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Financial hardship support.
If life has changed and you’re finding it hard to keep up with payments, we're here to help.
What financial support provides.
Financial hardship support may be available if you have lending with Westpac. It provides short-term help while you work through a difficult time. Depending on your situation, we may be able to:
- Reduce your repayments for a period of time
- Extend the term of your loan
- Pause repayments for a period of time
- Defer repayments for an agreed period
- Stop interest being charged on a credit card for a period, or
- Reduce the interest rate on some lending product.
Before you apply.
Check if one of these options will help:
- If you have insurance, such as trauma cover or redundancy cover, you may want to make a claim first
- If a joint borrower has died and this is affecting payments, contact our deceased estates team first on 0800 756 872, Monday to Thursday 8am to 5:30pm and Friday 8am to 5pm.
Who can apply.
Financial hardship support could be available to you if you have lending with Westpac and you’ve had a change in your circumstances that means you can’t keep up with repayments now or may not be able to soon.
If you have a non-lending product like a transactional account, other support may still be available. A change in circumstances could mean losing your job, reduced income, illness or injury, a relationship ending, or the death of a spouse or partner.
We look at each application individually. If you’re not sure if this is right for you, please call us on 0800 772 771, weekdays 8am to 5pm.
What other help is available?
If this support is not right for you, there may be other ways we can help.
- For an overdrawn transactional account, call 0800 402 802, weekdays 8am to 6pm.
- To talk about debt consolidation or other lending options call 0800 177 277, weekdays 8am to 6pm.
- To arrange payment of missed repayments or arrears, call our Customer Care team on 0800 402 802, weekdays 8am to 6pm.
- Other support options include budgeting help, account support, guidance, information about Work and Income and Money Talks, who provide free, independent and confidential budgeting advice.
Depending on your situation, KiwiSaver hardship may be a better option. To apply for KiwiSaver hardship, you’ll need to complete a separate KiwiSaver hardship application.
For more information, read about accessing your KiwiSaver early. To help with this process, call the KiwiSaver team on 0508 972 254, weekdays 8:30am to 5pm.
Important things to know.
If we approve financial hardship assistance for you, we will report that assistance to credit reporting agencies and a hardship flag will be added to the affected account or accounts including in your support phase of hardship.
This may affect future credit assessment, for example when applying for lending, hire purchase, or where a credit check is undertaken as part of a rental property application.
You may also pay more interest over the life of your loan if your repayments are reduced or changed.
Asking for help can be difficult but contacting us early may give you more options. If repayments get too far behind, we may have fewer ways to help.
If you’d like to talk through what this could mean for you and work out the best next step, call our Financial Solutions team on 0800 772 771, weekdays 8am to 5pm.
How to apply.
To get help with your repayments, you can apply online.
Before you start, it helps to have your income (how much you earn) and expenses (how much you spend) ready. We may also ask for documents to support your application, such as:
- Work and Income documents
- Medical information, and/or
- Proof of income and expenses, such as bank statements.
If you don’t have lending with Westpac, you won’t be able to use this application.
If you need help at any stage, call our Financial Solutions team on 0800 772 771, weekdays 8am to 5pm.
Applying for financial hardship does not automatically mean your application will be approved.
Apply in Westpac One®
If you use Westpac One, this is the fastest way to apply.
Apply online
If you don’t use Westpac One, you can apply through the website.
KiwiSaver hardship is a separate process.
If you need to access your KiwiSaver money because of financial hardship, you’ll need to apply for KiwiSaver hardship separately.
This application is only for lending hardship and does not include KiwiSaver. Read more about accessing your KiwiSaver early.
How long does it take?
Once we receive your complete application, we'll review it as quickly as we can. If we don’t need any more information from you, we'll let you know the outcome within 20 working days.
If we need more information, we'll ask for it within 10 working days of receiving your application. Once we receive that information, we'll let you know the outcome as soon as we can, and no later than:
- 10 working days after we receive the extra information we asked for, or
- 20 working days after we asked you for more information, whichever is later.
Contact us.
Talk to us
Our Financial Solutions team is here to help, weekdays from 8am to 5pm.
Visit us in branch
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Contact usTools & support.
Budgeting advice
Money Talks provides free, independent and confidential budgeting advice. If you are worried about your finances, their financial mentors can talk you through your options and help you get on top of your debt.
Budget calculator
Are there any expenses you could reduce? Our budget calculator can help you look at your income and spending and build a personal budget.
Managing Your Money workshops
If you would like help building your money management skills, we offer free Managing Your Money workshops and webinars.
Frequently asked questions.
Can I apply for both KiwiSaver hardship and financial hardship at the same time?
Yes. They’re separate types of support, so you can apply for both at the same time. You will need to complete two separate forms: The financial hardship application form and the KiwiSaver financial hardship application form.
If I withdraw my financial hardship application, will it affect my credit report or place a hardship flag on my profile?
No. A hardship flag is only added to your credit report if your financial hardship application is approved.
Is there a limit to how many times I can apply for financial hardship?
There is no overall limit on how many times you can apply for financial hardship. However, there are timeframe limits on repeat hardship applications.
For example, a new hardship application generally cannot be made within four months of the previous hardship application unless the circumstances are materially different or we agree otherwise. If you need help, please contact us and we’ll discuss the options available to you.