Get your super paperwork together
When you get your annual statement from your super fund, check that these items make sense and are correct:
Your balance at the start and end of the year
Your employer's payments during the year
Any amounts you paid in
Fees deducted
Cost of insurance cover
Tax taken out
Investment returns credited on your account (these could be positive or negative)
If you don't understand the statement or think there is an error, contact your super fund. You have the right to a clear explanation.
Keep all your statements in a safe place so you can keep track of your accounts and know how to contact your fund.
Find lost and unclaimed super
If a super fund 'loses' you – for example, if you've changed address and not informed them – the fund may transfer your super money into an eligible rollover fund, which often have very high fees.
You can find lost super by using the Australian Taxation Office's (ATO's) free online search tool, SuperSeeker, or by phoning
13 28 65. All you need is your:
Name
Date of birth
Tax file number
'Unclaimed' super is different from lost super. Your super money is 'unclaimed' if you are over age 65, no contributions have been made for at least 2 years and your super fund cannot contact you.
You can find unclaimed super by phoning the ATO on 13 10 20.
APPLYING FOR YOUR SUPER EARLY WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN ON CENTRELINK BENEFITS FOR 26 WEEKS STRAIGHT
Severe financial hardship – if you have received Commonwealth benefits for 26 continuous weeks but are still unable to meet immediate living expenses you can claim up to 10 thousand dollars. See the PDF below:
http://www.apra.gov.au/Superannuation/upload/APRA-ROB-Brochure-v5-15-Dec-2008.pdf
MEDICAL REASONS, MENTAL OR PHYSICAL ILLNESS OR TERMINAL ILLNESS
Medical treatment
To help pay for medical costs, for you or your dependant, required to:
treat a life-threatening illness or injury; and/or
alleviate acute or chronic physical pain; and/or
alleviate an acute or chronic mental condition
provided that the treatment is not readily available through the public health system and is not covered by any applicable private health insurance and/or Workers’ Compensation.
Medical transport
To assist with the cost of transportation to and from medical treatment, for you or your dependant, when that treatment is required to:
treat a life-threatening illness or injury; and/or
alleviate acute or chronic physical pain; and/or
alleviate an acute or chronic mental condition
provided that the transport is not readily available through the public health system and is not covered by any applicable private health insurance and/or Workers’ Compensation.
Purpose
A person may seek an early release of superannuation benefits to pay for medical treatment, or to pay for
transport to receive medical treatment, for the applicant or their dependant. This document is intended to
provide information to applicants and their registered medical/dental practitioners to help them understand the
specific substantiation required to satisfy this ground.
The legislation
Under Regulation 6.19A(1)(a) of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 (the Regulations) a
person may apply to the Regulator (APRA) for a determination that an amount of the person’s preserved benefits,
or restricted non‑preserved benefits, in a superannuation fund may be released on the ground that it is required to
enable a person to:
• pay for medical treatment or medical transport for the person or their dependant
On what basis can APRA release for medical/dental treatment?
Regulation 6.19A(3)(a) requires the applicant to give APRA written statements from two registered medical
practitioners (one of whom must be a specialist) that certify that:
• the medical treatment is necessary to:
(i) treat a life threatening illness or injury; or
(ii) alleviate acute, or chronic, pain; or
(iii) alleviate an acute, or chronic, mental disturbance.
For the purposes of the legislation medical treatment includes dental treatment. In these cases certification must
be provided by either two dental practitioners (one of whom must be a specialist); or, a general practitioner (GP)
and a dental specialist.
Regulation 6.19A(3)(b) further requires the medical/dental practitioner to certify that:
• the treatment is not readily available to the person, or their dependant, through the public health system.
If quotes, receipts or other substantiation for the cost of treatment or transport are not provided, the specialist
and practitioner must specify an amount that is required.
There are other requirements in the Regulations which must also be met, but the above requirements are those
which relate to written statements from registered medical/dental practitioners.
Who is a registered medical/dental practitioner?
A registered medical/dental practitioner is someone who has passed the required examinations and/or graduated
from an accredited course and is registered by the relevant state registration board to practise.
In most cases one medical/dental practitioner will be either the applicant’s or their dependant’s GP or dentist
Guidance to mortgagees (lenders) - USING SUPER TO PAY THE MORTGAGE IF YOU HAVE HAD A LETTER SAYING THEY WANT YOUR HOUSE
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to assist persons who are seeking an early release of superannuation benefits
on the ground that a mortgagee (lender) is about to sell their home or foreclose a mortgage over their home.
Specifically, it is intended to provide information to applicants and their mortgagees (lenders) to help them
understand the specific substantiation required to satisfy this ground.
The legislation
Regulation 6.19A(1)(b) of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 (the Regulations) provides
that a person may apply to the Regulator (APRA) for a determination that an amount of the person’s preserved
benefits, or restricted non-preserved benefits, in a superannuation entity may be released on the ground that it is
required to enable the person to make a payment on a loan, to prevent:
• foreclosure of a mortgage on the person’s principal place of residence; or
• exercise by the mortgagee of an express, or statutory, power of sale over the person’s principal place of
residence.
To approve applications on mortgage grounds APRA must have the specific information required under
Regulations 6.19A (5) and 6.19A (6) before it can be satisfied that a release should be made on mortgage grounds.
This means the applicant must give APRA a written statement from the mortgagee (lender) that states:
• that payment of an amount is overdue; and
• that if the person fails to pay the amount, the mortgagee (lender) will:
(i) foreclose the mortgage on the person’s principal place of residence; or
(ii) exercise its express, or statutory, power of sale over the person’s principal place of residence; and
• the amount that is equal to three months’ repayments under the mortgage; and
• the amount that is 12 months’ interest on the outstanding balance of the loan at the time the statement is
made.
In practice APRA will be reasonably satisfied that the mortgagees’ (lenders’) documentation requirements have
been met where a mortgagee (lender) provides all of the following information:
• that (as at a certain date) payment of a specified amount is overdue; and
• that if the mortgagor (borrower) fails to pay the amount due (by a certain date), the mortgagee (lender) will
commence or continue enforcement action to foreclose the mortgage or exercise an express or statutory
power of sale over the security property (the person’s principle place of residence); and
• the street address of the security property; and
• the amount that is equal to three months’ repayments under the mortgage; and
• the amount that is 12 months’ interest on the outstanding balance of the loan at the time the statement is
made.
The substantiation required from the mortgagee (lender) may be set out in a single letter or document or in
separate letters or documents, provided APRA receives all of this information.
Providing mortgage account details and BSB numbers will also enable funds to be directly deposited to the
mortgage account once they are released by the superannuation fund.
Please note that documentation from mortgagees (lenders) must be clear about the mortgagee’s (lender’s)
intention to continue or commence enforcement action.
Using phrases such as “may proceed”, “may be entitled
to commence”, or “reserve the right to proceed” is not considered sufficient to meet the requirements of the
legislation. The legislation requires that the mortgagee (lender) must state that if the borrower fails to pay the
overdue amount, the mortgagee (lender)
“…will:
(i) foreclose the mortgage on the person’s principal place of residence; or
(ii) exercise its express, or statutory, power of sale over the person’s principal place of residence.”
Applicants must meet all the requirements of an application
Applicants are expected to provide the substantiation set out in the application form in full in order to meet all the
requirements set out in the legislation.
Take a look at: http://www.apra.gov.au/superannuation/early-release-of-superannuation-benefits.cfm
FOR VERY HELPFUL INFORMATION
My husband and I between us got out about 25 thousand dollars between us which got us out of financial strife. It took some work and some letter writing and red tape but ultimately it works so i really recommend following it through.
Please email me at travellingmac@live.com.au if you have any specific questions. I have written these letters and followed all of the advise on my pages and they worked, I can show you how to make it work for you.
And all that information was free...
Who has money to pay people to tell them what they are entitled to know anyway!!
Hope it helps x
Friday, April 29, 2011
The first thing to do when you can't pay your bills
IF YOU ARE HERE READING THIS YOU ARE PROBABLY DESPERATELY LOOKING FOR SOME GUIDANCE. YOU HAVE PROBABLY BEEN SHOCKED AT THE FACT THAT PEOPLE CHARGE MONEY TO HELP YOU BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO MONEY!!!! WHAT THE....
I will tell you about my husband and my situation and that by looking into real solutions and quickly we managed to save our car, some money, been taken to court or loosing any of our possessions.
We were both made redundant in that terrible period of economic meltdown in Australia a couple of years ago, we were both working full time and just managing to pay the bills with the wages I was on. Suddenly we were faced with no income and a house to pay rent on, a leased car, about 6 Credit Cards and a personal loan amongst other smaller but well overdue debts. Eventually the power company starting sending threats of turning off the electricity, the phones were getting turned off one by one, the home phone, the mobiles....everything was falling to pieces. We needed a very very quick solution and finding work wasn't working.
I started to read up on how to deal with debts and debt collectors that constantly call, 10 times a day, putting the fear of god into you because they have the power to belittle and make you feel bad for not having any money. Well they can't do that, it's illegal. YOU HAVE RIGHTS and you can get the callers off your back almost instantly. You can also appeal to your creditors to give you some options regarding your inability to pay. Some things I learn't pretty quickly was that Debt collectors should not intimidate and scare you. You have rights.
Debt collectors should not:
Act in a way that is misleading or deceptive
Harass or force you into paying
Go to your workplace unless you ask them
Reveal information about your financial situation to others
Contact you by email, phone or letter more than three times a week
Contact you on national public holidays
If you believe you are being unnecessarily harassed by a debt collector, complain or write to your lender.
Even though you will cringe when I say this, answer the phone! They can not kill you over the phone and they cannot do anything at all in fact! You need to tell them that you are currently looking into Debt Consolidation and want to appeal for a hardship variation under section 72 of the consumer credit code. They will sort something out either over the phone or I recommend that you put everything you are appealing for in WRITING because it gives you some form of proof that you are trying to do something about your debts. The most important thing to Creditors is communication, the reason they always call is because if you don't answer the phone they put you into a 'triying to do a runner' pile and then you are harrassed more. If they have up to date details on you and frequent communication they relent. It's true, I did it. I was not answering the phone, ever, I started to not leave the house and I became very depressed. The moment I realised I needed to speak to them so they know I want to pay the bill they changed, everything changed. If you are willing to pay, they will be willing to come to an arrangement.
HAS YOUR PHONE BEEN CUT OFF?
All Australians have the right to have reasonable access to a standard home telephone service. (Note there is no right to access a mobile phone service under this requirement).
In meeting this responsibility, phone and internet service providers operate hardship programs to assist people experiencing financial hardship due to reduced income manage their debts.
If you have insufficient money to pay your bill because of financial hardship, your home phone service provider can only disconnect your service after they have done all of the following:
1 Advised you that they may disconnect your service if you don’t pay; and
2 Discussed your repayment options, not just cut you off, discuss your options and the services of financial counsellors and consumer advocates for managing debt; and
3 given you at least seven days notice of their intention to disconnect your service; and
4 advised you in writing that they plan to disconnect your service; and.
5 informed you of the earliest date upon which disconnection will occur.
If any of these requirements have not been satisfied and you are disconnected for not paying a phone or internet debt you can lodge a complaint with your service provider and the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO)
If you are receiving Centrelink benefits, you can ask for the reconnection fee to be waived.
This is an online complaint form if the company hasn't followed protocol - http://www.tio.com.au/ComplaintForm/ComplaintFormS1.asp
CAN'T PAY YOUR WATER, ELECTRICITY OR GAS BILLS?
Apply for deferred payment
You may be able to negotiate with your council to defer your rate payments for a specified period if you can demonstrate the payment will cause you severe financial difficulty. This option may be suitable if you expect your change of circumstances to be short-term.
Work out your income and expenses and obtain help to ascertain when you will be in a position to pay. Then contact the council by phone or visit the council offices to request a deferral of your rates for the period it will take to get your finances into a better position.
Remember that you will have to pay the deferred rates and should do so as soon as you can because high interest charges may apply to your arrears.
Your council will require you to pay rates they have deferred if:
they believe your circumstances have changed, so payment will no longer cause you hardship; or
you sell or are no longer living in the property.
CREDIT HARDSHIP HOME, CAR AND MAJOR LOAN VARIATIONS
Credit hardship variations
Most providers of finance for personal and household purposes (including mortgages, car loans, personal loans and credit cards) are required under the consumer credit law to consider variations (flexible payment arrangements) if you are experiencing financial hardship. This requirement applies to lenders and debt collectors attempting to recover the debt.
If your circumstances have changed but you think you could manage your loan if the monthly payments were reduced, or otherwise changed, you can request a credit hardship variation.
What credit hardship payment plans can you ask for?
You can contact your lender or debt collector by phone or letter and request the following types of loan variations:
1 a reduction of your regular payments to a more affordable level and a consequent extension to the term of your loan; or
2 a short-term stop on payments, and a consequent extension to the term of your loan; or
3 a short-term stop on payments, after which you will catch up the missed payments.
The particular variation you ask for will depend on which is the most affordable to you, taking into account that any extension to the term of the loan will mean higher interest costs for the overall loan.
You can ask for a stop on interest charges, but your creditor is not obliged to agree to comply with your request.
How to ask for a credit hardship variation
If you wish to ask for hardship consideration, it is always better to put your request in writing as this means you can keep a copy of the request as a record. It is more difficult to prove the details of a request made by phone.
An example letter for applying for Hardship with your lender:
[Date]
[Your street]
[Your suburb and postcode]
[Your phone number]
Hardship Manager
[Name of lender/creditor/debt collector]
[Street number and name]
[Suburb and postcode]
Dear Hardship Manager,
Subject: Request for hardship variation: Name: [Your Name] Account No. [your number]
I wish to apply for a variation to the above loan contract under Section 72 of Schedule 1 of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, as my circumstances have recently changed causing me financial hardship [give details].
[Choose option A, B or C from the following]
A I request a reduction of the amount of repayments to $[xx] per [fortnight/month] for all payments due from [first date]
B I request a postponement for the repayment due on [date] so that it is now due on [date].
C I request a postponement of the repayments due between [first date] and [final date] with no extension to the loan term and payments to be caught up.
I request that where I have asked for a variation of payment arrangements I will not incur any late fees or other additional charges or interest. I understand, however, that the term of my loan may be longer due to the variation.
I provide the following details about my income and expenses in support of my application:
Details of my income and expenses:
Current income
$[xxx] per week / fortnight / month
Current expenses
Rent / mortgage
$[xxx] per week / fortnight / month
Other loan repayments
$[xxx] per week / fortnight / month
Other major expenses
$[xxx] per week / fortnight / month
As the above information demonstrates, I will be able to continue paying my repayments at the adjusted rate if you agree to the proposed change. I ask that you consider my application as a matter of urgency, and that you do not commence any legal action in relation to this matter until you have done so.
Please advise me in writing of your decision regarding my request. If I have not had a response from you in twenty one days[or state a shorter period of time if your situation is urgent], I intend to take my request for hardship variation to the approved external dispute service without further notice.
Yours faithfully,
[your name and signature]
SO, the first thing to do is to get all of your bills and write a letter for each and every one. That will give you at least a couple of weeks to stave off the hungry wolf at the door. If you need money even more desperately because your house is at risk then look at my next blog on superannuation early release. Hope this helped in some way.
I will tell you about my husband and my situation and that by looking into real solutions and quickly we managed to save our car, some money, been taken to court or loosing any of our possessions.
We were both made redundant in that terrible period of economic meltdown in Australia a couple of years ago, we were both working full time and just managing to pay the bills with the wages I was on. Suddenly we were faced with no income and a house to pay rent on, a leased car, about 6 Credit Cards and a personal loan amongst other smaller but well overdue debts. Eventually the power company starting sending threats of turning off the electricity, the phones were getting turned off one by one, the home phone, the mobiles....everything was falling to pieces. We needed a very very quick solution and finding work wasn't working.
I started to read up on how to deal with debts and debt collectors that constantly call, 10 times a day, putting the fear of god into you because they have the power to belittle and make you feel bad for not having any money. Well they can't do that, it's illegal. YOU HAVE RIGHTS and you can get the callers off your back almost instantly. You can also appeal to your creditors to give you some options regarding your inability to pay. Some things I learn't pretty quickly was that Debt collectors should not intimidate and scare you. You have rights.
Debt collectors should not:
Act in a way that is misleading or deceptive
Harass or force you into paying
Go to your workplace unless you ask them
Reveal information about your financial situation to others
Contact you by email, phone or letter more than three times a week
Contact you on national public holidays
If you believe you are being unnecessarily harassed by a debt collector, complain or write to your lender.
Even though you will cringe when I say this, answer the phone! They can not kill you over the phone and they cannot do anything at all in fact! You need to tell them that you are currently looking into Debt Consolidation and want to appeal for a hardship variation under section 72 of the consumer credit code. They will sort something out either over the phone or I recommend that you put everything you are appealing for in WRITING because it gives you some form of proof that you are trying to do something about your debts. The most important thing to Creditors is communication, the reason they always call is because if you don't answer the phone they put you into a 'triying to do a runner' pile and then you are harrassed more. If they have up to date details on you and frequent communication they relent. It's true, I did it. I was not answering the phone, ever, I started to not leave the house and I became very depressed. The moment I realised I needed to speak to them so they know I want to pay the bill they changed, everything changed. If you are willing to pay, they will be willing to come to an arrangement.
HAS YOUR PHONE BEEN CUT OFF?
All Australians have the right to have reasonable access to a standard home telephone service. (Note there is no right to access a mobile phone service under this requirement).
In meeting this responsibility, phone and internet service providers operate hardship programs to assist people experiencing financial hardship due to reduced income manage their debts.
If you have insufficient money to pay your bill because of financial hardship, your home phone service provider can only disconnect your service after they have done all of the following:
1 Advised you that they may disconnect your service if you don’t pay; and
2 Discussed your repayment options, not just cut you off, discuss your options and the services of financial counsellors and consumer advocates for managing debt; and
3 given you at least seven days notice of their intention to disconnect your service; and
4 advised you in writing that they plan to disconnect your service; and.
5 informed you of the earliest date upon which disconnection will occur.
If any of these requirements have not been satisfied and you are disconnected for not paying a phone or internet debt you can lodge a complaint with your service provider and the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO)
If you are receiving Centrelink benefits, you can ask for the reconnection fee to be waived.
This is an online complaint form if the company hasn't followed protocol - http://www.tio.com.au/ComplaintForm/ComplaintFormS1.asp
CAN'T PAY YOUR WATER, ELECTRICITY OR GAS BILLS?
Apply for deferred payment
You may be able to negotiate with your council to defer your rate payments for a specified period if you can demonstrate the payment will cause you severe financial difficulty. This option may be suitable if you expect your change of circumstances to be short-term.
Work out your income and expenses and obtain help to ascertain when you will be in a position to pay. Then contact the council by phone or visit the council offices to request a deferral of your rates for the period it will take to get your finances into a better position.
Remember that you will have to pay the deferred rates and should do so as soon as you can because high interest charges may apply to your arrears.
Your council will require you to pay rates they have deferred if:
they believe your circumstances have changed, so payment will no longer cause you hardship; or
you sell or are no longer living in the property.
CREDIT HARDSHIP HOME, CAR AND MAJOR LOAN VARIATIONS
Credit hardship variations
Most providers of finance for personal and household purposes (including mortgages, car loans, personal loans and credit cards) are required under the consumer credit law to consider variations (flexible payment arrangements) if you are experiencing financial hardship. This requirement applies to lenders and debt collectors attempting to recover the debt.
If your circumstances have changed but you think you could manage your loan if the monthly payments were reduced, or otherwise changed, you can request a credit hardship variation.
What credit hardship payment plans can you ask for?
You can contact your lender or debt collector by phone or letter and request the following types of loan variations:
1 a reduction of your regular payments to a more affordable level and a consequent extension to the term of your loan; or
2 a short-term stop on payments, and a consequent extension to the term of your loan; or
3 a short-term stop on payments, after which you will catch up the missed payments.
The particular variation you ask for will depend on which is the most affordable to you, taking into account that any extension to the term of the loan will mean higher interest costs for the overall loan.
You can ask for a stop on interest charges, but your creditor is not obliged to agree to comply with your request.
How to ask for a credit hardship variation
If you wish to ask for hardship consideration, it is always better to put your request in writing as this means you can keep a copy of the request as a record. It is more difficult to prove the details of a request made by phone.
An example letter for applying for Hardship with your lender:
[Date]
[Your street]
[Your suburb and postcode]
[Your phone number]
Hardship Manager
[Name of lender/creditor/debt collector]
[Street number and name]
[Suburb and postcode]
Dear Hardship Manager,
Subject: Request for hardship variation: Name: [Your Name] Account No. [your number]
I wish to apply for a variation to the above loan contract under Section 72 of Schedule 1 of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, as my circumstances have recently changed causing me financial hardship [give details].
[Choose option A, B or C from the following]
A I request a reduction of the amount of repayments to $[xx] per [fortnight/month] for all payments due from [first date]
B I request a postponement for the repayment due on [date] so that it is now due on [date].
C I request a postponement of the repayments due between [first date] and [final date] with no extension to the loan term and payments to be caught up.
I request that where I have asked for a variation of payment arrangements I will not incur any late fees or other additional charges or interest. I understand, however, that the term of my loan may be longer due to the variation.
I provide the following details about my income and expenses in support of my application:
Details of my income and expenses:
Current income
$[xxx] per week / fortnight / month
Current expenses
Rent / mortgage
$[xxx] per week / fortnight / month
Other loan repayments
$[xxx] per week / fortnight / month
Other major expenses
$[xxx] per week / fortnight / month
As the above information demonstrates, I will be able to continue paying my repayments at the adjusted rate if you agree to the proposed change. I ask that you consider my application as a matter of urgency, and that you do not commence any legal action in relation to this matter until you have done so.
Please advise me in writing of your decision regarding my request. If I have not had a response from you in twenty one days[or state a shorter period of time if your situation is urgent], I intend to take my request for hardship variation to the approved external dispute service without further notice.
Yours faithfully,
[your name and signature]
SO, the first thing to do is to get all of your bills and write a letter for each and every one. That will give you at least a couple of weeks to stave off the hungry wolf at the door. If you need money even more desperately because your house is at risk then look at my next blog on superannuation early release. Hope this helped in some way.
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