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Financial hardship assistance

Financial hardship can happen to anyone, whether due to unemployment, illness or simply the rising cost of living.

If you’re having trouble making your repayments, for any reason, call our Financial Wellbeing Assist Team or complete the online form and together we can work on a plan to get you back on track.

Apply nowCall 1800 351 548

What is financial hardship?

In simple terms, financial hardship is when you’re unable to pay your bills, whether that’s your mortgage, credit card or even your electricity and water.

In many cases you may only need assistance for a couple of months, but sometimes support can last for a year or more.

 

Apply for support early

If you're worried about making your payments now or in the future, let us know as soon as possible so that we can create a plan to help you through this difficult time.

Your credit score may be affected if you miss your repayments without entering a hardship arrangement. Find out more about financial hardship and your credit report.

How to apply

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1. Prepare your application

To create the right plan for you, we first need to know a little more about your income, expenses and debts. Download the example form below to see what information you may need to provide.

Example form (PDF 1MB)

2. Apply for assistance

Complete the online form or call us to apply over the phone. Applications usually take 20-30 minutes.

You can also nominate someone to apply on your behalf, such as a financial counsellor or family member, and translation services are available.

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3. We'll be in touch

Once you've completed your application, the Financial Wellbeing Assist Team will give you a call in approximately 5-10 days.


We'll discuss what support is available and may ask for more information or supporting documents.

Ready to apply? As soon as you lodge your application, we can start working to find a support plan for you.

Apply nowCall 1800 351 548

How ANZ can help

When you apply for financial hardship assistance, we’ll assess your financial position and propose a plan that best suits your needs. This could involve:

payment relief

Payment relief

A full or partial pause on your home loan, credit card or personal loan repayments.

interest only

Interest only conversion

A temporary switch to an interest-only loan, meaning you pay only the interest component of your mortgage for a set period.

Delayed payments

An arrangement to repay any missed payments over a set period when your hardship support ends. 

Loan contract variation

A permanent change to your contract, such as a term extension or agreement to add missed payments to the total loan amount.

Financial counselling and support

While financial hardship can be challenging, there are many free and confidential services available to help you navigate this difficult time. 

If you're unsure what your next steps should be, talking to a financial counsellor can help you better understand your options and manage your debt.

National Debt Helpline

Financial counselling service that provides free and independent advice to people facing financial hardship and crisis.

National Debt Helpline 

Way Forward

Free debt relief advice and assistance to help you manage repayments and create new payment plans with lenders.

Way Forward 

Moneysmart

Easy-to-use tools and tips to help you manage your money, plan for the future and pay off debt.

Moneysmart 

Family and domestic violence

We'll support you if you're affected by family violence or financial abuse. Find out what help may be available.

Family violence support 

FAQs

You can request financial hardship support if you’re having trouble paying your bills or making repayments on your loan or mortgage, regardless of the reason.

While there are many reasons why someone might experience financial hardship – whether it’s unemployment, illness, having a baby or rising interest rates – your eligibility for support will usually be determined by assessing your income and expenses, your debts and the likely length of assistance required. However, in some cases support can be offered on a more informal basis, so if you think you’re in financial hardship, call the Financial Wellbeing Assist Team on 1800 351 548 and they’ll be able to guide you through the next steps.

You won’t need to provide us with any documents to submit your hardship application. However, you may want to have information such as payslips, recent bills and bank statements handy to help you answer some questions.

Once we begin processing your application, we may ask for documents such as a medical certificate or proof of employment as we learn more about your ongoing situation.

Once you’ve submitted your application by either completing the online form or calling us, our Financial Wellbeing Assist Team will use the information you’ve provided to create a personal Statement of Position (SoP).

In simple terms, your SoP shows your monthly incomings and outgoings and helps us better understand what kind of assistance is right for you. We’ll call you if we need you to provide any supporting documents or want to clarify anything. You can expect to hear from us in 5-10 days. In the meantime, it’s important to keep making your repayments if possible. If your situation is urgent, call us on 1800 351 548 and we may be able to provide on-the-spot assistance.

When we have a plan ready, we’ll give you a call to discuss next steps and answer any questions you may have. In general, hardship arrangements must be finalised within 21 days of you letting us know you’re in hardship, but we’ll let you know the outcome as soon as possible.

If you require urgent financial hardship support, call us as soon as possible on 1800 351 548, Mon-Fri, 9am-7pm (AEST).

We treat every case seriously, so tell us about your situation and we may be able to provide on-the-spot assistance.

When we’re creating a hardship plan, one of our key considerations will be whether you’re experiencing short-term or long-term financial hardship.

Hardship is considered short-term if it’s likely to last for less than 3 months. Some examples might be losing your job, being affected by a natural disaster or having to deal with a large, one-off expense. In these cases, the most common form of assistance is a temporary reduction or pause in payments.

On the other hand, long-term hardship can take months or even years to resolve. This could be due to the loss of a loved one, serious illness or permanent incapacity. Payment pauses often aren’t suitable for long-term hardship, so you and your lender may explore ways of restructuring your loan so that you pay less each month, over a longer period.

Learn more about how short-term and long-term hardship support could affect your repayments.

When you apply for financial hardship support, we’ll work with you to create a Statement of Position, which sets out your income, expenses, debts and any savings you may have.

If you have significant savings, you’ll generally be expected to draw on those before entering a formal hardship arrangement with the bank. However, if your savings are there for a specific reason – for instance, medical expenses or major home repairs – let us know and we’ll take it into account when assessing your hardship application. Note that we may ask for supporting documents if this is the case.

Financial counsellors offer free and independent advice to those struggling to manage their debts. They can help you better understand your rights and financial position, develop budgets and even act on your behalf when dealing with lenders, such as banks and credit card companies.

Not everyone who is experiencing financial hardship needs to talk to a financial counsellor. However, if you’re feeling overwhelmed about money, struggling with multiple debts or having difficulty paying for rent, food or other basic items, they could be able to help you get back on track.

Find out more about how financial counsellors can help you navigate hardship.

A credit score is a rating that helps businesses such as banks, credit card companies and utility providers decide whether to loan you money and on what terms. It is based on your financial history and ability to repay debt and represents all the information in your credit report.

While there are many factors that go into generating your credit score, some primary considerations are:

  • Your current level of debt
  • The number of credit applications you’ve made
  • Whether you make your repayments on time

So, if you’ve lost your job and you find yourself in a situation where you’re unable to make your monthly mortgage repayment, your credit score could go down. As a result, lenders may think it’s risky for you to borrow money.

When you receive financial hardship support, a hardship notice will be placed on your credit report for 12 months. As long as you meet the requirements of the hardship arrangement, you won’t be shown as missing repayments. However, if you apply for new lending while a hardship arrangement is on your credit report, you may need to explain to the lender what happened and why you needed support, and this may affect their decision on whether to offer you credit.

Learn more about financial hardship and your credit score.

If you’re facing extreme financial hardship – where you have been receiving government support for at least 26 weeks and cannot meet reasonable and immediate family expenses – you can apply to withdraw between $1,000 and $10,000 from your super account. You can learn more about extreme financial hardship at the Australian Taxation Office.

If you’re an ANZ Smart Choice Super customer, find out more about accessing your super.

When you apply for financial hardship support, the bank will assess your income and assets, your level of debt and the likelihood that you’ll be able to return to making full repayments once a hardship support arrangement ends.

In some cases, this means that the bank will decide that it’s not in your financial interest to enter a hardship arrangement. If this occurs, the bank may still be able to help by altering the terms of your contract or agreeing to a different payment plan. When you’re unlikely to be able to make your repayments over a longer period, they can provide time to sell your property or information about other options available to you.

Talking to a financial counsellor can help you better understand your options and work out what comes next. If you’re unhappy with the outcome, you can also make a complaint, either to the ANZ Complaints Team or to the independent Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

Guides and articles

Hardship support for your business

Any business can experience a period of financial hardship. Whether due to a business downturn, rising costs, illness or natural disaster, we'll work together to find a personally tailored support plan.

Support for your business could include:

  • Temporary reduction in payments
  • A loan term extension
  • Debt restructure or refinance
  • Pausing fees and charges

Complete the online form or call our Financial Wellbeing Assist Team to get started.

Commitments and complaints

our commitments

Our commitment to you

We understand how difficult financial hardship can be. We promise that we will:

  • Work in good faith to find you a fair and sustainable outcome.  
  • Be transparent about your options and what they mean for you. 
  • Tailor our advice to your individual circumstances. 
  • Be clear and responsive in our communications. 

unhappyoutcome

Unhappy with your outcome?

We'll do our best to help you out, but if we've got it wrong we want to hear about it.

You can make a complaint with ANZ by completing the online form or calling the ANZ Complaint Resolution Team on 1800 805 154

If you want to take your complaint further, you can also lodge a dispute with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority

ANZ uses the personal information that you provide here to assist you with your request. The ANZ Privacy Policy details how ANZ will collect, use, disclose, manage and protect your personal information.

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