Linking NRIC to PayNow

I believe majority are familiar with PayNow. For those who are less familiar, PayNow is a secure funds transfer service that allows an individual to receive money into their participating bank account via NRIC/FIN and/or mobile number.

As more and more services are entering into different methods of digital payment, insurance companies are also using PayNow as a method of paying to their clients, may it be an insurance claim or maturity payout. This is a win-win for both insurance companies and the clients. For the insurance companies, PayNow saves the time and money of issuing cheque. For the clients, it means saving the hassle of encashing the cheque and receiving the claim payout more promptly. In fact, we aim to be cheque-free as a Nation by 2025, so, it is better to get ready before that day comes!

Insurance companies as a whole had seen an encouraging numbers of policy holders who had opted for payments via PayNow. However, there were a handful of rejections from these paid out claims as the claimants had linked their PayNow to the mobile number. Insurance companies, like Government bodies, will make payments to PayNow that is linked to NRIC only thus those linked to mobile numbers are rejected.

You may be thinking why are insurance companies so particular? Why do they accept PayNow that is linked to NRIC only?

Here are a few reasons-

1. Compliance – There is no way to verify the mobile number and more importantly, the bank account that was tagged belongs to the user. A person can register for an phone line and the one using could be their parents, spouse, children or just anybody. If PayNow was registered using NRIC, insurance companies can easily identify the recipient.
2. Correctness – There are many instances when we change our mobile number but forgot to unlinked it to PayNow. The number may be recycled and there is a possibility the payout is paid to the new user of the mobile number. As we know, it is difficult to get a payment reversal done especially if the wrong recipient is not cooperative.

There is no need to setup a new account if you had already linked it to your mobile number. You can link your PayNow to NRIC easily by following the instructions through internet banking. However, if you are not using internet banking, here are the steps to link PayNow to your NRIC so you can get your claims faster from the participating insurers.

1. POSB/DBS Account

SMS to 77767 in this format:

PayNow<space>register<space>NRIC<space>your preferred bank account’s* last 4 digits<space>your preferred nickname to 77767

E.g. Paynow register NRIC 4321 KHChan

2. OCBC Account

 SMS to 72323 in this format:

REGN<space>NRIC<space>last 6 digits of your bank account number

E.g. REGN S87654321A 123456

3. UOB Account

SMS to 71423 in this format:

PAYNOW ‹space› NRIC ‹space› last 4 digits of the account number ‹space› NRIC

E.g. PAYNOW S87654321A 1234 NRIC

Please check with your respective banks on the setup if is not listed above.