NETS POINT-OF-SALE TERMINALS (Installation of additional terminals at HDB Branch Offices)

The following Question stood in the name of Mr Lau Ping Sum -

Mr Lau Ping Sum: To ask the Minister for National Development whether additional NETS Point-of-Sale terminals will be installed at Housing and Development Board Branch Offices to facilitate cashless payments.

Mr Teo Chong Tee (Changi): Question No. 8, Sir.

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: Sir, NETS is a convenient cashless mode of payment. HDB installed a NETS terminal at the Ang Mo Kio Branch Office in May 1988. The average monthly NETS collection is about $157,000 comprising 1,000 transactions. This is only about 5% of the total number of counter transactions at the Branch Office. As the volume of NETS transactions is low, the NETS facility has not been extended to other Branch Offices.

HDB encourages cashless transactions, primarily by making it unnecessary to make the trip to the Branch Office itself. The main scheme is the GIRO through which residents can make their regular monthly payments without the need to go to the Branch Offices. HDB residents can also pay their regular charges at any convenient OUB and OCBC ATM at any time of the day. They can also make use of the phone banking services provided by OUB, UOB, OCBC and DBS Bank in the convenience of their homes.

In addition, residents with current accounts can pay their miscellaneous transactions by cheque, which can be sent either by post or deposited at the cheque deposit boxes located outside most Branch Offices.