Financial hardship assistance

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.