Financial hardship FAQ

A: Financial hardship is when a change in your circumstances makes it difficult for you to manage your debts and make repayments when they are due. Our approach is to actively assist any member facing difficult financial circumstances.

Financial hardship can be both long term or temporary depending on your individual circumstances and could arise as a result of:

• Illness or injury
• Unemployment or a reduction in income and/or overtime allowance
• Death to co-borrower or death in the family
• Business breakdown
• Relationship separation

Further resources and additional options for help are listed below.

A: If you’re unable to meet your minimum monthly repayments or require ongoing financial assistance, we’re ready to help, please contact us as soon as possible. We can chat to you about ways to manage your credit card or loan repayments.

Depending on your individual circumstances, we may ask you to provide more information. This information will allow us to better understand your financial position, determine whether assistance will be appropriate and will allow you to explain how your circumstances have changed and how you expect them to improve in the future.

The type of information and documentation required may be dependent on a number of factors including the period of time where hardship assistance is required, the type of arrangement that may be offered to the, or whether a third party requires additional information.

We may ask you to complete a Financial Hardship Form. Based on your individual situation, we may request further information or documents from you to assess your application, such as:

• an employment confirmation letter
• income statements, such as payslips or Centrelink / Services Australia documents
• medical certificates
• real estate agreements

We will then make an assessment as to any proposal to help you make repayments of the debt on reasonable terms.

A: Hardship assistance or hardship arrangements offered by G&C Mutual Bank can vary depending on a number of factors, including:

• your individual circumstances, needs and financial situation at the time the unforseen change in personal or financial circumstances took place;
• the type of credit facility you have with us (for example, secured or unsecured loan);
• whether the period of change to your personal or financial circumstances is known;

While the suitability of options will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, some of the kinds of assistance that may be available include:

• postponement of payments for an agreed period of time;
• extending the term of the contract and reducing the amount of each payment due;
• reducing the limit available on credit contracts;
• short-term reductions in interest rates, or repayments due under the contract;
• offering different financial arrangements that will better suit your needs;
• temporary overdrafts on a one-off and temporary basis to suit short-term needs;
• providing interest-only repayment options on loans; and
• providing fee waivers

These options will be made available in circumstances where you will be able to meet the new repayment terms and you will be able to meet contractual obligations longer term.

A: No, we are not currently reporting repayment history information for anyone receiving financial hardship assistance.

A: There are a number of options available to you during, or at the end of the financial hardship period, which include:

• recommence principal & interest loan repayments
• request reduced principal & interest loan repayments and extend the term of your loan
• request interest only repayments

If you determine that your financial position is unlikely to improve, you may need to consider other longer term options which we can discuss with you at the time.

You can contact a financial counsellor or the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 to discuss your current financial situation.

A: Yes, with your signed approval we can discuss and negotiate a solution with your nominated representative such as a Financial Counsellor or other third party.

A: Whilst we will always attempt to provide assistance to those that are experiencing genuine financial difficulty, we may not always be able to provide this assistance, for a variety of reasons.

Should you disagree with a decision made by us, or wish to make a complaint in relation to your request for hardship, you can contact us by phone, mail, visiting a Service Centre or via email. Refer to the Complaints page for more information.

If we have not resolved your complaint to your satisfaction or you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint, you may contact G&C Mutual Bank’s External Dispute Resolution (EDR) Scheme, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

AFCA provides an independent financial services complaint resolution service that is free to consumers.

A: In our Elder Financial Abuse guide, we provide information to help you recognise the types and signs of elder financial abuse, give practical steps to safeguard yourself or loved ones and offer information on how to support a friend or loved one.