How is my comprehensive credit reporting impacted if I’m approved for financial assistance?

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The credit reporting system includes financial hardship information. Your credit report includes your repayment history for credit accounts like credit cards, home loans, personal loans and car loans.

When a financial assistance arrangement is in place, this will appear on your credit report as  'financial hardship information'. If you meet the repayments agreed to in the arrangement, your repayment history will show that you have met your obligations.

Financial hardship information will not impact your credit score if you meet your obligations under the agreed arrangement and will be removed off from your credit report 12 months after your final payment under the arrangement.

For more information about Comprehensive Credit Reporting (CCR) and what a financial assistance arrangement means for your credit report visit the Credit Smart website.

How does financial assistance impact my interest and repayments?

The impact of financial assistance depends on whether you have an: 

Home loan impacts

When you apply for financial assistance via the Macquarie Mobile Banking app, you’ll see an indicative repayment amount. This is an estimate of what your new home loan repayments could be after the financial assistance period ends and your financial difficulties are resolved. The indicative repayment amount is based on the expected loan balance and remaining loan term.

If you’re approved for financial assistance on your home loan:

  • interest will continue to be added to your loan balance, even if your payments are paused or reduced
  • your original loan term (the date your loan is due to be fully paid off) will not change
  • your loan balance may be higher after the assistance period due to interest added and/or any regular loan payments you missed.

At the end of the assistance period, if your financial difficulties are resolved, we may agree to vary your loan contract and recalculate your loan repayments to ensure your loan is still paid off by its original end date. This usually means your new repayment amount will be higher than it was before.

The way we calculate your new repayments considers:

  • your updated loan balance, including any interest added during your assistance
  • the time you have left to pay off your loan
  • your current interest rate.

We’ll send you a confirmation letter with the new repayments after your financial assistance period ends.

Credit card impacts

If you are approved for financial assistance on your credit card, the interest will be paused during the arrangement period. During this time, your card will be blocked from any spending.

This restriction will continue for 6 months after the financial assistance arrangement ends. Removal of the block will be subject to meeting our reinstatement criteria.

Car loan impacts

If you request financial assistance for your car loan, changes to your future repayments will be confirmed with you before they become effective.

What happens to my direct debit when applying for financial assistance?

While your application for financial assistance is being assessed, your repayments continue to fall due. If you ask us to, we can temporarily suspend your direct debit while we assess your application if you’re unable to meet your repayments.

It’s important to note that if your repayments are overdue, or become overdue, due to suspending your direct debit while we assess your application, this may be reported to credit reporting bodies.

If your application is approved, any existing direct debit arrangement for:

  • your home loan repayments will be updated to reflect the agreed arrangement amount during the financial assistance period
  • any applicable fees will be paused during the financial assistance period
  • any additional repayment amounts will be cancelled.

If your application is declined, your direct debits will recommence.

Can I access redraw during a financial assistance arrangement?

If your financial assistance application is approved, any available redraw balance will decrease each month by the amount of repayments you are not making.   You should consider using the available redraw funds before applying for  financial assistance. Note that withdrawing redraw funds will result in an increase to your loan balance.

If your home loan account BSB starts with 182, any available redraw balance can continue to be accessed online during the financial assistance period if your loan account is on a variable rate.

If your home loan account BSB starts with 183, redraw is not available online. During the financial assistance period, any redraw that’s available will reduce each month.

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