Step up certificate of deposit

Controlling myPay; step-by-step guide on how to take charge of your pay accounts - Airman Consumer

Remember when you had to take a number and then desperately wait in line to make a minor change to your pay account? After staring for what seemed like hours at the ticket number that read something ridiculous like 3,500, you would frustratingly arrive at the counter only to walk away later and realize you forgot to ask for all the changes you went there to make. Argh!

Staff Sgt. Wayne Randall remembers those days.

'I'd always forget something," said Randall with the 20th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.

Though Randall was never at the end of a line with 3,500 people waiting for service in a finance office, he is part of the reason myPay averages more than 3,500 transactions per day--a statistic no base finance office can claim.

And what is myPay? It's Defense Finance and Accounting Service's latest tool that lets active duty, National Guard and Reserve military members, military retirees, Department of Defense civilian employees and annuitants take charge of their pay accounts online.

The self-service tool, located at https://mypay.dfas.mil, is becoming increasingly popular with 1.9 million users as of June. That's an increase of a half million users since December 2002, according to Dennis Eicher, director of electronic commerce, for Military and Civilian Pay Services.

Eicher attributes the popularity of myPay to the simple fact that customers now have control of their pay and can make finance changes online instead of waiting in line.

"I did it on the spot while I was thinking about it," explained Randall of his recent visit to the myPay site to increase his Thrift Savings Plan contribution to 8 percent. Customers can even sign up for TSP at myPay if they haven't already done so through local finance offices. However, people requesting to participate in the TSP can only do so during open season or within 60 days of the date they joined the armed forces.

Customers can find instructions on starting or changing a bond at the questions and answers portion of the site.

Other features allow visitors to make changes to their federal and state tax withholdings, and update bank account and direct deposit information.

With the capability to manage so much, customers are assured that myPay is a secure way to make changes directly to their pay accounts. Because the system requires people to use a combination of a social security number and a Personal Identification Number to access it, officials said the system is as secure as using an ATM at a bank. Users also must use a browser with Secure Socket Layers protocol having a 128-bit encryption software. The software prevents information from being retrieved by someone else while it's being transmitted, not to mention the use of a fire-wall that secures data by encrypting It between the myPay server and host pay system.

It's a "state-of-the-art system as secure as any banking system," Eicher added.

With that peace of mind, people are accessing the site at an astronomical rate. Not to increase their TSP contributions. Not to start, change or stop their bonds. Not to change their federal and state tax withholdings, but to simply look at the bag of money Uncle Sam is giving them.

The most commonly used feature of myPay is viewing leave and earnings statements. The site registered 5 million requests to look at statements, which mirrored the hard copy people received in the mail, during the month of June.

Why? Because "it's convenient," said Randall, who often views his statement a week prior to payday. "Its also comforting to know I can access it no matter where I'm at and know how much money is going into my account ahead of time."

Busy January

Customers also bombarded the system in January with requests to view W-2 forms, causing one of the few problems DFAS has experienced since making the new site available in October 2002. The system in place at the time couldn't handle the large volume of requests, but Eicher said they quickly updated the system. Most users didn't even know there was a problem.

It was a hiccup, he said.

The biggest challenge DFAS has faced since the inception of myPay is issuing personal identification numbers. Currently. Air Force members must request a PIN at the myPay Web site. Then DFAS processes the request and issues one for the new account. However, the PIN is mailed, which can take up to 10 or more business days for delivery. The goal is for customers to receive their new PINs via email. Members of the Army have this feature available. "We are currently close to starting this feature for the Air Force," Eicher said.

The added feature is expected to increase the number of users. As of June 1, DFAS had issued 238,917 customized PINs to Air Force members and civilian employees--about 43 percent of the Air Force population. That figure is low compared to the other services. About 50 percent of the Army, 52 percent of the Marine Corps, and 59 percent of the Navy populations use the site. The overall goal is to have 3 million users by the end of the calendar year, a 1.1 million user increase from June's total.

Another goal of the electronic registration is to decrease cost by eliminating the need to prepare and mail the PINs lo customers, who in turn can save the government money by turning off the print copy of their LESs and checking them online. If all DOD civilian employees turned off their hard copy LESs, the potential savings would be $5.8 million in fiscal year '03. It's a small price to pay for those on the government pay scale considering the LES can be printed or saved electronically by using the easy-to-follow instructions on the myPay site.

Tech. Sgt Kirt Hooten of the 354th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Eielson AFB, Alaska, turned off his hard copy. "It took me 10 seconds."

And he didn't even have to take a number behind 3,500 other people who accessed the site that day.

Future plans in myPay works

There are plans to add features to myPay. One of the short-term goals is to discontinue the Hard-w-2's. Some longer-range initiatives:

* linking the electronic LES to commercial tax software

* adding allotment for military

* increasing the number of LES's to 12 months worth of data

* providing information PINS (read only) to support deployed members' families

* adding personal statement of military compensation and discontinuing hard-copies

myPay system puts customers in control

Features of myPay offer faster services, security, accessibility and reliability to customers worldwide.