Financial Counselling Australia, the Consumer Action Law Centre and the Consumer Credit Legal Centre have welcomed a new hardship package released by the Australian Bankers Association (ABA) today. The package demonstrates a real commitment by the industry to improve hardship policies and practices and we appreciate the genuine consultation involved…
22nd May 2013 - State and Territory financial counselling associations from around Australia have today launched the first national “Rank the Banks” survey. The survey asked financial counsellors – who provide information, support and advocacy to people experiencing financial difficulty – to rate how well each of the ‘big four’ banks,…
22 May 2013 - Recognising and responding to economic abuse is one of the focus sessions at the annual Financial Counselling Australia conference, taking place this week in Sydney. The presenters, Sue Fraser from Kildonan Uniting Care and Tanya Corrie from Good Shepherd Youth & Family Service, will draw on a significant…
Last week’s South Australian budget is good news for people in that State struggling with credit and debt issues. The budget includes $1 million per annum for additional financial counsellors and $400,000 per annum for a specialist consumer credit legal service for the next four years. Financial counsellors – who…
1st March 2013 - Financial counsellors around Australia are today celebrating a major leap forward for the profession: legal protection of the terms “financial counsellor” and “financial counselling”. Financial counsellors work in community organisations and assist people in financial difficulty to get back on track. Funded by government, the services…
31st January 2013 - Financial counsellors have welcomed today’s release of a revised Code of Banking Practice. Banks obviously already have to comply with a number of laws – credit laws, privacy laws, fair trading laws – to name a few. The strength of a Code of Practice is that…
22nd November, 2012 - Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) has welcomed the announcement by the Federal Minister for Human Services, Senator Kim Carr, of an independent review into Centrepay. “Centrepay was set up to help Centrelink recipients budget for essential costs, such as rent and utilities,” said Fiona Guthrie, Executive Director of…
19th November 2012 - Dear Stakeholders I am delighted to release the Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) Annual Report 2012, containing information about our activities, highlights during the year and our challenges in the future. Distributing our Annual Report is timely, given the release in late October of the PwC-CSI Community…
12th November 2012 - Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) welcomes the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s decision to authorise an initiative from the banking industry that will lead to fee-free ATMs in a number of remote Indigenous communities. “This is a huge step forward in reducing the financial disadvantage suffered by people…
26th November 2012 - Financial difficulty disputes have increased by 42% according to the recent annual report from the Financial Ombudsman Service. This comes on top of an increase of 130% in the previous financial year. “The continuing increase in financial difficulty disputes is something that is a cause of…