Financial hardship policy

Last Updated On 18-Jun-2024
Effective Date 18-Jun-2024

We understand that experiencing financial difficulty is challenging so if you are in urgent financial need of the benefits under your policy or are concerned that you cannot pay an amount you owe to us, please make this clear to us at your earliest opportunity.

To support you in any financial hardship you are experiencing, we may look to:

• Expedite the assessment and resolution of your claim, where possible; and/or
• Facilitate a financial hardship arrangement appropriate to you to help ease your urgent financial need.

 

In the assessment of your request for financial hardship support, we will ensure consideration for all reasonable evidence — for example:

• Evidence of a serious illness that prevents you from earning income;
• Evidence of a disability, including a disability caused by mental illness;
• If you are a Centrelink client, your Centrelink statements; and
• Evidence of your unemployment.

 

The above information will be requested from you only if we deem it reasonably necessary to use it to assess your application for financial hardship support.

For assistance, you can contact the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007.

Vulnerable customers

We understand the importance of recognising signs of vulnerability in its interactions with customers. We provide all customer services staff with training on how to identify a customer who may be suffering some detriment, to act with empathy and provide additional assistance if required.

We recognise that there are many personal circumstances which might lead to a vulnerability from literacy and numeracy issues, a language barrier, learning difficulties, problems with disability or mental health, to a lack of understanding caused by inexperience, generation gap, remote location, financial distress, cultural background or family violence. In order to help address these vulnerabilities, our staff are able to offer additional support in a number of ways, with multilingual staff, 24/7 customer services and assistance and a choice of communication methods. We design our products to be clear and jargon free and provide comprehensive Q&A guides. Most importantly we listen to our customers and act on their feedback, striving to continuously improve our products and services.

Further to this, if you require the assistance of the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National), we will accept the cost of calls to use this service. 

For anyone who has hearing or speech difficulties, you can contact the National Relay Service (NRS) on:

t: 1800 555 660
e: [email protected]

We also understand that discussing customer vulnerabilities may result in the handling and recording of a customer’s sensitive personal data. We ensure the protection of this data in line with data protection law.