Financial hardship policy
If you want to pay but you’re finding it hard right now, tell us — we’ll work with you to keep you connected and get you back on track. It’s free, it’s confidential, and it won’t change how we treat you.
The short version
Struggling to pay a bill? Call us on 1800 355 494 or email accounts@nurv.au and ask about financial hardship. We’ll talk through options — a payment plan, more time, or a way to bring your costs down — and do our best to keep your service on. There’s no charge for hardship help, and it’s handled in confidence. Free, independent financial counselling is also available on 1800 007 007.
Our commitment
Anyone can hit a rough patch — a lost contract, illness, a downturn, an unexpected bill. If you want to pay but can’t meet your payments right now, that’s financial hardship, and we’ll work with you in good faith to find a way through. Hardship can be short-term or longer-term; either way, the sooner you talk to us, the more we can do.
What financial hardship means
Financial hardship is when you genuinely intend to pay your bill but, because of your circumstances, you’re temporarily or longer-term unable to. We treat it seriously and sympathetically — the goal is a realistic arrangement you can actually keep, not extra pressure.
How to ask for help
Just get in touch — the earlier the better:
- Phone
- 1800 355 494
- accounts@nurv.au
- Hours
- Mon–Fri, 8am–6pm AWST
You can ask for hardship help yourself, or someone can do it for you — an authorised representative, a support person, or a financial counsellor acting on your behalf (we’ll just need your okay to deal with them). If we can see you may be having trouble, we may also reach out and let you know help is available. We’ll make applying straightforward and won’t put unreasonable hurdles in your way.
How we’ll work it out
We’ll talk with you about your situation and what you can realistically manage. We may ask for some relevant information to understand your circumstances and tailor an arrangement — we’ll only ask for what we reasonably need. We’ll assess your request promptly and let you know the outcome and the options we can offer. If we can’t agree on an arrangement, we’ll explain why and tell you how to take it further (see below).
How we can help
There’s no one-size-fits-all — we’ll match the help to your situation. Depending on circumstances, options can include:
- more time to pay, or a short payment extension;
- a tailored payment plan that spreads what you owe into manageable instalments;
- temporarily reducing or pausing some charges;
- spend controls or limits to help keep your bill predictable;
- looking at whether a different plan would lower your ongoing costs;
- restricting a service temporarily instead of disconnecting it; and
- waiving late-payment fees where appropriate.
We’ll confirm any arrangement with you and put the key details in writing so we’re both clear on what’s been agreed.
Keeping you connected
While we’re arranging hardship assistance, or while you’re keeping to an agreed arrangement, we won’t disconnect your service for the debt covered by that arrangement. Where we need to limit usage, we’ll look at restricting a service rather than cutting it off wherever we reasonably can. If an arrangement falls through, we’ll talk to you before taking any further step.
Free, confidential, and no black mark
We don’t charge you for hardship assistance. We handle your situation confidentially, and asking for help won’t change how we treat you as a customer. We’ll always treat you with respect.
Free financial counselling
You don’t have to do this alone. Free, independent and confidential financial counselling is available through the National Debt Helpline:
- Phone
- 1800 007 007
- Online
- ndh.org.au
- Hours
- Mon–Fri, 9:30am–4:30pm (AEST)
If you’re not happy with our decision
If you don’t agree with how we’ve handled your hardship request, please tell us — you can raise it under our Complaint handling policy, and a complaint is treated as urgent where the issue is directly contributing to your hardship. If we still can’t sort it out together, you can take it to the free and independent Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) on 1800 062 058 or at tio.com.au/complaints.
Getting help to contact us
If you need help communicating with us, you’re welcome to use the National Relay Service, or a language or Auslan interpreter. Tell us what you need and we’ll make it work.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time and will publish the current version here. We’ll also make it available on request, free of charge.