Question about FTB and Baby Bonus

[StrawberryFields]

So my online services says our next payment will be blah amount on blah date (finally!), but I click on it for the break down, and it has listed FTB A, FTB B, and Rent Assistance only, not the baby bonus payments (of which we should be getting double!).

Why is that? Are they processed one by Centrelink (BB) and one by Family Assistance (FTB) and therefore haven't been processed at the same time, or should I be going down there and asking questions?

We filled out the form specifying baby bonus for both children as I don't work and DH was told by his work that he isn't eligible to take advantage of paid parental leave anyway.

Any advice would be appreciated!

[Tinks]

Maybe the baby bonus will be given to you in a separate payment. Centrelink are open until 8pm tonight, give them a ring.

[briggsy's girl]

did you include baby bonus in the online claim? usually your baby bonus is paid within two days of your payment being processed - check online again and look at both next and future payments. if it's not on there, ring FAO

i would suggest ringing during the day on Monday so they can go through to the processing team if there has been a processing error

check your online claim to confirm you asked for baby bonus (it has to be done on the claim both online and on the paperwork)

[~ Mylitta ~]

Can't remember about the actual paperwork, but with DS I remember that I got my FTB one week, and the Baby Bonus the next week, and they were fortnightly. So perhaps I got them on different paperwork, but to be honest I can't remember.

I haven't got the Baby Bonus for DD yet due to some hassles with Centrelink and our Tax having only recently been done. I didn't think that tax and salary had anything to do with the Baby Bonus, but apparently they still decided to hold the Baby Bonus until it's all done. It's just been finalised so I'm going to have to call Centrelink and hope that getting it all sorted won't be an issue (as I even had to pay back some money that's actually owed to me as I couldn't "prove" I deserved it).

[Mum2Romone]

Its part of FTB part A.... It doesnt show up seperately on your statement.... It is 377 per fortniught per child , hope that help....

So if your FTB part A is 677.00 then your BB is 377 and FTB part A is 300.....

[briggsy's girl]

the first baby bonus would be somewhat noticable on either bank statement or online services when you're talking twins - 1600+
even with a months delay on getting ftb, at the absolute max for a, b and rent, you're only looking maybe 800-900 dollars

ETA - sorry absolute max rates on all payments would be - FTBA 330/fn, ftbb 140/fn, ra 140/fn (ballpark) leaves around 1100 for a month (may be less depending on home ownership status and amount of rent paid and income estimate) - still much less than the first installment of bby for twins (would be around 870 per child)

[StrawberryFields]

Okay, I rang last night and they said baby bonus had been processed and the payments were all queued up correctly. So because the person didn't sound sure of themself, I checked. In the first big payment it has 'one time payment of BBY' which I assume is the baby bonus, and the next payment just has FTB A & B and RA, all the max amounts that BG said, but no BBY. Should there be a BBY payment on there? I thought it was supposed to come fortnightly then for the next 12 fortnights?

[briggsy's girl]

your baby bonus may be paid on a different day to your ftb installments
the "one time payment" is totally normal - it is set up as 13 individual payments, not as an ongoing payment
the first payment is around 870 per child, then each subsequent one is 370ish
if your baby bonus hasn't been paid yet (due to be paid monday or tuesday) the next installment won't show on online services as online services will only show you what is to be delivered a max of 14 days into the future.

[StrawberryFields]

if your baby bonus hasn't been paid yet (due to be paid monday or tuesday) the next installment won't show on online services as online services will only show you what is to be delivered a max of 14 days into the future.

So okay I'm pretty sure thats what it is -

It says 'Your last payment was $x paid on Monday 3rd October 2011' (which is interesting considering that date hasn't come yet lol) and then it has the next one saying 'Your next payment will be $x on Friday 14th October'. So what that means is that Baby bonus is getting paid regularly on Mondays, whereas the FTB and Rent assistance will be Fridays, and since that next Monday isn't within the 14 day window, the next baby bonus payment wont show yet, correct? So it should all be right unless come Monday there isn't a future payment showing for the 17th, right?

Gosh its all so confusing! Surely there is some kind of baby bonus FAQ with this in it somewhere!

Em - You poor thing! And now you have to put up with DH and his grand final rage!

M2R - Definitely check up on that if they haven't given you a one off bigger payment first up!

[briggsy's girl]

It says 'Your last payment was $x paid on Monday 3rd October 2011' (which is interesting considering that date hasn't come yet lol)

that payment left FAO on Thursday - so it's not a future payment - it cannot be changed - it has been paid to your bank to deliver to you, hence the last payment part of it.

your baby bonus will be on the monday each fn and cannot be changed. your ftb will be whatever day it is now (friday isn't it?) but if you need to change that one for budgeting reasons, you can request it

[briggsy's girl]

Edit - double post - sorry!

[mrscricket]

Hon - I don't know if I am reading this correctly (because 2 little misses have had me up since 4.30am) but our Baby Bonus never showed up on our online payment list on the Family Assistance website. The only payments it shows are the FTB payments, and any payments we get for our Childcare rebate. The baby bonus just showed up in our bank account one day. We got a letter informing us of when it started and the end date, but that was after it started. I just logged onto my banking on day and there was extra money there - yay!

[Mum2Romone]

and my first BB payment came the other day, a month after lodging and was only 377 they said. whats this about a one off bigger amount?

[briggsy's girl]

the first payment should have an extra $500 - it may list differently to your other payments. to be honest, i haven't looked at online services to see what it appears like as i haven't come across anyone asking

they reduced the fortnightly installments from around 407 to 370ish and pay the additional amount (500) as a lump sum at the start.

[StrawberryFields]

Hey BG - I got an online letter saying that we're getting the first time bigger BBY today (which we did) but wont be getting fortnightly payments until the 18th of March 2012?! Is that right? We really cant afford that! We've been budgeting for the last few months assuming those payments would start coming fortnightly no later than November. Why would they put it off that long? Can I apply for it to be advanced?

Just when I think I have it all figured out

EDIT: I just got a new letter apologising for a typing mistake in the last letter - they mean the final instalment will be paid then not the first one! Way to give me a heart attack!

[briggsy's girl]

so glad you got the follow up letter!!!