How to change SRD banking details

SASSA pays the SRD grant into the bank account you give it, and it checks that the account is yours. A typing mistake, a closed account or an account in someone else’s name can stop the payment. Change your details only on the official SRD website. We can’t receive or change banking details, and we will never ask you for them.

Before you change anything, check your SRD status to see whether SASSA is asking for banking details at all.

When to change your banking details

Change them only when:

• your status says “bank details pending” (SASSA has no banking details for you),
• the account on your application is closed or wrong, or
• SASSA asks you for a valid payment method.

If your account is open, in your name and correct, leave it. SASSA has warned that changing banking details and contact numbers again and again delays payment.

What account you need

SASSA’s grant booklet says the account must be an active, personal bank account in the applicant’s name that can receive EFT payments. SASSA has also said that payments to an account in someone else’s name won’t verify. So don’t use a family member’s, friend’s or business account.

Read the account number and account type from your banking app or a bank statement, not from memory.

How to change your banking details

1. Type the SRD website address into your browser yourself and check that it ends in sassa.gov.za.
2. Open the section for South African ID holders and choose “Change Bank Details”. The section for asylum seekers and special permit holders has no banking option: call 0800 60 10 11 instead.
3. Enter your ID number, then the one-time PIN sent to the cellphone number you applied with.
4. Choose your bank and account type, and enter the account number exactly.
5. Check every digit, submit, and save the confirmation.

Don’t use a banking details form on a blog, social media page or WhatsApp message, even if it looks official. Never copy an account number someone sends you, and never let a “helper” type their own account in place of yours.

After you change them

SASSA has to verify the new account before it pays into it. SASSA has said that once you are verified, payment follows in the next pay run, but nobody can promise a date. Check your status later, and don’t change the details again while SASSA is still checking them.

If your status is approved but there is no pay day, see approved but no payment date.

If you lost your cellphone number

You need the cellphone number on your application to receive the one-time PIN. If you lost it, change the number first: see how to change your SRD cellphone number.

If someone changed your details without permission

Contact SASSA on 0800 60 10 11 straight away, tell your bank, and report it on SASSA’s fraud line, 0800 701 701. Keep any messages you received, and change passwords you reuse.

Safety checklist

• Use only the official SRD website.
• Never share your bank PIN, card PIN, online banking password or a one-time PIN. SASSA says it will never ask for your PIN.
• Don’t hand your phone to someone while your banking app is open.
• Don’t pay anyone to change your details for you.