diff --git a/src/transformers/optimization.py b/src/transformers/optimization.py
index 4a92b18a30314b..ca316d19d3e17a 100644
--- a/src/transformers/optimization.py
+++ b/src/transformers/optimization.py
@@ -420,6 +420,12 @@ class Adafactor(Optimizer):
 
             Adafactor(model.parameters(), scale_parameter=True, relative_step=True, warmup_init=True, lr=None)
 
+        When using ``lr=None`` with :class:`~transformers.Trainer` you will most likely need to use :class:`~transformers.optimization.AdafactorSchedule` scheduler as following::
+
+            from transformers.optimization import Adafactor, AdafactorSchedule
+            optimizer = Adafactor(model.parameters(), scale_parameter=True, relative_step=True, warmup_init=True, lr=None)
+            lr_scheduler = AdafactorSchedule(optimizer)
+            trainer = Trainer(..., optimizers=(optimizer, lr_scheduler))
 
     Usage::
 
@@ -588,3 +594,52 @@ def step(self, closure=None):
                     p.data.copy_(p_data_fp32)
 
         return loss
+
+
+class AdafactorSchedule(LambdaLR):
+    """
+    Since :class:`~transformers.optimization.Adafactor` performs its own scheduling, if the training loop relies on a
+    scheduler (e.g., for logging), this class creates a proxy object that retrieves the current lr values from the
+    optimizer.
+
+    It returns ``initial_lr`` during startup and the actual ``lr`` during stepping.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, optimizer, initial_lr=0.0):
+        def lr_lambda(_):
+            return initial_lr
+
+        for group in optimizer.param_groups:
+            group["initial_lr"] = initial_lr
+        super().__init__(optimizer, lr_lambda)
+        for group in optimizer.param_groups:
+            del group["initial_lr"]
+
+    def get_lr(self):
+        opt = self.optimizer
+        lrs = [
+            opt._get_lr(group, opt.state[group["params"][0]])
+            for group in opt.param_groups
+            if group["params"][0].grad is not None
+        ]
+        if len(lrs) == 0:
+            lrs = self.base_lrs  # if called before stepping
+        return lrs
+
+
+def get_adafactor_schedule(optimizer, initial_lr=0.0):
+    """
+    Get a proxy schedule for :class:`~transformers.optimization.Adafactor`
+
+    Args:
+        optimizer (:class:`~torch.optim.Optimizer`):
+            The optimizer for which to schedule the learning rate.
+        initial_lr (:obj:`float`, `optional`, defaults to 0.0):
+            Initial lr
+
+    Return:
+        :class:`~transformers.optimization.Adafactor` proxy schedule object.
+
+
+    """
+    return AdafactorSchedule(optimizer, initial_lr)
diff --git a/tests/test_trainer.py b/tests/test_trainer.py
index 3610f98d819f9d..e5c2bf7b88bf3c 100644
--- a/tests/test_trainer.py
+++ b/tests/test_trainer.py
@@ -589,6 +589,25 @@ def test_custom_optimizer(self):
         self.assertFalse(torch.allclose(trainer.model.b, b))
         self.assertEqual(trainer.optimizer.state_dict()["param_groups"][0]["lr"], 1.0)
 
+    @require_torch
+    def test_adafactor_lr_none(self):
+        # test the special case where lr=None, since Trainer can't not have lr_scheduler
+
+        from transformers.optimization import Adafactor, AdafactorSchedule
+
+        train_dataset = RegressionDataset()
+        args = TrainingArguments("./regression")
+        model = RegressionModel()
+        optimizer = Adafactor(model.parameters(), scale_parameter=True, relative_step=True, warmup_init=True, lr=None)
+        lr_scheduler = AdafactorSchedule(optimizer)
+        trainer = Trainer(model, args, train_dataset=train_dataset, optimizers=(optimizer, lr_scheduler))
+        trainer.train()
+
+        (a, b) = self.default_trained_model
+        self.assertFalse(torch.allclose(trainer.model.a, a))
+        self.assertFalse(torch.allclose(trainer.model.b, b))
+        self.assertGreater(trainer.optimizer.state_dict()["param_groups"][0]["lr"], 0)
+
     def test_model_init(self):
         train_dataset = RegressionDataset()
         args = TrainingArguments("./regression", learning_rate=0.1)