What is payment assistance?

If you're struggling to keep up with your payments, you may need payment assistance. Whether it's a short-term set back or something longer term, we understand that payment difficulties can happen for many reasons, such as: Change in circumstances Loss of employment or unemployment Personal or household illness Low or reduced income Impacted by disaster Domestic or family violence Family death Bankruptcy or insolvency.

How do I know if I am eligible?

We take considerable care in assessing applications individually. To be eligible for support, you must: be an active Telstra customer; and have problems paying for your Telstra service. You may not be eligible for our payment assistance if we verify that you don't have an active account with Telstra. If you are not eligible for our support, we will contact you and let you know why.

What happens if I miss a payment on my payment assistance plan?

You may no longer be eligible for help under an agreed payment assistance plan if: You fail to meet an obligation in your payment assistance plan, such as not making an agreed payment when it is due; and/or you don't make reasonable attempts to respond if we try to contact you about your payment assistance plan and the possibility of suspension or disconnection of your service; we genuinely believe you are unable or unwilling to pay your debts and we want to avoid you increasing the debt you owe us; or you agree you won't be able to complete your payment assistance plan.

What happens if I miss a payment on my payment assistance plan?

You may no longer be eligible for help under an agreed payment assistance plan if: You fail to meet an obligation in your payment assistance plan, such as not making an agreed payment when it is due; and/or you don't make reasonable attempts to respond if we try to contact you about your payment assistance plan and the possibility of suspension or disconnection of your service; we genuinely believe you are unable or unwilling to pay your debts and we want to avoid you increasing the debt you owe us; or you agree you won't be able to complete your payment assistance plan.

Payment assistance

Q: What happens at the end of my payment assistance plan?

Explore Experience Fragment : /content/experience-fragments/bodycontent/about_us/payment_assistance_faqs/end-of-payment-assistance/master/jcr:content At the conclusion of your payment assistance plan, we will send you confirmation advising that you will return to your usual service and plan conditions, including payment due dates. You can reach out to discuss extending the support if your circumstances have changed or if you still require assistance at that time. If you have previously received payment assistance, you can apply again at any time.

Helping you when times are tough

If you're having trouble paying or your circumstances have changed, we can help.

Explore payment assistance options

We may be able to provide some relief to assist with your financial challenges.

Choose the help you need:

Payment assistance when you need it

Depending on your level of urgency, we have flexible options that could help keep you connected.

Our Payment Assistance Policy (PDF, 316KB) outlines information for you to consider before applying for payment assistance. We have additional languages and other versions available.

Need more time to pay?

If you're having difficulty paying, you can request an extension of up to 14 days. It's faster and easier when you sign in to My Telstra.

Don't have a Telstra ID? Use your contact details to verify your identity.

Go to My Telstra

Change to a more affordable plan

You can review your monthly usage and change your plan any time during the month in My Telstra. We may have other affordability options available.

Manage your plan Consider switching to Pre-Paid

Review our concession offers

If you have a valid concession card, you could be eligible for a range of offers.

Explore our concession offers

Helping you when times are tough

If you need help paying or your circumstances have changed, we can help.

Whether it’s a short-term setback or something longer term, we understand payment difficulties can happen for different reasons, and we’re here to help.

If you need help paying for your Telstra services, there is no charge for you to request payment assistance support. Our priority is to keep you connected, get you back on track and make sure you feel you can meet your financial commitments.

Telstra's payment assistance

Our support options are designed to provide flexible support, so we can help you manage payments for your Telstra services in a way that works for you, including:

giving you more time to pay for your services
a tailored payment plan to meet your ability to pay
reviewing your accounts to see if you might benefit from:
- moving to a more affordable plan or product, or
- removing any services or features you don’t need
if you receive benefits or allowances from Centrelink, you may be able to use Centrepay as a bill-paying service
offering a limited number of recharge credits for a Telstra pre-paid service.

In some cases, we will also consider waiving some of your fees or charges, discount a charge or applying a credit to your account.

If you are in need of an affordable mobile phone, you can explore a variety of options available on our website, and no support application is necessary for purchase.

We’ll only disconnect your Telstra services as a last resort and after we have provided you with written notification.

Our Payment Assistance Policy (PDF, 316KB) outlines information for you to consider before applying for payment assistance.

How can you apply for payment assistance?

To apply, you can:

Request support online and we'll be in touch to discuss the best option for you. Apply for payment assistance.
Chat with us in My Telstra. Monday to Sunday 7:30am to 12am (Midnight) AEST.
Call us on 13 22 00 and say 'payment assistance' between Monday to Friday 8am to midnight AEST.
Visit a Telstra store and speak to one of our team. Find your nearest store
Email us at FinancialAssistance@team.telstra.com with your account number and a brief description of your request.

Other support to help you

We know that you may have other services that you need help with, if you need help paying for other services, the National Debt Helpline or 1800 007 007 can help by providing free Financial Counsellors.

Complaints

If you are not happy with the outcome of your application for payment assistance with Telstra you can lodge a complaint and we’ll work to resolve it as soon as possible.

Chat with us in My Telstra on the 'Help ?' tab.
Call us on 13 22 00 and say 'complaint'.
Go online to make a complaint.

Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) Complaints

You can raise a complaint with the TIO or call 1800 062 058.

Making a complaint will not prevent you from requesting or agreeing to payment assistance support.

Frequently asked questions

If you're struggling to keep up with your payments, you may need payment assistance. Whether it's a short-term set back or something longer term, we understand that payment difficulties can happen for many reasons, such as:

Change in circumstances
Loss of employment or unemployment
Personal or household illness
Low or reduced income
Impacted by disaster
Domestic or family violence
Family death
Bankruptcy or insolvency.

We take considerable care in assessing applications individually.

To be eligible for support, you must:

be an active Telstra customer; and
have problems paying for your Telstra service. You may not be eligible for our payment assistance if we verify that you don't have an active account with Telstra. If you are not eligible for our support, we will contact you and let you know why.

Our priority is to keep you connected, get you back on track and make sure you feel you can meet your financial commitments.

We'll only disconnect your Telstra services as a last resort. We'll send you written notices before this happens. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can help you. Access our Payment Assistance Policy (PDF, 316KB) for more information.

Once you've completed the payment assistance application, we'll be in touch within seven business days to let you know the outcome of your application.

To view the progress of your application request, sign in to My Telstra:

Go to Profile
Select New account activity
Select in progress.

You may no longer be eligible for help under an agreed payment assistance plan if:

You fail to meet an obligation in your payment assistance plan, such as not making an agreed payment when it is due; and/or
you don't make reasonable attempts to respond if we try to contact you about your payment assistance plan and the possibility of suspension or disconnection of your service;
we genuinely believe you are unable or unwilling to pay your debts and we want to avoid you increasing the debt you owe us; or
you agree you won't be able to complete your payment assistance plan.

Please contact us if your situation changes and you can no longer meet the obligations of your payment assistance plan or need more help.

Call 13 22 00 and say 'payment assistance' between Monday to Friday 8am to midnight AEST.

You can also email us at FinancialAssistance@team.telstra.com

At the conclusion of your payment assistance plan, we will send you confirmation advising that you will return to your usual service and plan conditions, including payment due dates.

You can reach out to discuss extending the support if your circumstances have changed or if you still require assistance at that time. If you have previously received payment assistance, you can apply again at any time.

Telstra Energy Financial Hardship Policy - Victorian Residential Customers (PDF, 251KB)

Telstra Energy Financial Hardship Policy - NSW, SA, QLD Residential Customers (PDF, 65.4KB)

Access further support

Discover other payment options or choose additional support that may be available to you.

Need more help?

Chat with us

You can chat with us Monday to Sunday 7:30am to 12am (Midnight) AEST.

Chat now

Phone

Call us and say 'payment assistance' between Monday to Friday 8am to midnight AEST.

Call 13 22 00

Request support online

Tell us more about your situation and we'll be in touch to discuss the best option for you.

Apply for payment assistance

Multilingual service

For assistance in languages other than English, call the Telstra Multilingual Service. Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm AEST.

Call 1800 241 600