If you’re an Australian citizen who is looking for the most convenient method available out there to claim government benefits, consider taking a look at what you can do with a Centrelink login. When you create an account with Centrelink, you could gain access to government benefits from the comfort of your home.

Below, discover the steps on how to create your Centrelink login account and access all the other services available.

How to get a Centrelink login

To create an account with Centrelink, you’ll need to first set up a myGov account via my.gov.au directly. It will ask you to agree to the terms of use and submit an email address, mobile number, password, and a security question.

After you set up a myGov account, you can head to the Centrelink online login portal and sign up for an account. During this process, you will need to link the Centrelink account with your myGov account. However, you will also need to have a Customer Reference Number. If you have received a Centrelink payment, you can refer to it and find your Customer Reference Number. This is where you can take a look at the letters sent to you by Centrelink. If you can’t find such a letter, take a look at your Health Care Card or you can physically visit one of the Centrelink branches to locate your Customer Reference Number.

After submitting your details, you will be able to create a Centrelink account and use it to access the online services available.

What can you do with your Centrelink login?

After you know how to set up a Centrelink login account, you’ll need to understand what you can do with it.  Below, we list a few things you can do:

Borrow money

If you need to get additional funds apart from the normal benefit, you can think about using Centrelink. Any person who receives one out of the benefits including carer payment, age pension, disability support pension, widow B pension, new start allowance, youth allowance, and wife pension could be able to request an advance through Centrelink. You can simply click on the URL on “Apply for Advance” where it will check whether you’re eligible or not. If you’re eligible, you will be able to get started with it.

Urgent payments

You can request crisis or urgent payments through Centrelink. This is quite different from the advance payments. If you have gone through a life-changing event and, as a result, are facing financial difficulties, you can request urgent payments. Some types of crisis situations include leaving prison, family and domestic violence, or encountering a loss after a disaster that is not covered by any disaster recovery payments.

Disaster recovery payments

After encountering a disaster, you can request a disaster recovery payment from Centrelink. This may be a one-off payment which you could get after a disaster such as a flood, bushfire, or even terrorism. An adult can get $1,000 while a kid can get $400 out of the disaster recovery payments.

The Centrelink online estimator

It is also possible for you to discover some useful tools in your Centrelink login area which can help you to compare and calculate the payments without going through any struggles. It is worthy to have a basic understanding of those online tools as well.

One of the tools that you can find in Centrelink is the Payment and Service Finder. You can use this tool to determine how much money you will be able to get at the end of the day. In addition, you can use it to determine how much you’ll receive out of Centrelink including allowances and pensions. If you want to get childcare assistance and family tax benefits, you can use Centrelink online estimators to help you.

There is a Compensation Estimator available in Centrelink to understand whether a compensation payment you get has the ability to create an impact on a regular benefit that you are getting. You will be able to make an informed decision based on these details.

These are a couple of tools you’ll find in your Centrelink account but you can find many other tools to help you be informed before you make any decision.

Scheduling an appointment with Centrelink

If you want to schedule an appointment with Centrelink online instead of calling, you can use the Centrelink online account to do so.

To schedule an appointment, sign into the Centrelink account via myGov, select “Personal Details” from the menu, and pick the option named “Manage Appointments”. This is where you will be able to create and manage your appointments with ease. You can pick an appointment that you want to manage through the Centrelink account and click on the “Reschedule” button. This is where you can easily change the date and time as well as confirm your appointment.

Final words…

As you can see, those who want to access the services offered by the Department of Human Services might want to consider setting up an online account with Centrelink. This way, you will be able to get your services within a few minutes and manage everything from the comfort of your home.