Penalised for following instructions?

I do wonder if only certain security companies are being told of changes to application requirements (like wanting cash not deposits into the PSIRA account), so as to delay registrations of the students of certain other security companies. The security company where I had done my course knew not of this change in payment requirements, yet the other applicants around me (who had been trained by other security companies) all brought cash. I had downloaded PSIRA's documents off their own website in April this year, so I had had their latest forms. When I wanted to check if there were any changes to their forms on 22 July this year, the download option on their website was grey and could not be selected, so no downloads were possible. I had been told that once you hand in all your documents they give you a registration number and you can start looking for work immediately even though there was no police clearance certificate as yet, and that you would be deregistered if it was found that you had a ******** record. Is this what the clerk meant when she said she could not help me today, that had I brought cash I would have been given a registration number? Have I been penalised for following instructions on PSIRA's own forms?