposit dividends digitally.

Processing government-issued cheques

You should contact government organisations directly and update your bank account detail to receive payments digitally.

Processing cheque payments from third parties

You should contact third parties who pay via cheque directly and update your bank accounts with them so they can start paying you digitally.

New customers

If you open a Macquarie account between Monday 20 May 2024 to Thursday 31 October 2024, you can still deposit cash at NAB branches and/or cheques or ask for bank cheques. However, we’d encourage you to use alternate digital options as these services will be unavailable from Friday 1 November 2024.

Business Banking changes

What you need to know

In case you missed it, we’re phasing out our cash and cheque services for all business banking accounts.

To prepare for this change, your payers, clients, and other businesses you work with will need to start transacting digitally - a safer, quicker, and more convenient way to bank.

We’re removing our cash and cheque facilities in a phased approach. Here’s a list of what’s already changed, and what’s coming next.

What’s changed?

You will not be able to:

make DEFT payments over the phone.
access over the counter services at Macquarie offices
deposit or collect cheques at a Macquarie office
order new chequebooks
write or deposit personal or company cheques
deposit or request bank cheques
deposit cash or cheques over the counter at NAB branches
DEFT will no longer accept mail-in cheques (via the Locked Bag service), however cheques will continue to be accepted in-store at Australia Post if you provide payers with a barcode.

Please note any cheques received after Thursday 31 October 2024 will be returned to the sender.

What you need to do

Start using Macquarie Business Online to make payments securely.
Update your bank account details with your suppliers and anyone else who pays you, so they can pay you digitally.
If your payers, clients, and other businesses you work with aren’t set up to pay you digitally, please prompt them to get started now.
If you receive payments by cheque from other third-parties, you’ll need to update your bank details with them to receive these digitally.
Check with your software provider when your invoice/levy templates will be updated. If you mention DEFT on your website or in email templates/flyers you’ve created for payers, ensure you remove any references to mail-in cheques.

Here is some extra information to help you with these changes:

View the DEFT digital payments guide for more information about how to payments via DEFT, you can share the DEFT digital payments guide with your payers too.
Update your invoices and levy notices: to ensure your payers know about the change, you’ll need to remove the phone payment and mail-in cheque methods on any invoices and levy notices that include DEFT payment instructions.
Find out which DEFT payers pay by cheque: You can view your DEFT payers in Macquarie Business Online under your transaction history. Look for mail-in cheque transactions with ‘DEFT Chq’ in the description, followed by the payer’s DEFT reference number.

All DEFT-integrated software providers know about our transition to completely digital payments, so they’ll be able to support you with making these updates.

Your relationship manager can also give you a list of DEFT reference numbers for which cheque and phone payments have been received recently.

Why are we removing cash and cheques?

As a digital bank, we’re committed to transitioning to completely digital payments, and continuing to ensure our customers and businesses can access secure and reliable digital payment options.

Digital banking is a safe, quick, and more convenient way to transact because you can view and track transactions and other account activity in real-time. When you make payments via cash or cheque, you also run the risk of it being stolen or lost in the mail.

Digital ways for businesses to pay

Here are some common types of payments you might be making or receiving today, and how you can make them digitally.

You’ll need access to Macquarie Business Online to make digital payments and some of these payment methods will require your authorisation via Macquarie Authenticator.

If you don’t currently have access to Macquarie Business Online or would like some assistance with making payments online refer to our Business Banking Help Centre or contact your relationship manager.

If you want to:	You can do this digitally using:
Pay someone	Online transfer in Macquarie Business Online.
Pay another business, e.g. bills and supplier payments	Depending on what methods the business accepts: Online transfer  BPAY® Set up a Direct Debit from your account.
Receive a payment for services offered	EFT BPAY® Pay@Post (DEFT).
Pay multiple people or businesses at once, e.g. multiple bills, payroll or other disbursements	Generate an ABA or BPAY® Batch file in your business management/accounting software and upload it to Macquarie Business Online to authorise and pay.
Make a DEFT payment	Either: pay DEFT via BPAY® or BPAY® Batch file¹ in Macquarie Business Online  set up a Direct Debit from your account at DEFT.com.au.
Make a loan repayment	online fund transfer  set up a Direct Debit from your account.
Cancel a bank guarantee or a Macquarie Express Guarantee	Requesting the beneficiaries to provide us with their bank account details. The payout will then be transferred to their nominated bank account.
Make small purchases e.g. online subscriptions or as a replacement for petty cash	Consider engaging a third-party business cards provider to issue your employees and contractors with physical or virtual debit or credit cards.
Make a large, urgent payment	Make Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) payment in Macquarie Business Online.
Make an international money transfer	International Telegraphic Transfer in Macquarie Business Online.
Get paid by your clients or other third parties	If you receive a large number of payments, consider which receivables solutions might work for you: DEFT – for trust account receivables BPAY® Biller Share your BSB and account number for others to transfer to you.
Collect a property deposit	DEFT AuctionPay or EFT.
Receive a refund	Update bank details with payer.

Preparing for this change

If you have clients who frequently use cash or cheques, we encourage you to prompt them to start paying you via digital methods. For DEFT clients, you can view our DEFT digital payer guide and share this with your payers. 

Where DEFT payers are unable to pay digitally they can pay by cheque or EFTPOS at Australia Post (if they have a rent card, or if your software is able to generate an Australia Post barcode on their invoice).

New customers

If you open a Macquarie account between Monday 20 May 2024 to Thursday 31 October 2024, you can still deposit cash at NAB branches and/or cheques or ask for bank cheques. However, we’d encourage you to use alternate digital options as these services will be unavailable from Friday 1 November 2024.

You can view your DEFT payers in Macquarie Business Online under your transaction history. Look for mail-in cheque transactions with ‘DEFT Chq’ in the description, followed by the payer’s DEFT reference number.

Your relationship manager can also give you a list of DEFT reference numbers for which cheque and phone payments have been received recently.

Update invoices and levy notices

To ensure your payers know about the change, you’ll need to remove the phone payment and mail-in cheque methods on any invoices and levy notices that include DEFT payment instructions.

All DEFT-integrated software providers know about our transition to completely digital payments, so they’ll be able to support you with making these updates.

Processing cheques

We’ll be unable to process any cheques received after 31^st of October 2024. You’ll need to request that all payments are made to you digitally.

Payment types for businesses

Here’s a quick guide on the digital payment alternatives available to you.

Payment option	What is it?	Pay others Payments to suppliers, disbursements to clients and third parties, bills, taxes and transfers between your accounts	Get Paid Payments from clients or third parties
Online transfer	The electronic transfer of funds from one bank account to another	✔  In Macquarie Business Online	✔  Share your BSB & account number with payers
BPAY ®	Pay and collect bill payments using a unique reference number, allowing for simple reconciliation and reduced fraud	✔  In Macquarie Business Online	✔ (Eligible clients only – contact your relationship manager to apply)
Batch payments (ABA and BPAY Batch files)	Using third party software, pay multiple recipients at once by generating a batch file to upload to MBO	✔  In Macquarie Business Online	n/a
Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS)	Same-day high value payments between Australian bank accounts	✔	✔
DEFT	Receivables solution for trust accounts, e.g. to collect strata levies, rent, insurance premiums or legal payments. Offers multiple payment options to payers including BPAY®, card and direct debit	n/a	✔ (Eligible clients only – contact your relationship manager to apply)
Direct Debit	Allows the payee to pull funds from a payer’s account	✔ (If payment method accepted by payee)	✔ (Eligible clients only – contact your relationship manager to apply)
Card	Debit and credit card payments	✔ (via third party business card provider; contact your relationship manager for more information)	✔ (Eligible clients only via Macquarie Merchants Services – contact your relationship manager to apply)
International telegraphic transfer	International payments via the SWIFT network is an electronic payment to an overseas bank account. Read our International Telegraphic Transfers article.	✔	✔
PEXA	Australian property settlement platform	✔ (for settlement purposes)	✔ (for settlement purposes)

More ways we support you

Accessibility

Macquarie is committed to supporting clients with accessibility needs. We’ll work directly with those clients to understand their needs and ensure they have the support and access that they need to make payments.

Regular updates

We’ll regularly update this page as we get closer to November 2024, so check back here at any time for the latest information on our transition to completely digital payments.

Make and receive all payments digitally