Financial difficulty assistance
We understand there may be times when your personal circumstances change. You may experience an unexpected event or changes outside of your control like losing your job, suffering an illness or injury, being affected by a natural disaster, or a downturn in your business.
As a result, if you can’t afford the minimum repayment on your loan or credit card, and would like us to consider if we can provide financial difficulty assistance, please contact us immediately. The sooner you contact us the sooner we can try to help you.
In many instances help can be provided quickly and efficiently over the phone.
Otherwise we may need to do a more detailed assessment of your personal and financial circumstances to identify how we might be able to help.
Financial difficulty assistance is available to you, whether you are an individual, joint account holder, guarantor or small business customer. If you have a joint account and are experiencing financial difficulty, we can assist you individually if you request it.
Apply for assistance
If you would like to apply for assistance, please contact your relevant Agribusiness Relationship Manager or Rural Bank Customer Service Team on 1300 660 115.
Assistance options
This will depend on your personal circumstances and financial situation, and may include:
- Tailoring a payment arrangement;
- Deferring or reducing loan payments for a defined period of time;
- Extending the loan term;
- Capitalising loan arrears;
- Product conversion;
- Debt consolidation;
- Interest only period.
It is important to contact us early so that we can discuss your situation and provide the best options available to you.
Application process
If you think you are, or will be, unable to meet your debt obligations please contact us as soon as possible.
Depending on your situation we may be able to provide assistance quickly and efficiently over the phone.
Alternatively we may require further information and documentation to help us understand your financial position and determine whether assistance is appropriate, such as:
- A statement of financial position to be completed summarising your current income, expenditure, assets and liabilities;
- An employment contract and/or payslips;
- Your account statements;
- Centrelink statement and/or social security payment details;
- A medical certificate from a qualified medical practitioner;
- An employment separation statement;
- A contract of sale/ sales agency agreement;
- Other documents which support your request.
Once you have provided us with all the requested information necessary to review your financial situation, we will provide you with a decision within 21 days.
Assessing your application
Our dedicated team will contact you. When assessing your request they will take into account factors including:
- The reason for financial difficulty;
- Your current financial position;
- Your ability to meet the commitments under the proposed arrangement and future repayments under the contract;
- The ability to rehabilitate your circumstances (based on whether the financial difficulty assistance will offer genuine relief to restore your financial situation).
Letting you know
We will tell you in writing if we can assist you, the reason for our decision to provide assistance and the main details of the proposed new arrangements
You’ll need to ensure that you meet the terms of the new arrangement.
If you are subsequently unable to meet these terms, you should contact us as soon as possible to discuss your situation.
If your application is declined
There may be a number of reasons why we decide not to provide financial difficulty assistance. If this is the case the reason for the decision will be explained to you in writing. We’ll also seek to discuss the next steps we will take and other available options with you.
Not satisfied with the outcome?
Please contact our team who will promptly investigate your complaint and notify you the outcome.
Other useful resources
If you are experiencing financial hardship, useful resources are available to you. These include:
- The National Debt Helpline have easy to use, step-by-step guides on how to tackle debts - ndh.org.au. You can also call the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 to talk to a financial counsellor for free, independent advice about your situation.
- The Small Business Debt Helpline is a free financial counselling service for small business owners in financial difficulty. Visit sbdh.org.au or call 1800 413 828.
- Financial Counselling Australia will help you find a financial counselling agency in your area - www.financialcounsellingaustralia.org.au.
- ASIC’s ‘MoneySmart’ website provides information and tools to help you make the most of your money - www.moneysmart.gov.au
- The ABA’s ‘Financial Hardship’ website can help know what to do if you are experiencing financial difficulties, how your bank can help, where to go for more information and how to apply for help - https://www.ausbanking.org.au/resource/resource.pdf/
- The CreditSmart website has information on managing debt and hardship assistance.
