Payment assistance & financial hardship

Financial hardship is when you want to pay your bill but genuinely can’t meet the payments as they fall due - for example after a job loss, illness, a relationship breakdown, family or domestic violence, a natural disaster, or another change in your circumstances. It can be short-term or ongoing.

Just get in touch - the sooner the better. You can call 1300 458 348 or email [email protected]. You don’t need to send us evidence to start a conversation, and you can ask someone to deal with us on your behalf.

Depending on your situation, we’ll work with you on options such as:

• a payment arrangement or extension that fits your budget;
• a temporary hold on disconnection or late-payment action while we sort out a plan;
• a review of your plan to make sure you’re on the right one for what you actually use;
• help understanding your bill and any charges you’re unsure about; and
• pointing you to free financial counselling (the National Debt Helpline, 1800 007 007) if that would help.

Contacting us about hardship will not, by itself, lead to your service being disconnected. While we’re working out an arrangement with you, we won’t take late-payment or disconnection action on the amounts covered by that arrangement, provided you keep to it. We’ll always give you the notice the applicable industry code requires before restricting or suspending a service.

We handle anything you tell us about your circumstances sensitively and in line with our Privacy Policy. We only use it to help you and to manage your account.

Tell us and we’ll try to put it right - see our complaints process(phone 1300 458 348, option 5), which also explains how to contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) if we can’t resolve it together. Making a complaint is free.