Common causes of financial difficulty

Common causes of financial difficulty may include but are not limited to the following:

  • Changes to employment
  • Reduction in income
  • Injury, illness or the loss of a loved one
  • Relationship breakdown or family violence
  • Natural disaster or drought

How we can help you?

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BOQ is here to support you during difficult times, because we know life doesn’t always go to plan. If you are concerned about your financial position and feel that you are or will be unable to meet your financial obligations, we may be able to assist you.

Get in touch with our Customer Assistance Team as soon as you can on 1800 079 866 between 8:30 am – 5:00 pm AEDT, Monday to Friday.

Depending on your situation, we have a range of options to help you. We may:

  • change your loan repayments for a short period to interest only
  • postpone your loan repayments for a short period
  • extend the term of your loan to reduce your monthly repayment amount
  • incorporate any overdue amounts into your loan, then recalculate your repayments to the end of the loan term. 

When you contact us, our Customer Assistance team will work with you to find out what options may suit your situation. In circumstances where the recovery of your financial position is unlikely, we will continue to work with you to explore other options, which may include giving you time to sell your property or referring you to seek advice from a financial counsellor.

What external support is available? 

Every state and territory in Australia has free and confidential counselling services where you can get advice. Just go to:

How to apply for financial assistance

Personal Lending Customers

Prepare your application

Get the following information ready:

  • details about all your accounts, loans, credit cards and other liabilities
  • details about your income,  expenses and assets
  • details about any loan or income protection insurance policies
  • consider the reason you need financial assistance and for how long.

How to submit your application

We'll contact you

Our Customer Assistance Team will review your application and contact you to discuss your options, or to ask you for more information.

We may also ask you to provide supporting documentation (e.g. medical certificate or employment separation certificate).

We'll provide an outcome

If we do not require further information from you, we will respond to your application within 21 days.

If we ask you for more information during this time; we might take a further 21 days after receiving the information to make a decision.

If you don’t provide us with the requested information, we’ll make our assessment based on the information we have within 28 days of the date we asked for the information.

Additional things to consider

If you're deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech impairment 

You can reach us through the National Relay Service. For more information go to Accessibility.

If English isn't your first language speak to our interpreter services

If you’d rather speak to us in another language we can arrange an interpreter to help you when you call us or visit a branch. The interpreter services are available free of charge. 

Asking someone to represent you

If you want someone to apply for you, you’ll need to give them a written authorisation form to complete so they can prove to us that they’re acting for you. In some cases we may still need to contact you directly.

If you want to appoint an authorised representative, complete the Authorised Representative Authority Form – For Collections and Financial Difficulty and return it to us.

Business Customers

Prepare your application

Get the following information ready:

  • details about all your accounts, loans, credit cards and other liabilities
  • details about your income, expenses and assets
  • details about any tax liabilities, if any
  • details about any loan or income protection insurance policies
  • consider the reason you need financial assistance and for how long.

How to submit your application

We'll contact you

Our Customer Assistance Team will review your application and contact you to discuss your options, or to ask you for more information.

We may also ask you to provide supporting documentation (e.g. medical certificate or employment separation certificate).

We'll provide an outcome

If we do not require further information from you, we will respond to your application within 30 days.

If we ask you for more information during this time, it might take us longer to make a decision.

If you don’t provide us with the requested information, we'll make our assessment based on the information available to us.

Additional things to consider

If you're deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech impairment 

You can reach us through the National Relay Service. For more information go to Accessibility.

If English isn't your first language speak to our interpreter services

If you’d rather speak to us in another language we can arrange an interpreter to help you when you call us or visit a branch. The interpreter services are available free of charge. 

Asking someone to represent you

If you want someone to apply for you, you’ll need to give them a written authorisation form to complete so they can prove to us that they’re acting for you. In some cases we may still need to contact you directly.

If you want to appoint an authorised representative, complete the Authorised Representative Authority Form – For Collections and Financial Difficulty and return it to us.

Credit Card Customers

If your financial circumstances have changed and you are unable to pay your Credit Card account(s), you can request assistance by completing an Online Application Form. Please ensure you have access to the mobile number you have registered on your credit card account. A code will be sent to authenticate your identity before you can proceed with the application.

Please also have information about your income, expenses and assets on hand before you commence the application. Once you start filling in your details, you will need to complete the application as you will be unable to save and return to the form at a later stage.

If you are unable to access the Online Application Form, you can apply by downloading a copy of the PDF Application Form and  emailing or posting it to us at dms.au@citi.com or PO BOX 3453, Sydney, NSW 2000. Alternatively you can contact us on 1800 261 300 Monday to Friday from 9am to 9pm AEST, excluding public holidays.

If you have a BOQ Specialist Credit Card, click here to access the financial difficulty assistance that may be available to you.

 

Important Information before you apply for Financial Hardship Assistance

  •  Bank of Queensland Credit Cards (“Credit Cards”) are issued by National Australia Bank Limited (ABN 12 004 044 937, AFSL and Australian Credit Licence 230686) (“NAB”) and distributed by Bank of Queensland Limited ABN 32 009 656 740 (“BOQ”). NAB has acquired the business relating to the Credit Cards from Citigroup Pty Ltd (ABN 88 004 325 080, AFSL and Australian Credit Licence 238098) ("Citi") and has appointed Citi to assist to administer the Credit Cards. Our/us/we means NAB unless the context otherwise requires it.
  • If you hold a NAB branded product and require financial hardship assistance on that product, please contact NAB Customer Care on 1800 701 599 (8:00am-8:00pm Monday-Friday and 9:00am-1:00pm Saturday AEST).
  • If you hold a credit card or personal loan which was formerly issued by Citigroup Pty Ltd (and which is now issued by NAB) which is branded Citi, Card Services, Coles Financials Services, Suncorp Clear Options, Qantas Money, Kogan Money, Virgin Money, Bank of Queensland or; Spot. Buy Now Pay Later issued by Diners Club Pty Ltd (now part of NAB), this hardship application will also be applied to any or all of those accounts as well. If you do not require hardship assistance on all of your accounts, please do not submit an online form and contact our hardship team on 1800 261 300.
  • Once we have received your completed application form, one of our representatives will contact you to discuss your situation and solutions that may be available to assist you. 
  • You are not required to provide supporting documents at the time you submit your application. We will inform you if we require supporting documents.
  • If you have been or are still paying for insurance on your Credit Card account(s) or Personal Loan product(s) you may be eligible to make a claim with the insurer. Your account statement will indicate the name of the insurer you need to contact. An insurance policy wouldn't preclude you from applying for financial hardship assistance if you still require it. 
  • Your card / account may be suspended from the time we receive your application for hardship assistance, and if approved, during the entire period you are on financial hardship. Ability to transact post your Financial Hardship assistance will be based on your card or account status.

Financial Hardship and Credit Reporting

In July 2022, amendments to the Privacy Act 1988 introduce Financial Hardship Information (FHI) as a new category of information, which will be displayed on consumer credit reports alongside Repayment History Information (RHI). The Financial Hardship Information will indicate if you have entered into a temporary or permanent hardship arrangement, but will not include the reasons for the arrangement you have entered into.

Financial Hardship Information (FHI) includes: 

  • The type of financial hardship arrangement you have entered into which will depend on whether the changes to the terms of your loan or obligations are permanent or temporary.   
    • Variation Financial Hardship Arrangement (V) – indicates that a permanent variation to the terms of the consumer credit contract have been made and will be reported once in the month that the contractual variation took effect. Once the FHI has been reported with a Variation (V), the future RHI will be updated to indicate if the new monthly repayments are being paid on time or not. 
    • Temporary relief or deferral Financial Hardship Arrangement (A) - providing temporary relief from or deferral of the individual’s obligations in relation to consumer credit, reported each month that the arrangement is in place.  During the period that any temporary relief or deferral Financial Hardship Arrangement is in place, the RHI will be concurrently reported to indicate whether you are meeting the obligations of your temporary financial hardship arrangement where payments were agreed to be made.  

This information will be stored on your credit file for 1 year. Only your financial hardship information from licensed credit providers who hold an Australian Credit Licence can be recorded. Telecommunication and utility companies are not licensed credit providers, so your financial hardship information will not include these providers and they will not be able to see financial hardship information details either.

These changes will also allow licensed credit providers to access and use this comprehensive information in order to make more informed lending decisions. However, this information cannot be used by licensed credit providers to calculate your credit score.

You are entitled to a free credit report every three (3) months and you can request one through any of the Credit Reporting Bodies: 

Equifax

  • Web
  • Phone - 1300 762 207

Illion

  • Web
  • Phone - 13 23 33

Experian

  • Web
  • Phone - 1300 783 684

I need accessibility support

  • The National Relay Service (NRS) is a government initiative that allows people who may have hearing and/or speech impairments to make and receive phone calls.
  • The Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) is an interpreting service for people who may have difficulty speaking English.

Please visit our Contact Us page for accessibility support contact details.

Budget planning

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Financial assistance hub

A guide from the Australian Banking Association for consumers and small businesses that continue to experience financial difficulty.

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FAQs

Contact Us

Call us

Call the Customer Assistance Team on 1800 079 866 between 8:30 am - 5:00 pm AEST, Monday to Friday

Submit an application online

    

Submit application here

Application Form

Download the application form from the "How to apply for financial assistance" section and email or post: Customer Assistance Team, GPO Box 898, Brisbane QLD 4000