11 November 2019
Australians facing financial difficulties as a result of fires raging across New South Wales and Queensland are being encouraged to contact their bank for assistance when they are able to do so.
CEO of the Australian Banking Association Anna Bligh said that banks have hardship teams ready to assist customers affected by the fires.
“While the immediate concern for all is the safety of communities in bushfire areas, banks stand ready to help customers where needed across NSW and Queensland,” Ms Bligh said.
“Any customer who has been impacted by these fires should contact their bank when they are able to do so to access a wide range of help, including deferring loan payments, waiving fees and consolidating debts,” she said.
ABA member banks offer a range of services to help customers affected by bushfires and other natural disasters such as drought, floods or other circumstances outside their control. These can include:
- A deferral of scheduled loan repayments
- Waiving fees and charges, including break costs on early redemption of Farm Management Deposits
- Debt consolidation to help make repayments more manageable
- Restructuring existing loans free of the usual establishment fees
- Deferring interest payments on a case-by-case basis
- Offering additional finance to help cover cash flow shortages
- Deferring upcoming credit card payments
- Increasing emergency credit card limits.
Small businesses affected by these bushfires are also encouraged to contact their bank to access various forms of assistance to help them through the recovery.
For more information, or to find the number for your bank’s hardship team go to dev2.ausbanking.ds1.pensoagency.com/doingittough.
Latest news
The number of micro businesses grew 10% to 1.55 million in the year to June 2022. During the same period, the number of small businesses grew 3% to 955,861 after an extraordinary period of growth during the 2021 financial year, jumping 15% to 931,791.
The ABA recently visited regional Victoria to see the impact of the recent floods first-hand. The tour of Rochester and Echuca was set up to share the support available by banks and encourage customers affected to contact their bank.The ABA also gathered feedback from impacted bank customers and the local community to hear what further… Read more »
“Agriculture in Australia has a proud record of overcoming extreme adversity, most recently meeting the challenge of major flood events head on. Banks are standing by to support customers affected and the message is to reach out to your bank if you need their support.”