Part D – Financial Hardship

20. Financial Hardship

20.1 If you are experiencing difficulty in meeting your financial obligations to us, you should contact us as soon as possible.

20.2 If you tell us that you are experiencing difficulty in meeting your financial obligations to us, we will work with you in good faith and in accordance with our policies to assist you to meet your ongoing financial obligations to us. We will treat you fairly, respectfully and consider your specific circumstances. We may also initiate contact to discuss your financial situation.

20.3 We may do this by negotiating a new and mutually acceptable repayment arrangement with you, having regard to your financial circumstances as a whole at the relevant time as well as your obligations to us. We are not obliged, however, to do so.

20.4 Without limiting clause 2, we will have procedures in place to ensure we:

a. respond promptly to any request or application made to us and in any event no later than 21 days after you make a request for financial hardship assistance; and

b. genuinely consider your request or application in good faith including by taking your financial situation into account.

20.5 We will tell you whether we can provide you with any contract variation or other assistance in relation to your financial situation. If we cannot provide you with hardship assistance, we will:

a. advise you in writing of our response to the request and the reasons for it; and

b. advise you of your right to take the matter to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) and AFCA’s contact details.

20.6 We will suspend any recovery action against you until a decision has been made about financial hardship support and that decision has been communicated to you.

20.7 We will not proceed with any recovery action if we have agreed a financial hardship arrangement with you.

20.8 We will not on-sell a debt to a debt buyer during an active hardship arrangement.