{"id":21124,"date":"2024-03-13T10:46:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T23:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.letsbemates.com.au\/mate\/?page_id=21124"},"modified":"2025-06-27T15:11:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T05:11:39","slug":"payment-assistance","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.letsbemates.com.au\/mate\/payment-assistance\/","title":{"rendered":"Payment Assistance | MATE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>MATE&#8217;s Payment Assistance Policy supports our customers facing financial hardship, ensuring they understand their rights and available assistance. You have the right to apply for both short-term and long-term assistance, free of charge.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"accordion-list\">\n<div class=\"accordion\">\n<p class=\"accordion-header\">\u25ba What classifies as financial hardship?<\/p>\n<div class=\"accordion-content\">\nIf you&#8217;re experiencing issues paying your bill due to financial hardship, as defined below (or similar reasons), you can review our Payment Assistance Policy and submit an application:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>you are ill, or you have been ill (recently)<\/li>\n<li>someone in your household is ill or has been ill<\/li>\n<li>you are unemployed or have been unemployed<\/li>\n<li>your income is low<\/li>\n<li>you don\u2019t have enough income<\/li>\n<li>your access to income has reduced<\/li>\n<li>you suffer, or have suffered, domestic violence<\/li>\n<li>you suffer, or have suffered, family violence<\/li>\n<li>there has been a death in your family<\/li>\n<li>there has been a change in your personal circumstances<\/li>\n<li>there has been a change in your family circumstances<\/li>\n<li>there is, or has been, a natural disaster<\/li>\n<li>an unexpected event or unforeseen change has reduced your income<\/li>\n<li>an unexpected event or unforeseen change has increased your expenditure<\/li>\n<li>there is some other reasonable cause<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion\">\n<p class=\"accordion-header\">\u25ba What assistance options are available?<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"accordion-content\">\nThe assistance options could include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>to allow you more time to pay a bill<\/li>\n<li>to accept a payment plan tailored to your ability to pay<\/li>\n<li>to put controls on you incurring charges e.g. spend controls<\/li>\n<li>to put restrictions on your service<\/li>\n<li>to remove non-essential service features, without any cost penalty to you<\/li>\n<li>to transfer you to a different product that better suits your circumstances<\/li>\n<li>to adjust internal threshold limits so that you are not disconnected<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion\">\n<p class=\"accordion-header\">\u25ba What if I need a financial counsellor?<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"accordion-content\">\n<p>If you&#8217;re struggling to make payments, we recommend contacting a financial counsellor. To find and contact a financial counselling service that\u2019s available and suitable for you, visit the Australian Government information page at <a href=\"http:\/\/moneysmart.gov.au\/managing-debt\/financial-counselling\">moneysmart.gov.au\/managing-debt\/financial-counselling<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion\">\n<p class=\"accordion-header\">\u25ba How can I make a complaint?<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"accordion-content\">\n<p>If you wish to make a complaint on the outcome of a financial hardship assessment, you can do so via our Complaints Handling Process. You can make a complaint to us by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Phoning <strong>13 14 13 <\/strong>8:30am &#8211; 7:00pm on Mon-Fri (8:30am &#8211; 5:00pm on Sat-Sun) and stating that you wish to make a complaint;<\/li>\n<li>Emailing <strong>support@letsbemates.com.au<\/strong> and stating that you wish to make a complaint;<\/li>\n<li>Post to <strong>340 Victoria St, Wetherill Park NSW 2164<\/strong> and stating that you wish to make a complaint.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you are still not happy with the outcome of your complaint after following our dispute resolution process, you can contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) for independent mediation. The TIO can be contacted by calling 1800 062 058 or visiting the TIO website at <a href=\"http:\/\/tio.com.au\/making-a-complaint\">tio.com.au\/making-a-complaint<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00b26b;\">Important links<\/span><\/h3>\n<div class=\"accordion-list\">\n<div class=\"accordion\">\n<p class=\"accordion-header\"><strong>\ud83d\udd17 MATE Payment Assistance Policy (PDF)<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"accordion-content\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.letsbemates.com.au\/includes\/uploads\/Important%20Stuff\/mate_payment_assistance_policy.pdf\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10932\" src=\"https:\/\/www.letsbemates.com.au\/mate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pdf-icon-1-150x150.png\" alt=\"Pdf Icon\" width=\"60\" height=\"60\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.letsbemates.com.au\/mate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pdf-icon-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.letsbemates.com.au\/mate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pdf-icon-1.png 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 60px) 100vw, 60px\" \/> Payment Assistance Policy<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion\">\n<p class=\"accordion-header\"><strong>\ud83d\udd17 MATE Financial Hardship Assistance \u2013 Application Form (Online version)<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"accordion-content\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.letsbemates.com.au\/mate\/financial-hardship-assistance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Financial Hardship Assistance &#8211; Application Form<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion\">\n<p class=\"accordion-header\"><strong>\ud83d\udd17 MATE Financial Hardship Assistance &#8211; Application Form (PDF version)<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"accordion-content\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.letsbemates.com.au\/includes\/uploads\/Important%20Stuff\/mate_financial_hardship_assistance_application.pdf\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10932\" src=\"https:\/\/www.letsbemates.com.au\/mate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pdf-icon-1-150x150.png\" alt=\"Pdf Icon\" width=\"60\" height=\"60\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.letsbemates.com.au\/mate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pdf-icon-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.letsbemates.com.au\/mate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pdf-icon-1.png 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 60px) 100vw, 60px\" \/> Financial Hardship Assistance &#8211; Application Form<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MATE&#8217;s Payment Assistance Policy supports our customers facing financial hardship, ensuring they understand their rights and available assistance. You have the right to apply for both short-term and long-term assistance, free of charge. \u25ba What classifies as financial hardship? If you&#8217;re experiencing issues paying your bill due to financial hardship, as defined below (or similar&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18398,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"acf":{"mate_custom_head_html_content":"","wp_breadcrumbs":"payment assistance","has_parent":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Payment Assistance | MATE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you need help with making payments? MATE&#039;s Payment Assistance Policy supports those facing financial hardship. 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