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What is hardship assistance?
Sometimes life takes an unexpected turn - losing your job, dealing with a medical issue, a death in the family, or a relationship ending - and you may suddenly find it hard to keep up with your repayments.
How we can help.
Financial hardship assistance and support can help give you some breathing room if you’re struggling to make repayments on your loans or credit cards. There are a number of ways we may be able to help including:
- Reducing your loan repayment amounts for a period of time
- Restructuring your loan
- Allowing a loan repayment deferral.
For customers who don’t qualify for financial hardship assistance and support, we may be able to offer other options:
- To discuss an overdrawn account call 0800 402 802
- To discuss debt consolidation or other lending options call 0800 177 277
- To discuss your KiwiSaver call 0508 972 254.
Before considering a financial hardship application there are some other options you can consider:
- If you have insurance, for example for trauma cover or redundancy cover, consider making a claim first
- If you’re having difficulty repaying your loan because a loved one who was a joint borrower has passed away, please let our deceased estate team know as soon as possible on 0800 756 872 Monday to Thursday 8am to 5.30pm, Friday 8am to 5pm. We’ll talk to you about applying for financial hardship
- You might be able to use your KiwiSaver to manage unexpected expenses. Call us on 0508 972 254 to discuss.
How financial hardship assistance and support can affect you
If you receive financial hardship assistance and support, this is shared with credit reporting agencies. A hardship flag is added to your affected account or accounts.
This flag may affect your future credit checks, such as applying for hire purchase or a new rental, and could make it harder to be approved. We don’t share your account balance or any overdue amounts. The hardship flag simply shows that we’re working with you to help improve your situation.
It’s also important to know that you’re likely to pay more interest overall on your loan. This is because your repayments are reduced or changed for a period of time.
When your hardship assistance ends, your account will move into a support period for at least six months.
We know this can be a difficult decision, but it’s best to get in touch early. If repayments fall too far behind, our financial hardship options for you may be more limited.
To talk through what this could mean for you and to work out the best option, call our Financial Solutions team on 0800 772 771, weekdays 8am to 5pm.
Tools & resources.
Budgeting advice
MoneyTalks provides free, independent and confidential budgeting advice. If you have concerns about your finances, their financial mentors can talk you through options to help you get on top of your debt.
Budget calculator
Are there any expenses that can be reduced? Our budget calculator can help to assess your income and expenditure and give you good insights into creating a personal budget or reviewing your outgoings
Managing Your Money workshops
Could you benefit from reviewing or developing your money management skills? We have free Managing Your Money workshops and webinars available.
Next steps.
Apply in Westpac One®
If you're a Westpac One® digital banking customer apply there. Our financial solutions team can review your application faster.
Apply online
It’s important to contact us sooner, rather than later. If do not have access to Westpac One digital banking or are not a Westpac customer yet, you can apply by printing or filling out our online form.
Real stories from Westpac customers.
Tom was fighting cancer, Emma had recently separated, Pete’s wife had passed away, and Stu was recovering from a serious accident. They all didn’t know how they would be able to make their repayments, so they talked to Westpac.