Payment Assistance Policy

Quick Summary

Financial hardship is when you're having trouble paying your Goodtel bill but expect to get back on track with the right support. You have the right to apply for short-term assistance (up to 3 billing cycles) or long-term assistance, free of charge. We offer options including payment extensions, tailored payment plans, bill discounts, spend controls, and moving to a plan that better suits you. Disconnection is always our last resort. To apply, call 1800 114 663, email hello@goodtel.com.au, or complete our online form. If you're unhappy with our decision, you can ask us to review it, or contact the National Debt Helpline (1800 007 007) for free financial counselling, or the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (1800 062 058, tio.com.au) for independent review.

1. About this policy

Goodtel is a certified B Corp telco, and being good to our customers is part of who we are. If you're finding it hard to pay your bills, for any reason, we want to help you stay connected. This policy is approved by Goodtel's Managing Director, who is responsible for its implementation and operation, and is reviewed at least once every 12 months.

2. Our commitment to you

• The goal of this policy is to prioritise keeping customers experiencing financial hardship connected.
• We will only ever use suspension or disconnection as a measure of last resort.
• You have a right to apply for financial hardship assistance.
• Applying for assistance, being assessed, and receiving support is completely free

3. What counts as financial hardship?

Financial hardship is a situation where you're unable to pay what you owe us, but you believe you'll be able to if we agree to change your payment arrangements. This can happen for many reasons, including:

• personal or household illness
• unemployment
• low or insufficient income, including a reduction in income
• being a victim-survivor of domestic or family violence
• a death in the family
• a change in personal or family circumstances
• a natural disaster
• any other unexpected event affecting your income or expenses
• any other reasonable cause

You can apply for short-term assistance (help for up to 3 billing cycles) or long-term assistance (help for longer than 3 billing cycles).

4. How to contact us and apply

You can reach us, and apply for assistance, using any of the ways you'd normally contact Goodtel:

• Phone: 1800 114 663, Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm AEST
• Email: hello@goodtel.com.au
• Online: our Payment Assistance application form

You can check on the progress of your application at any time by contacting us using the details above and quoting your application reference number.

5. You won't always need to provide evidence

We will not ask you to provide evidence of your financial hardship if:

• you're seeking short-term assistance (help for up to 3 billing cycles), or
• it appears you may be a victim-survivor of domestic or family violence.

In other cases, we may only ask for evidence if your application is for long-term assistance (more than 3 billing cycles) and at least one of the following applies:

• the amount you owe is more than $1,000,
• you've been a Goodtel customer for less than 2 months, or
• we reasonably believe there's a possibility of fraud.

We will never request evidence that's irrelevant to your application or unreasonably onerous to provide. If we do need to ask for evidence, we will:

• give you the name, email and phone number of a contact person to discuss the request
• give you at least an email address, an online method, and a physical address to provide the information, plus an alternative contact point if you have accessibility needs
• only request what's strictly necessary, and only keep it for as long as we need it to complete our assessment
• explain how the information will be used and kept, and let you know if we're unable to complete our assessment without it
• let you know that providing false or misleading information may result in us cancelling our assessment

6. How we assess your application

Once you've submitted a complete application, we will:

• let you know how long we expect the assessment to take
• complete our assessment within 5 business days of receiving your complete application
• tell you the outcome within 2 business days after we've completed our assessment
• tell you immediately if it becomes clear you're not eligible

You're eligible for assistance if your situation meets the definition of financial hardship above, and you'd like to access one of our support options.

7. Support options available to you

We offer the following options, tailored to your individual circumstances and capacity to pay. If you're a victim-survivor of domestic or family violence, we'll also consider options appropriate to the ongoing management of your payments given your situation. 

Option	What it means	Standard reference
Payment extension	A short extension on your current bill's due date.	Required option (a) — postponing/extending/deferring a bill
Payment plan	Pay off an overdue balance gradually, tailored to what you can afford, on top of your regular ongoing charges.	Required option (e) — tailored payment plans
Bill discount	A reduction applied to a bill charge in appropriate circumstances.	Option (b) — discounting a bill charge
Spend controls	Limits on how much you can be charged or how much data you use on a service.	Option (g) — spend controls
Removing non-essential features	Turning off optional extras or add-ons at no cost to reduce your bill.	Option (j) — removing non-essential features at no cost
Moving to a different plan	Switching to a plan that better suits your circumstances, including a lower-cost option.	Option (j) — transferring to a product that better suits circumstances
Smaller, more frequent payments	Splitting your ongoing bill into smaller weekly or fortnightly amounts.	Additional option (beyond the required list)
Payment in advance	Paying ahead of time to cover future bills.	Additional option (beyond the required list)
Change your bill due date	Moving your monthly due date to a day that suits you better.	Additional option (beyond the required list)

We may not always be able to offer every option you request, but we'll always work with you to find a workable solution. This list doesn't limit the support we can offer, we may agree to other arrangements suited to your circumstances.  

8. Once we agree on an arrangement

An arrangement starts as soon as you tell us you agree to it. Within 2 business days of agreeing, we'll send you written confirmation covering:  

• the details of your arrangement
• your rights and obligations under it
• that you need to tell us within 14 days if your situation changes
• when we might take credit management action
• how long your arrangement will run for
• that you can ask us to review your arrangement if your situation changes 

9. If your circumstances change

Tell us as soon as you can if anything changes. If you let us know your financial hardship situation has changed, we'll review your arrangement within 5 business days of you telling us.

10. If you're unable to keep up with an arrangement 

If we consider you haven't met the terms of an agreed arrangement, we'll promptly contact you to discuss what's changed and offer to review the arrangement.

While you're discussing options with us, have an application on foot, or have an agreed arrangement in place, we will not take credit management action against you, except where you haven't met your arrangement's obligations, we've reviewed the arrangement, and at least one of the following applies: we've discussed payment options with you (or you've contacted us), we have genuine reason to believe you're unable or unwilling to pay, you agree the arrangement can't be completed, or we've been unable to reach you despite reasonable attempts (at least 3 separate attempts, on separate business days, over no more than 10 calendar days, using at least 2 methods, with at least one in writing).

Where credit management action becomes necessary, we will only use suspension or disconnection as a last resort, and we will always give you at least 10 business days' written notice first, explaining what action we're taking, when, why, any charges that apply, and how to contact us, the TIO, and financial counselling services.

We will not sell your debt while you're discussing options with us, have an application on foot, or we're reviewing your arrangement. 

11. No charge

We will never charge you to apply for, be assessed for, access, or have us administer financial hardship assistance. 

12. If you're not happy with our decision

You're welcome to ask us to review any decision we've made about your application or arrangement. Making a complaint, to us or to the TIO, won't affect your ability to also agree to an assistance arrangement with us.

You can complain to us by phone on 1800 114 663, by email at hello@goodtel.com.au, or by post.
If you're still not satisfied after speaking with us, you can take your complaint to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) for independent review, free of charge:

Website: www.tio.com.au
Phone: 1800 062 058
Email: tio@tio.com.au
Fax: 1800 630 614
Post: PO Box 276, Collins Street West, VIC 8007

13. Other places to get help

• National Debt Helpline: 1800 007 007, free and independent financial counselling
• Domestic and Family Violence support: see Goodtel's Domestic and Family Violence Statement
• National Relay Service: for customers who are Deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech or communication difficulty, call us via NRS, quoting 1800 114 663
• Translating and Interpreting Service: 131 450, if you'd like to speak with us in a language other than English

14. Application Form

See the separate Payment Assistance application form for the form to be included inside this policy.

15. Approval

This policy is approved by Goodtel's Managing Director.