Financial Hardship Support

What is financial hardship?

Financial hardship is a situation where:

• you are unable to discharge your financial obligations to Caznet due to circumstances including: illness (personal or household), unemployment, low or insufficient income, being a victim or survivor of domestic or family violence, a death in the family, a change in personal or family circumstances, a natural disaster, unexpected events or other reasonable causes; and
• you consider that you would be able to meet those obligations if an agreed financial hardship arrangement were put in place.

Our commitment

We understand that keeping up with telecommunications payments can be difficult during periods of financial hardship. Our goal is to keep you connected to the services you rely on. We will only disconnect a customer experiencing financial hardship as a measure of last resort, and only in accordance with this policy and the Standard.

Every application is assessed individually. We may provide short-term or long-term assistance depending on your circumstances. We do not charge for assessments or for putting an arrangement in place.

We will treat all applicants with courtesy and respect. Our team are trained in applying this policy and are authorised to discuss options and agree to arrangements with you.

Step 1 — Apply for an assessment

Contact us to apply for financial hardship assistance. You can reach us by:

• Phone: 1300 229 638 (9:00am–5:00pm ACST, Monday to Friday)
• Email: caznet@caznet.com.au
• Post: GPO Box 2409, Adelaide SA 5001
• Application form: download and submit the form

If you need an interpreter, you can contact us via the Translating and Interpreting Service by calling 131 450. If you have a hearing or speech impairment, please contact us through the National Relay Service. If you have other accessibility or special needs, please let us know and we will accommodate you.

Step 2 — Assessment

Once we receive your application, we may ask questions about your circumstances and the services you need. We will only request information that is strictly necessary to conduct our assessment.

We may ask you to provide:

• Your contact details and account information
• A description of your circumstances
• Supporting documentation such as medical certificates, evidence of income, or a statement of financial position
• Evidence of consultation with a financial counsellor (for long-term arrangements where applicable)

Short-term assistance and domestic/family violence: If you need assistance for no more than 3 billing cycles, or if you are a victim survivor of domestic or family violence, you do not need to provide documentation unless the amount to be repaid exceeds $1,000, you have been a customer for less than 2 months, or we have reasonable grounds to suspect fraud.

All information provided during an assessment is strictly confidential. We will retain it only for as long as required to complete the assessment.

We will assess your eligibility within 5 business days of receiving your completed application and notify you of the outcome within 2 business days of completing the assessment. There is no charge for an assessment.

Step 3 — Arrangement

If you are eligible, we will work with you to agree on an arrangement that suits your ability to pay. Options we may offer include:

• Deferring, extending or postponing a payment due date
• A tailored payment plan
• Discounting a bill charge
• Applying a credit to your account
• Waiving a debt
• Matching or crediting payments made by you
• Spend controls to help manage your costs
• Restricting or temporarily suspending your service
• Removing non-essential features at no cost
• Transferring you to a service that better suits your current circumstances
• Adjusting internal thresholds to prevent disconnection
• Offering a free non-automatic payment method

Any arrangement will be confirmed in writing (by email or post) within 2 business days of agreement. The written notice will set out the duration, payment amounts and frequency, your rights and obligations (including your obligation to notify us if your circumstances change), and the circumstances in which credit management action may be taken.

Arrangements will not commence unless you indicate your acceptance. You and we must both comply with any agreed arrangement.

Credit management action

We will not take any credit management action while a financial hardship arrangement is being discussed, applied for, or is in place, unless:

• you fail to meet your obligations under the arrangement;
• we have taken steps to review the arrangement; and
• one of the following applies:
  • we have taken reasonable steps to contact you, or you have contacted us, to discuss payment options before taking action;
  • we have genuine reason to believe you are unable or unwilling to pay and wish to prevent a further increase in the debt;
  • you agree that the arrangement cannot be completed; or
  • we have been unable to contact you despite taking reasonable steps.

Reviews and complaints

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your assessment, or the way your application was handled, you can request an internal review or lodge a complaint through our Complaints Process.

You can also contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) for external dispute resolution at any time. Lodging a complaint does not prevent you from accessing financial hardship assistance.

Further help

Free, confidential financial counselling is available across Australia. Financial counsellors can help you understand your options, negotiate with creditors and access support services.

Other organisations that may be able to help: