National Australian Bank has embarked on a recruitment drive as it prepares to check in on customers who have received a repayment pause on around 80,000 home loans due to the impact of Covid-19.
NAB is adding 500 employees, including more than 400 external hires, to its customer support team for the effort, which is geared to weaning customers off future payment deferrals if they can afford to do so.
In the calls to customers, NAB’s dedicated support team will outline the current position of their home loan, the future impact of the repayment pause on their loan balance, and outline all available options.
The new roles mean NAB will have added more than 1000 people to directly support customers during the crisis, including existing staff trained with new skills to support customer contact teams.
Chief customer experience officer, Rachel Slade, says the contact team would be calling as many customers as possible to have a conversation and gain a deeper understanding of their situation.
“The past few months have been incredibly difficult for so many Australians and this is an opportunity for us to speak to customers who have requested a payment pause and check how they are doing,” Ms Slade said. “The deferral has provided some immediate and much-needed relief, but if customers are able to make payments again we will be encouraging them to do so. We don’t want our customers to be in debt any longer than they need. We want our customers to choose what’s best for them."