You're about to apply for hardship support

We know that anyone can experience financial difficulties at one time or another. In some cases, the difficulty is temporary, and you might just need some time to get back on your feet. In others, the difficulty may be longer term. At NAB we're here to support you.

  • Please note that hardship support can’t provide you with money. If you need help with your banking (unrelated to hardship), call us on 13 13 12 to speak with one of our bankers.

Is this the right assistance I need

If you're struggling to make your fortnightly repayments for NAB Now Pay Later or your minimum monthly payments on your personal loans, home loans or credit cards, then this support may help you.

If you do not wish to apply via this form, you can contact us directly to discuss your situation over the phone:

  • Personal hardship support contact NAB Customer Care on 1800 701 599 (Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 8:00pm (AEST/AEDT), Saturday, 9:00am to 1:00pm (AEST/AEDT))
  • Business hardship support contact NAB Customer Care on 1300 961 577 (Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm AEST/AEDT)

Before you apply

What you should know

This form applies to your NAB branded products only

  • You are about to fill in an application for hardship support. You’ll need to be registered for NAB online banking. As part of this form you'll be asked to outline your current financial situation and tell us how we can assist you. We'll collect and use the information you provide to assess your hardship support request. If the information is not complete or accurate this may affect our ability to assist you. Information you provide is handled in accordance with our privacy notification.
  • For more information about NAB’s personal information handling practices, please refer to our Privacy Policy. This policy also contains information about how to lodge a privacy-related enquiry, request or complaint.
  • If you provide information on behalf of another person, please make sure that you first get their permission to share their information with us for the purposes disclosed. You should also tell them that they can get a copy of our Privacy Policy on our website (or by request). We may ask you to provide information confirming you are authorised to act for them.
  • If you apply for hardship support in relation to your NAB credit card, the credit card will be blocked from use from the time of application and any direct debit payments may not be processed for the duration of the hardship support period. You would need to monitor your direct debit transactions and if required, organise alternate arrangements to fulfill these payment obligations.
  • If you apply for hardship support in relation to your NAB Now Pay Later, it’ll be blocked along with the digital card preventing further purchases from the time of application. Any automated repayments from your linked transaction account towards your NAB Now Pay Later will be stopped or, reversed if processed, for the duration of the hardship support period. If you’re agreeing to a payment arrangement, you will need to manually make the relevant instalment through the NAB app during your hardship support period.
  • If your application for hardship support is successful, we will send you a letter confirming this and describing how the hardship arrangement will be reported to Credit Reporting Bodies. More information on NAB’s credit reporting practices is set out in our Credit Reporting Policy (see Attachment 1 of our Privacy Policy).

What happens next

  • We will endeavour to process your application based on the information you have provided us within five business days. However, we may still contact you if further information is required to assess your application.
  • Once a determination has been made on your application you and any joint account holders will receive a confirmation to your nominated email address or postal address.

Your direct/debit periodical payments

In some circumstances we will need to speak with you to provide hardship support. When we do this, we will discuss with you the impacts of the hardship support on any direct debit or periodical payment relating to your NAB accounts affected by the hardship support.

In some cases, we may be able to provide your requested hardship support without contacting you. In these circumstances there will be the following impacts on periodical payments or direct debits you have for accounts affected by the hardship support.

  • If you have a direct debit for your credit card, it will be paused and reinstated when your hardship support ends. If you’re agreeing to a payment arrangement, you will need to manually make the payment during your hardship support period.
  • If you have a direct debit or periodical payment for a home loan or a personal loan account, we'll pause it while you have the hardship support period. If you're agreeing to a payment arrangement, we'll enter a temporary direct debit or periodical payment to make those payments while you have the arrangement. When your arrangement ends, your normal direct debit/periodical payment will resume.
  • If you’ve set up any other recurring payment to an account affected by hardship support, you’ll need to adjust or postpone these payments yourself and reinstate them once the assistance ends.

Frequently asked questions

  • We’ll work out hardship support that is individual to you, taking account of the information you are providing in this application, including the period you need the assistance for and whether or not you can make any payments to your loan during that period. In some cases, hardship support may not be appropriate, and we may need to talk to you about other options.

    The Hardship support will usually take the form of either a payment break or a payment arrangement.

    A payment break means that you won’t receive calls from us during the payment break period (unless you have agreed to us checking in with you).

    A payment arrangement means you won’t receive calls from us (unless you have agreed to us checking in with you) and will make a lower regular payment that you have nominated during the payment arrangement period.

    While you’re on a payment arrangement or a payment break, your contracted repayments, interest and fees (excluding late payment fees) continue to be payable. Unless you catch up with all your outstanding amount, your account will continue to be overdue.

    When you submit your hardship support application, you’ll be unable to access redraw through self-serve options e.g. Internet Banking on your NAB home loan and personal loan accounts from the time of your application and for the duration of the hardship support period, even if you have not applied for hardship support with those accounts. If you apply for hardship support in relation to your NAB credit card, the credit card will be blocked from use from the time of application and for the duration of the hardship support period.

  • If we end up giving you a payment arrangement or payment break (described above) by way of hardship support, this is not a variation of your credit contract. There will be no change to the way interest is calculated, or to the contracted repayments that you are obliged to make. If you are in arrears, unless you catch up all your outstanding amount, your account will continue to be overdue.

    Hardship support doesn’t waive any rights we have to collect the debt you owe us and doesn’t override the terms of your contract or any default notices or other legal notices we may have sent you. If you have agreed to hardship support during a default notice period, we will postpone taking any action under our default notice just so long as you catch up on the outstanding amounts at the end of the hardship support period. If you fail to catch up on your overdue amounts at the end of the hardship support period, we may not be required to re-issue legal notices before continuing collections activity on the account after the end of the hardship support period.

  • In addition to the Banking Code of Practice, the National Credit Code has provisions dealing with hardship assistance applying to National Credit Code regulated credit contracts. If you tell us that you are or will have difficulty in making payments under a regulated credit contract, we are required under the National Credit Code to tell you within certain time periods whether we will assist you by changing the terms of your credit contract and give you in writing either details of the changes that we have agreed or an explanation of why we do not agree.

  • Once you have submitted your application for Financial Assistance we’ll send you an email to confirm we have received it. We’ll be in touch with you again to either confirm you have Financial Assistance or to discuss other options if they seem more appropriate.

  • If you have any default on your account, we aren’t permitted to report it to a credit reporting body until we have sent you notices required by the Privacy Act relating to the default and have given you a particular time to see if you can remedy the default.

    If we had sent you the relevant notices before the hardship support period, we’ll report the default after the hardship support period ends (provided the minimum notice period has passed) unless you remedy it.

    If we hadn’t sent you the notices before the hardship support period, we’ll send them to you after the hardship support ends and then report the default once the notice period expires unless you remedy the default.

    Information about your defaults that we report to credit reporting bodies can be accessed by credit providers to assess your credit worthiness, for instance when you apply for further credit.

  • Repayment History Information (RHI) only applies if you’re an individual and indicates whether due payments have been made in a particular month for any credit contracts you have. We provide this information to each of the credit reporting bodies we work with (Equifax, Experian and illion) monthly. Credit providers might access the information to assess your creditworthiness if you’re applying for more credit.

  • If you agree to a financial hardship arrangement with your credit provider regarding a credit card, personal loan, car loan, home loan or other credit product that is regulated by the National Credit Code, Financial Hardship Information is reported to the credit reporting bodies we work with. This indicates that a special payment arrangement is in place due to financial hardship and, if so, whether the requirements of such an arrangement are being met.

    The credit report will not include the reason for the hardship arrangement, or the specific details of the arrangement. Financial hardship indicators on your credit report do not impact your credit score.

  • How a hardship arrangement is reported to Credit Reporting Bodies is dependent upon whether the relevant credit account is regulated by the National Credit Code. If the relevant credit account is regulated by the National Credit Code, Financial Hardship Information will be reported during the period of the agreed hardship assistance. If your application for hardship support is successful, we will send you a letter confirming this and describing how the hardship arrangement will be reported to the Credit Reporting Bodies.

    If your account is overdue at the end of your hardship support period, this will be reflected in your RHI within 14 days of your support ending, unless we have agreed to provide further support. The RHI provided to credit reporting bodies will reflect how many months overdue the account is. RHI reporting will remain on your credit file for 24 months and FHI will remain for 12 months, credit providers might access the information to assess future lending applications.

    More information on NAB’s credit reporting practices is set out in our Credit Reporting Policy (see Attachment 1 of our Privacy Policy.

  • You can check your credit file through the credit reporting bodies we work with:

    For more information about credit reporting, visit the Australian Government’s Credit Smart, opens in new window website.

    Find out more about ​Your credit report: access, corrections and complaints.

Please answer these questions before applying for hardship support

Are you having difficulty making payments on your existing NAB credit card or loan?

Yes

Are you looking to apply for additional funds or to consolidate your existing lending?

Yes

Please note that hardship support can’t provide you with money.  If you need help with your banking (unrelated to hardship), you can call us on 13 13 12 to speak with one of our bankers.

No

No

This application for hardship applies to existing NAB loans or credit cards. For additional support view our Customer Care Kit, or if you’re looking to apply for further lending call 13 13 12 to speak with a banker.

Important information