Maximum rate of pension

Supplements you may get with your pension payment include:

• Pension Supplement
• Energy Supplement
• Rent Assistance.

If you’ve specified a loan amount each fortnight, you can change this amount at any time. Your request must be in writing and you must sign it.

If you’re member of a couple your partner must sign the request even if they don’t own the property. Read more about how we define a relationship.

Example of maximum rate for pension

Claudia gets the full rate of Disability Support Pension (DSP) which in this example is $926. She successfully applies for a loan under the Home Equity Access Scheme. Claudia can get up to 50% of the full DSP rate as a loan, or $463. We pay the loan each fortnight with her DSP payment. She can’t get more than 50% as a loan, as she already gets the maximum pension rate.

If Claudia got less than the maximum DSP payment rate, she could borrow more. She could get a fortnightly amount of pension and loan that brings her combined amount up to 150% (1.5 times) of the maximum rate. She can’t exceed 150% of the maximum rate with the loan and pension combined.

If Claudia gets an advance payment of her loan, her fortnightly loan payments will reduce.

Example of maximum rate if you don’t get a pension

Terry is 72 and qualifies for Age Pension. But his income or assets are too high to get an Age Pension payment. Terry applies for the Home Equity Access Scheme and his application is successful.

He can get a loan amount of up to 150% (1.5 times) of the maximum rate of Age Pension. Terry chooses to get a loan payment each fortnight of the maximum rate of Age Pension. Terry gets all of the payment as a loan.

Terry can apply to get part of his loan as a lump sum advance payment. The most we can advance in a 26 fortnight period is 50% of the maximum rate of Age Pension.

If Terry gets a lump sum advance payment, his fortnightly loan payments will reduce for the next 26 fortnights. He can still get fortnightly loan payments during that period. But they’ll be at a rate of up to 100% of the maximum Age Pension rate.