Hardship & financial difficulty assistance

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 yo u 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.

What happens when the arrangement ends?

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.

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.