More customers turning to myPay

Air Force Retiree News Service

INDIANAPOLIS — When the Defense Finance and Accounting Service first launched the myPay Web-based pay account system in 2000, less than 500,000 military members, military retirees, annuitants and federal civilian employees were listed as online users.

Today that number includes 3.7 million users with access to pay account information, tax statements and the ability to update their bank, personal and allotment information instantly and, most importantly, securely.

Currently, more than 2.6 million myPay users have accessed their 2009 tax statements online, thereby avoiding the delays and possible security risks of regular mail delivery.

Last November, DFAS officials implemented a myPay security enhancement requiring users to establish new login credentials, including personalized login IDs and passwords. The agency has posted step-by-step instructions in both text and video at the myPay site https://mypay.dfas.mil/mypay.aspx and its public Web site www.dfas.mil to help customers set up their new information. Currently, 82 percent of myPay accounts have been updated with new login information.

“While some might view 82 percent as a positive, I’m concerned that some of our customers don’t appreciate what myPay provides,” said Richard Gustafson, the DFAS principal deputy director.

Gustafson said myPay is a useful tool and customers can be confident that their information is protected.

“We want to help our customers become educated customers, to partner with us to make sure all aspects of their pay — from what they are due to how it is delivered — are as accurate as possible,” he said.

Users of myPay have greater control over their pay accounts and can make changes to vital information in a very secure environment with options to download, save and print pay account information from military retired or annuitant account statements and annual tax statements; verify and update postal and e-mail addresses and bank account information for direct deposit; start, change or stop financial allotments; make changes to federal or state tax withholding amounts and change user names and passwords to keep accounts secure.

While the options may vary from one customer category to another, all myPay users can establish alternate login credentials for use by family members, tax preparers or others they trust to view account information and download tax statements.

“The myPay system has been with us for a while,” Gustafson said. “Our security enhancements have been developed to counter threats to our customers’ personal and financial information. The growth in what can be accomplished has reflected the needs and wishes of many recipients of our payroll services. In short, myPay gives them a way to avoid the risks of postal delivery of their information and a way to really shorten the amount of time it takes to update information in our pay systems.

“But the bottom line is still how these users view the importance and worth of myPay,” he said. “Do they understand their role in keeping their financial information current and accurate?”

While DFAS maintains some of the more traditional methods of submitting changes to customer information or inquiring about pay issues such as fax, call centers and mail, the myPay system provides a faster and more efficient means to communicate with their payroll service provider.

“The changes customers submit via myPay are effective immediately,” said Dawn Coulter, the agency’s e-commerce director. “Rather than waiting for the fax machine or mail to get the information to DFAS, then waiting for a payroll technician to input that information into the pay system, address changes, new bank account information or other data become effective the moment the customer hits the submit button.”