How to repay money you owe to Centrelink

If you owe us money, we want to help you repay it in a way that best suits your situation. That’s why there are options available to you.

Your Centrelink debts won’t affect your credit rating. However, we may take action if you haven’t started repaying the money by the due date.

Your options

There are 2 main ways to repay money you owe. They are:

• in full by the due date
• over time, by setting up a payment arrangement or having deductions taken from your regular payment.

Watch our video for instructions on repaying money you owe.

Most people pay the money they owe over time.

The right option for you depends on your situation. When deciding how to repay the money, you’ll need to think of things like:

• your budget
• upcoming expenses
• any other debts you may have
• how long you want to be repaying the money.

We have examples to help you work out a repayment option that suits you.

Your repayments

How you repay money will either depend on:

• if you get a payment from us now including Child Care Subsidy
• if you no longer get a payment from us.

At times we may recover money in other ways and for other agencies.

You can manage your repayments using the Money you owe service in either:

• your Centrelink online account through myGov
• the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

Pausing your debt repayments

If you’ve been impacted by a disaster or hardship event, you may be able to pause or change your debt repayments. Read more about the flexible choices available for when you need to pause your debt repayments.