If you’re unable to meet your repayments on a debt regulated by the National Credit Code, such as a home loan, you can notify us about this verbally or in writing and we’ll consider providing you with a temporary arrangement which is appropriate for your circumstances to help you get back on your feet. This is called ‘hardship assistance’.  

When a small business borrower is unable to make its repayments, the small business can apply for financial difficulty assistance. Wherever possible, we financial difficulty applications from small businesses the same as our hardship arrangements for our individual borrowers.

Financial difficulties or other hardship can occur for a range of reasons that are out of your control, including but not limited to:

• change in income or employment status;
• relationship breakdown;
• illness or injury;
• natural disasters.

If we become aware or if you tell us that you are experiencing financial difficulties or other hardship, we will work with you to identify ways we may be able to provide support in accordance with our policies.

We encourage you to tell us about your circumstances as this is the best way to help us help you.

Please be ready to answer some questions about your hardship or financial difficulty request, including:

• why you’re unable to make repayments.
• how long you think you’ll need hardship or financial difficulty assistance for.

Once we receive your request, we’ll either make a decision to approve or decline the request based on the information you have already provided, or ask you for more information within 21 days of your request.

If we have asked for more information, we’ll make our decision within 21 days of receiving the information requested. If you don’t respond, we’ll make a decision based on the information we already have, 28 days from when we issued our information request. 

We look at every application individually and with care and will provide you with a written notice of our decision.

Where we decline a hardship or financial difficulty request, we’ll explain why. Some reasons for declining a request include:

• your financial position cannot be restored.
• an arrangement will, or is likely to, make your circumstances worse.
• you will not have an ability to repay the amounts you owe us after the period of financial difficulty or other hardship ends.
• we do not have sufficient information to substantiate your financial hardship.

We try to provide the most appropriate hardship or financial difficulty arrangement for your situation. This could be a simple or temporary arrangement and may include:

• Reduced repayments: Paying even a small amount towards the interest owed, to reduce the amount owed at the end of the agreed time.
• Interest-only: If currently paying Principal and Interest, repayments may be reduced by changing the repayment type to Interest Only. During any Interest Only repayment period, your principal loan amount will not decrease.
• Repayment deferral: Repayments may be deferred for an agreed length of time. During this time, interest and if applicable default interest will continue to accrue in accordance with your loan contract.

Where we determine that a hardship or financial difficulty arrangement is appropriate, we will issue a variation notice to formally vary the terms of your loan contract.

It’s important to understand all of the financial consequences related to entering a hardship or financial difficulty arrangement, such as:

• Normal repayments will pause while you have an active hardship or financial difficulty arrangement. 
• If you have a reduced payment arrangement, you must meet the agreed payments to maintain your arrangement. If you don’t, we may cancel the arrangement, your credit score may be impacted and we may commence collections activity.
• Your obligations to repay your loan are not waived.
• Switching your repayments to Interest Only, may result in paying more interest over the life of the loan. You will not be paying down the principal loan balance during any Interest Only period.
• If you agree to a payment deferral:
  • you’re likely to pay more over the life of the loan, particularly if you do not increase the repayment amount at any point after the arrangement ends.
  • interest continues to accrue and be applied to your loan during this time. So your loan balance will increase during this period.

No, your credit score for a consumer credit report will not be impacted by a hardship arrangement.

For each month that you enter into a hardship arrangement with us, ‘financial hardship information’ will be recorded on your consumer credit report file 12 months. This will not impact your credit score.

At the end of the arrangement period, you’ll need to return to your normal repayments.

Before your hardship or financial difficulty arrangement period ends, we’ll contact you to get an update on your situation and listen to your preferred approach moving forward. 

If you are still experiencing hardship or financial difficulty, you may apply for an extension which will require further assessment and sometimes we may ask for updated supporting documentation.

If you have accrued interest arrears over the arrangement period, we might discuss the following options with you:

• Lump sum repayment: If you have the funds available, you can simply repay the arrears in a lump sum and get back to scheduled repayments.
• Payment plan: Bring the account up to date over an agreed length of time by repaying the arrears in instalments, on top of your normal monthly repayments.
• Capitalisation: Subject to approval, accrued interest arrears may be added to the outstanding balance of your loan which will increase the loan balance. Note, this will increase your monthly repayments and interest charges.

Simply fill out our quick online form below or download this form and email to hardship@bluestone.com.au

If you’re concerned about your financial situation and would like to speak to us first, you can chat to our friendly team on 13 25 83 Mon-Fri 8am-6pm AEST.

Helpful resources

If you need free and independent support, please reach out to:

• Financial Counselling Australia

T: 1800 007 007 – for consumers

T: 1800 413 828 – for small businesses

W: www.financialcounsellingaustralia.org.au

• National Debt Helpline

T: 1800 007 007

W: www.ndh.org.au

Vulnerable Customer Care

We may not be aware of your vulnerability unless you tell us about it. If you tell us about your circumstances, we will consider how we can help to address the financial implications for the product we provide to you.

Circumstances of vulnerability can happen to anyone, anytime. Characteristics of vulnerability may include:

• cognitive or other impairment;
• family or domestic violence (including financial abuse);
• age-related financial abuse;
• mental health issues;
• addiction-related issues;
• serious illness or injury;
• insecure housing or homelessness;
• language or literacy barriers;
• issues related to cultural norms and expectations; or
• other personal or financial circumstances (eg, incarceration or institutionalisation, the serious illness or death of a partner or close family member, a relationship breakdown or some form of natural disaster).

If you are experiencing circumstances of vulnerability, we have dedicated staff to address the financial implications of the loan product provided to you, and help you through your situation.

Appointing someone to act for you

If you want to appoint someone to act on your behalf in your dealings with us, please contact us at customerservice@bluestone.com.au and we’ll provide you with information about how you can do this.

Deceased estates

When a borrower has passed away, we may be able to provide hardship or financial difficulty financial difficulty assistance to executors or administrators of the deceased’s estate, or a co-borrower.

If you are an executor or administrator we’ll require you to provide some information in our Deceased Estates Representative Form. Please make sure you have this handy when you contact us.