Why do I need to include a payment reference when using direct credit?

A payment reference is the unique code that we’ll give you when you set up a direct credit payment source. You’ll find it in a message we send to your secure mailbox once you’ve completed setting up your payment source and in each of your contribution schedules when you submit them for payment. When sending your payment to NEST you’ll need to include the unique payment reference in the bank details summary. The reference itself starts with ‘IT’ and each reference is unique to each of your payment sources to help us identify the schedule you’re paying for and where the payment has come from.

If you have more than one payment source, you’ll have more than one payment reference so please make sure you attach the correct number to your payment. In these circumstances, you won’t be able to make a single bulk payment to cover all your schedules as the payment reference will only apply to the schedule(s) for the payment source connected to that reference.