Financial Hardship Policy

The IT Dept Pty Ltd. Last updated 23 October 2026.

1. Who can ask

Anyone with a service from us, or who is responsible for paying for one, has a right to apply for help. Financial hardship means you want to pay but can't right now, or can only pay by going without something else. It can happen for any reason: losing work or hours, illness or injury, caring for someone, a relationship ending, domestic or family violence, a death in the family, a natural disaster, rising costs, or anything else. It can be short-term or ongoing.

You're eligible for help if that describes your situation and you'd like to use one or more of the options in section 4. You don't have to be behind on an invoice. It's often easier to help before a payment is missed than after. Asking will never be held against you, and it won't affect your service or how we treat you.

2. How to ask

Contact us any way you like and tell us you're having trouble paying. You can say "financial hardship", but any words will do. The people who can help with hardship are available 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, except public holidays:

• Phone: 02 4398 7081, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, except public holidays
• Email: hello@theitdept.au, any time (we reply during those hours)
• Online: your account at https://the-it-dept.underlay.au/portal
• Post: NSW, Australia
• National Relay Service: if you're deaf, or find it hard hearing or speaking, use the National Relay Service and ask for 02 4398 7081: Voice Relay 1300 555 727, TTY 133 677 or SMS Relay 0423 677 767, or NRS Chat, Captions and Video Relay through accesshub.gov.au.
• Interpreter: call TIS National on 131 450 and ask them to call us on 02 4398 7081. It's free.

If you can't get through, or now isn't a good time to talk, ask us to call you back: tell us the number and the time that suit you, and we'll call then.

A financial counsellor, community worker, family member or anyone else you choose can contact us for you. Just let us know it's okay, or have them tell us you've agreed. We'll deal with them as your representative for as long as you want.

There's no application form, no assessment fee, and no charge for any of the help in this policy. You can ask us how your request is going at any time, the same ways.

3. What happens next

• We'll respond within 2 working days of you getting in touch, usually sooner, to talk through your situation and the options, and tell you how long working it out is likely to take.
• We'll ask what you can realistically afford, and what help would make a difference. You won't be pushed into an arrangement you can't keep.
• From the moment you ask, we pause any payment reminders and any suspension steps on your account while we work it out with you.
• We'll decide within 5 working days of having what we need from you, and tell you the outcome within 2 working days after that. If it's clear straight away that we can't help in the way you've asked, we'll tell you straight away, and why.
• Once we agree on something, it starts straight away, and we confirm it in writing (section 6).

4. The help we can offer

These options can be combined, and we'll tailor them to you. If there's something else that would help, ask.

• More time to pay. We can extend the due date of an invoice, or hold it for an agreed period. There are no late fees or interest: we don't charge them, ever.
• A payment plan. We can split an amount you owe into smaller instalments, weekly, fortnightly or monthly, at an amount you can afford, on dates that suit you (for example, the day after payday). You pay by bank transfer (EFT) or PayID, which are both free, and you send each payment yourself, so nothing is ever taken from your account.
• A cheaper plan for a while. We can move you to a lower-priced plan available at your address, for as long as you need, at no cost. There's no fee to move back up when you're ready. Plan changes take effect when nbn completes them, usually within a day or two, and you pay the lower price by the day from then.
• A break from charges. We can stop or reduce your monthly charges for an agreed period.
• Waiving or discounting what you owe. Where it's fair given your circumstances, we can reduce an amount owing, give you a credit, or waive part or all of a debt. Once we've waived something, we won't ask for it again.
• Deferring charges. If a one-off charge is due (for example an nbn charge you agreed to), we can defer it or spread it out.
• Stopping without penalty. If what you need is to stop the service, you can cancel at any time with no exit fee. Billing stops on your cancellation date, and we never charge for days after you cancel.

We can also help you look at whether your plan still suits how you use the internet, and tell you about any other lower-cost options we know of.

5. Evidence: minimal, and never needed to start

You don't need to prove anything to ask for help, and we won't delay help while we ask questions. We never ask for evidence for short-term help (up to 3 billing cycles), or where you may be affected by domestic, family or sexual violence.

We may ask for something simple, such as a letter from a financial counsellor or a Centrelink statement, only if you need help for longer than 3 billing cycles and also more than $1,000 is owing, you've been with us for less than 2 months, or there's a real possibility of fraud. Even then, we'll ask only for what's relevant, give you a reasonable time, and keep helping you in the meantime. You can show us a document instead of sending it, and we destroy anything you send once we've made our decision.

6. Your arrangement, in writing

Within 2 working days of agreeing on an arrangement, we'll email you (or send it another way you prefer) a plain summary of:

• what we've agreed, including any amounts and dates, and what each of us will do;
• how long it lasts, and what happens when it ends;
• that you need to tell us within 14 days if your circumstances change, and that you can ask us to review it at any time;
• when we could take credit management action (section 9); and
• how to contact us, and how to complain if you need to.

We'll get in touch before an arrangement ends to check how you're going and whether you need more time.

7. If things change

Tell us any time you need to change an arrangement: if your income drops further, or you can pay more, or you just need a different plan. Please let us know within 14 days of a change, and we'll review the arrangement within 2 working days. If you miss a payment under an arrangement, we won't cancel it or act on your account; we'll contact you first and work out a new plan with you.

8. What we won't do while we're helping you

From the time you ask for help, while we're working out an arrangement, and for as long as it's in place, we will not:

• suspend, restrict or disconnect your service for non-payment;
• take any other credit management action on what you owe;
• charge late fees, interest or any fee for the assistance;
• sell or assign your debt to anyone; or
• list a default with a credit reporting body.

We never sell debts, list defaults or run credit checks with credit reporting bodies, for any customer, at any time.

9. Suspension is never automatic, and disconnection is a last resort

Nothing happens to your service automatically when an invoice is overdue: we contact you. We only ever consider suspending a service for non-payment when an amount has been unpaid for 30 days after a reminder, you haven't been in touch, and you aren't in an arrangement, waiting on a hardship request, or disputing the amount in a complaint. Even then:

• a person makes the decision; we try to reach you first by email and by phone, and every reminder and notice tells you about this policy;
• we give you at least 5 working days' written notice before any suspension, saying how much is owed, when the suspension would happen, and how to get help; and
• we don't cancel a suspended service for at least a further 30 days, and contacting us at any point during that time stops the process while we talk.

If an arrangement has broken down and we can't agree a new one, we review it first. Before taking any credit management action we try to contact you at least 3 times, on separate working days within 10 days, in at least 2 ways, one of them in writing saying what we propose to do. If we then decide suspension or disconnection is the only option left, we give you at least 10 working days' written notice saying what we'll do and when, why, the amounts owing, how it would affect your service, and how to reach us, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and free financial counselling.

We never suspend or cancel a service for non-payment where we know domestic, family or sexual violence is a factor. See our Customer Terms for the full billing and payment terms.

10. Your privacy

What you tell us about your situation stays confidential. We record only what we need to help you, restrict who can see it, and use it only to provide assistance. It's handled under our Privacy Policy, and we don't share it with anyone else without your consent, unless the law requires it.

11. Domestic, family and sexual violence

Domestic, family and sexual violence can be a reason you can't pay. If you're affected, including by financial abuse, you get priority help, and we'll never ask you for evidence. If charges or a debt on the account were caused by the violence, or it isn't fair for you to carry them, we can waive them. We'll never ask you to deal with the person using violence. Our domestic, family and sexual violence support page explains all the help we offer. For confidential support any time, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732. If you are in immediate danger, call 000 from a mobile or another phone.

12. Free, independent help

• National Debt Helpline: free, confidential financial counselling on 1800 007 007 or at ndh.org.au. A financial counsellor can talk to us on your behalf, and we'll give any arrangement they propose the same consideration as one you propose yourself.
• Moneysmart: free government tools for budgeting and managing bills and debt, at moneysmart.gov.au.

13. If you're not happy

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your request, or with our decision, tell us and ask us to review it. Complaints from people who have asked for, or are receiving, hardship help are treated as urgent under our Complaints Handling Policy and resolved within 2 working days. Making a complaint doesn't stop you agreeing to an arrangement with us. If we still can't agree, you can contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) for free: phone 1800 062 058, visit tio.com.au, or write to PO Box 276, Collins Street West VIC 8007. The IT Dept Pty Ltd is a member of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman scheme.

14. About this policy

This policy is published so anyone can read it before they need it, at https://the-it-dept.underlay.au/portal/legal/hardship. We'll send you a copy free (by email, by post, in large print, or in another format you need) or talk you through it over the phone, with an interpreter if you'd like one. Just ask. We review it at least once a year, and everyone who helps customers is trained to use it.

About us

The IT Dept Pty Ltd (ABN 12 665 405 505). The IT Dept Pty Ltd supplies your service, is the party to your contract and bills you. The IT Dept Pty Ltd is a member of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman scheme.

Contact us at hello@theitdept.au or on 02 4398 7081 (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, except public holidays). Our address for notices is NSW, Australia.