Boost for free financial counselling services
Governments and the banking sector have increased their funding for this important initiative.
Accessing Commonwealth Financial Counselling
Financial Capability workers available through the National Debt Hotline deliver financial literacy education, information, and coaching. They maintain a strong focus on supporting consumers to change their behaviour and “learn by doing”.
This includes basic financial literacy education and support either individually or in group settings.
Services include:
Budgeting support to individuals.
Non-accredited financial literacy community education workshops.
Helping clients to build skills to avoid or resolve financial difficulties and strengthen their capacity to manage their own money.
Assisting families at risk of homelessness to manage their finances and household expenses.
Financial Capability workers do not provide financial counselling, financial advice, or deal with complex financial or legal matters.
These services are available to people who are not able to pay a bill or at imminent risk of not being able to pay a bill and for:
Those in receipt of a Commonwealth social security benefit, allowance or payment.
Newly arrived migrants/non-citizens.
Women experiencing family violence.
Australia’s free financial counselling services have received a $30 million boost thanks to additional funding from government and the financial sector.
The services aim to help people in personal financial difficulty to address their problems, manage debt, and make informed choices about their money in the future.
The recent funding boost has come from government and financial industry heavyweights from banking and finance, energy, insurance, online gambling, buy-now-pay-later lenders, telcos, and the financial counselling sector.
This $30 million is in addition to the almost $50 million per annum provided by the federal government and about $30 million annually from state and territory governments.
The federal government says this extra funding will increase access to financial counselling services for people in need.
About 125,000 face-to-face clients are helped each year by financial counsellors and 130,000 calls are made to the National Debt Helpline.
“This is a red-letter day for the financial counselling sector. We have waited a long time for an industry funding model and are delighted it is finally here,” Fiona Guthrie, Chief Executive Officer, Financial Counselling Australia said when the funding was announced on 21 November.
“Industry funding for financial counselling is a game-changer and will see thousands more Australians able to access the support they need when they’re doing it tough.”
The National Debt Helpline provides a single contact point for people to access financial counselling. Help is available on the National Debt Helpline website, where individuals can chat online with a financial counsellor.
You can also phone the helpline on 1800 007 007 (calls from public phones or mobile phones may be timed and charged at a higher rate).
More information on financial counselling is available on the Department of Social Services website.
As well as reaching out to a financial counsellor, people experiencing financial difficulty should talk to their bank.
The Australian Banking Association (ABA) warns the spiral into financial difficulty can happen quickly, and it is important that people reach out for support as early as possible.
Banks may be able to help by:
Lowering home loan or credit card loan payments.
Restructuring the length of a loan.
Moving a customer to interest-only payments for a while.
Deferring payments for a period.
The ABA Financial Assistance Hub provides information for customers who are moving off fixed rate mortgages or struggling to repay buy now pay later loans. Visit the Financial Assistance Hub here.
Related reading: Ausbanking, DSS
