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If you’re affected by a disaster or emergency event
If you’re affected by a declared disaster or significant emergency event, you can pause or change your debt repayments online. You can pause or change your debt repayments twice in a 12 month period. If you don’t, your repayments will continue as normal.
If you’ve subscribed to electronic messaging, we’ll send you a text message about pausing or changing your debt repayments. We’ll do this if you live in an area impacted by a disaster or emergency event.
You can also pause or change your debt repayments online within 14 days of being granted a crisis or hardship payment.
We keep investigating overpayments during and after a disaster or emergency event. We’ll contact you if you’ve been overpaid and need to repay a debt. You can manage your repayment choices based on what’s best for your situation.
How to pause or change your debt repayments
If your Centrelink online account is linked to myGov, you can pause or change your debt repayments online. To do this, sign into myGov and select Money you owe.
You can also use either:
- the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app
- the Centrelink debt recovery line by calling and using phone self service or talking to our staff
- Centrelink Indigenous debt recovery line, if you’re an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australian
- Centrelink multilingual phone service, for help in your language.
If you’re directly affected by a declared natural disaster in Australia and you’re in an eligible Local Government Area, there are payments available.
Watch this video about how to pause your debt repayments.
If you need to change your repayments for other reasons
If you have a Centrelink debt and you’re in financial hardship, you can ask us to change your repayments at any time. You may also be able to change your debt repayments if you’ve been granted a disaster or hardship payment in the last 14 days.
If your Centrelink online account is linked to myGov, you can change your debt repayments online using the Money you owe service.
You can also:
- use the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app
- call us on your regular Centrelink payment line
- call us on the Centrelink debt recovery line
- call us on the Centrelink Indigenous debt recovery line, if you’re an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australian
- call us on the Centrelink multilingual phone service, for help in your language.
We’re here to support you to repay money you owe in a way that suits your financial situation.