NAB is adding 500 employees, including more than 400 external hires, to its customer support team as the bank starts checking-in with customers who have received a repayment pause on around 80,000 home loans to help them through the impact of COVID-19.

The new roles mean NAB will have added more than 1000 people to directly support customers during the crisis, including existing NAB bankers trained with new skills to support customer contact teams.

NAB Chief Customer Experience Officer, Rachel Slade, said NAB bankers 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.

“Already in the past week we’ve had hundreds of customers proactively contact us to reverse their home loan deferrals and resume making payments because they felt ready to do so.”

In the calls to customers, NAB’s dedicated support team will outline the current position of the customer’s home loan, the future impact of the repayment pause on their loan balance, and discuss customers’ plans for the months ahead.

“We know many of our customers will continue to feel the impact of COVID-19 for a long time and our expanded team will mean we can be available to support them through this,” Ms Slade said.

Nab assist roles are now open, find out more information here.