Financial hardship can impact you in various ways and is often triggered by an unexpected event, making it difficult for you to make repayments on your loan. If any of the following situations apply to you or you anticipate it will, it’s important to contact us early.
- Injury or illness
- Unemployment or a reduction in income
- Divorce or separation
- Pregnancy
- Natural disaster impacting your property or income
- Ongoing medical issues
- Unforeseen events impacting your finances
How to get in touch for assistance
1. Call our Credit Solutions team on 0800 654 377
We’ll discuss what’s happened and what options we can offer to help you.
2. Download and complete the Finance Now Hardship Assistance Application Form
For us to complete our assessment we do need to verify your income, liabilities and expenses from your bank account by providing the last 3 months’ of your recent bank statements – please see the instructions on how to provide these in the Hardship Assistance Application form.
What happens next?
Depending on how you contact us, we may need to ask you for information or documents that help us to assess your application. Additional documents we may ask for include bank statements, pay slips or other income documents, and documents relating to your situation (such as ACC letters or medical certificates confirming how long you are unable to work).
Once we’ve assessed your request, we will discuss options available to help you, either temporarily or on a permanent basis. If we agree to amend your account, we will send you a document to review and authorise before we make any changes.
Until we have made changes to your account, you need to keep trying to make payments to your account.
Seek Independent Advice
If you’re having financial difficulty, you may find it useful to get advice from a financial mentor. You can access debt management services for free from MoneyTalks. Call them on 0800 345 123 or visit moneytalks.co.nz.