We’ve listened to customer feedback from previous disaster events and have now provided more flexibility for customers to manage their debt repayment.
‘Customers who have been impacted by a crisis, disaster or emergency event can now choose to change, stop or delay their debt repayments,’ said Helen from the Debt Assist Projects team.
‘Customers can use self service to pause or reduce their repayments for up to 3 months.
‘This way, they can make repayments in a way that best suits their financial situation.’
Customers can update their repayment option through the Money you owe service in either their Centrelink online account through myGov, or the Express Plus Centrelink app.
They can also use phone self service by calling the Centrelink debt recovery line.
This service became available for eligible customers to use from 1 August 2022. Since then almost 40,000 customers have used self service to pause their debt repayments.
‘Customers don’t need to speak with us anymore to make a change, they can simply do it themselves,’ Helen said.
‘But of course if they don’t understand their debt, or are worried about repayments, they can always talk to us. We’re here to help’
If you need to change your repayments due to a natural disaster, read about when you need to pause your debt repayments.