If a super fund rejects one or more contributions in your super batch, HeroClear will let you know with a Contribution Transaction Error Response (CTER). This article explains what a CTER is and what happens to the money involved. Most importantly, this covers how to fix the issue correctly so your affected employees' superannuation gets paid.
If you get a CTER, the returned money stays held with HeroClear; it is not returned to your bank account. Fix the underlying issue, then reprocess just the affected contributions from within the existing batch to reuse those funds and close out the error. Do not create a whole new batch, as that draws fresh money and leaves the original error unresolved.
How HeroClear handles CTERs
What is a CTER?
A CTER is a message sent back by a super fund when it cannot accept a contribution, usually because of an issue with the employee's details, such as an incorrect member number, TFN, or fund selection.
When this happens:
- The rejected contribution is not paid into the employee's super fund.
- The money for that contribution is returned to HeroClear, where it is held as an available balance against your batch.
- You will receive an email notification listing the affected employees, the error code, and a description of the issue.
- The error will also appear as an alert in your Payroll classic platform.
Why returned money goes back to HeroClear rather than your account
When a contribution is rejected, the funds are not sent all the way back to your bank account. Instead, they are returned to HeroClear and held against the batch as an available balance.
This is deliberate, and it is the faster option for your employees. Because the money is already sitting with HeroClear rather than back in your bank account, it can be pushed straight back out to the super fund once the error is fixed, instead of having to be returned to you first and then paid all over again from scratch.
If you have used other clearing houses before, including Beam, this may feel different to what you are used to, where rejected or unallocated funds are typically refunded back to your account, and a fresh payment has to be set up. HeroClear is designed this way on purpose: keeping the money in play means any issues can be resolved and the contribution re-sent to the fund far faster end-to-end. That matters more than ever under Payday Super, where contributions need to reach the employee's fund within 7 business days of payday, every day spent waiting for a refund and repayment is a day closer to missing that window.
Why reprocess the affected batch rather than create a new one
This is the most important part of resolving a CTER correctly.
Once you have fixed whatever caused the error (for example, correcting an employee's member number, TFN, or fund selection), you have two options in front of you:
| Option | What happens | Recommended? |
|---|---|---|
| Reprocess just the affected contributions, from within the existing batch |
|
Yes. |
| Create a brand new batch |
While this may feel like the right thing to do, and it will result in super being paid:
|
No. |
Creating a brand new batch instead of reprocessing the affected contributions in the existing one means you will end up paying twice for the same contribution. The original error will remain open and unresolved on your account.
Step-by-step guide to reprocessing a batch
Fix a CTER and reprocess affected contributions
- Review the error. Open the CTER alert either from the Contribution Alerts summary or from inside the affected batch. Note the employee, the error code, and the description of the issue.
- Fix the underlying issue. Common fixes include correcting the employee's member number, TFN, or fund selection in their employee profile. See a list of common error codes and their solutions here.
- Go back to the batch. Return to the Errors & Warnings panel as shown above for the original batch. This is where you will reprocess the affected contributions, not the general "create batch" flow elsewhere in the product.
- Select the blue “Reprocess these contributions with available funds” button. This resubmits only the employees whose contributions were rejected. The rest of the batch is untouched, using the funds already held with HeroClear.
-
Confirm. The corrected contribution is sent back out to the super fund. If it is accepted, the employee's super is processed, and the original error is closed out. If it is rejected again, a new CTER will be generated, and the process repeats.
Key takeaways
- A CTER means a contribution was rejected by a super fund. The money is not lost; it has been held with HeroClear.
- Fix the underlying issue first (usually employee or fund details).
- Always reprocess just the affected contributions from within the existing batch to resolve the error and reuse the held funds. The rest of the batch does not need to be touched.
- Creating a new batch instead will draw fresh funds and leave the original error unresolved.
If you are unsure why an error occurred or how to resolve it, use the "How to fix" guidance shown against each error, or contact support.