BOQ Group's Bushfire Support

Friday, 10 January 2020

The BOQ Group (including BOQ Specialist, BOQ Finance and Virgin Money) today announced it will donate $150,000 to support recovery efforts in bushfire affected regions across Australia. BOQ’s donation will help fund Orange Sky Australia, one of its community partners, to mobilise a number of laundry and shower vans to support people affected by bushfires across New South Wales and Victoria.

In announcing this support, Mr. George Frazis, BOQ Managing Director and CEO said BOQ Group is committed to helping the people and communities rebuild following the devastating bushfires, in particular the important recovery efforts that will be needed over the coming weeks and months.

“It’s inspiring to see our communities unite behind our brave emergency services personnel, volunteers, and those people who have been impacted by these catastrophic bushfires. It’s during challenging times like this, that we witness the true strength and resilience of the Australian spirit.”

Orange Sky Australia Co-founder, Mr. Lucas Patchett thanked Bank of Queensland for kick starting its disaster response efforts.

“With BOQ’s significant donation of $150,000, we can now quickly respond to communities in need due to the catastrophic bushfires.

“We’re encouraging members of the community to get in touch with locations that need support. Thanks to this donation, we are now in a position to respond quickly and start providing much needed support to those doing it tough,” Mr Patchett said.

In addition to this support, BOQ has also announced a range of other initiatives for both customers and employees during this bushfire emergency.

Customer support:

• BOQ branches across Australia are accepting over-the-counter donations for the Australian Red Cross Crisis Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund.

• BOQ has enacted its Emergency Fast Track Relief assistance package for customers impacted by the bushfires across Australia, which includes:

  • The ability to defer mortgage and/or loan repayments
  • The option to make Interest Only repayments;
  • Special arrangements in relation to arrears and accessing overdraft facilities;
  • Early access to Term Deposit funds with waiver of redemption fee; and
  • Waiver of other fees and charges related to non-payment.

• BOQ Group customers affected by the bushfires and seeking assistance should contact the following support channels:

  • BOQ customers should contact BOQ’s dedicated Bushfire Emergency Relief Customer support line team on 1800 079 866 or visit any BOQ branch
  • Virgin Money customers should visit the Virgin Money website: https://virginmoney.com.au/help/disaster-relief-emergency-assistance
  • BOQ Specialist customers impacted should either call 1300 160 160 or your client relationship manager

Employee support:

• BOQ has increased its paid Community Service Leave for employees who are members of a volunteer emergency services organisation involved in managing the fires to be unlimited.
• BOQ Group is dollar matching donations by its employees to either the Australian Red Cross or Foodbank organisations.

ENDS