SENIOR citizens desirous of receiving their old age pension through their bank accounts can now have this arranged easily, as the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security has availed the option to all pensioners.
This revolutionary step was announced by the ministry in a notice posted on its Facebook page, on Thursday.
According to the notice, the application process requires a form to be filled with the name, identification card or passport number, home address and telephone contact, as well as their banking information;

which includes the name of their bank where the account was opened, the name on the bank account, the bank account number, and the type of bank account (whether chequing or savings).
After signing the form, the applicant must return it to the staff of the probation and social services department within their region to be processed. The process will take approximately two weeks to be completed.

After this process, the $25,000 pension will be deposited into the applicant’s bank account within the first five working days of every month. In this case, the pension book will have to be surrendered to the human services ministry.
This initiative is in keeping with the ministry’s mandate to ensure all pensioners receive their payments in a stress-free and timely manner. So far, the ministry has implemented a biannual payment plan for pensioners who are considered “shut-ins”, and those who live in remote areas.

In March, the option of redeeming vouchers at MoneyGram/Surepay and BillExpress locations countrywide was introduced for pensioners, in a bid to improve service delivery for the elderly. Aside from encashing vouchers at the money transfer agents and via their respective banking institutions, pensioners can access their pensions through any post office outlet.
Eligible pensioners can uplift the bank application form, free of cost, from any of the ministry’s Georgetown offices and sub-offices countrywide or download it from the ministry’s website.