We use a recognized definition of financial hardship. The ACIF Credit Management Code defines financial hardship as: “a situation where a Customer is unable, reasonably, because of illness, unemployment or other reasonable cause, to discharge their financial obligations under their contract with the Supplier and the Customer reasonably expects to be able to discharge those obligations if payment and/or Service arrangements were changed. Financial hardship can be of limited or long term duration.”
Customer hardship can arise from a variety of situations. Hardship can be either of limited duration or long term. To illustrate, several of the common causes are listed below. Hardship can result from a number of factors including:
We consider financial hardship a state that involves an ongoing real inability of the customer to pay bills, rather than an unwillingness to do so. In order for Us to apply this policy you must satisfy Us that you are experiencing financial hardship in the meaning of the above definition. The decision of whether you are experiencing financial hardship for the purpose of this policy will be made by Us, in Our sole discretion.
We encourage you to provide us with third party evidence, such as a report from a financial counsellor, or a bank, or Centrelink, to confirm the details of your financial hardship.
You may ask us to deal with a Financial Counsellor on Your behalf.
In order for Us to speak to a Financial Counsellor, the customer must be present, or we must have received prior authority from the customer via Appointment of Authorised Representative to speak with the Counsellor on their behalf.
If the amounts in question are disputed, you will need to resolve the issue through the complaints policy listed here: Compliance
Customers who have chosen to transfer all of their services to another provider but still have an outstanding balance with Us are ineligible for participation in Our Financial Hardship Program.
1. Your account details
2. Details of which Bonntech Business Solutions invoices your experiencing hardship with
3. What is the cause of the difficulty
4. Evidence supporting the reasons you have stated which makes you unable to meet your financial obligations.
5. Details of professional assistance your receiving to help manage your situation.
Once all the required paperwork (mentioned above) is received by Us from you, allow Us 7 business days to come to a decision regarding your claim for hardship. You will be notified by Us by email of the decision regardless of the outcome.
A decision cannot be made by Us regarding your hardship claim without all requested documentation.
If the decision agrees with you, that you are experiencing Financial Hardship, We may at our discretion agree to a temporary financial arrangement which is different to the terms which ordinarily apply to You.
The basic principle of any agreed financial arrangement for Financial Hardship is that the repayment made by You should be sufficient to cover expected future use of the service (as adjusted to ensure the customer’s financial position does not worsen over a reasonable period of time) as well as providing continued reduction of debt at a reasonable level (i.e. the customer should not be going into further debt under the arrangement).
WE offer options to keep you connected
(i)Spend controls;
(ii)Restriction of service, in respect of overall or specific services;
(iii)Transferring to a Pre-Paid Service;
Options for suitable financial arrangements
(i)Temporarily postponing or deferring payments (for a longer period than would typically be offered to Customers requesting an extension outside of Financial Hardship arrangements);
(ii)Agreeing on an alternative arrangement, plan, or contract, including discussing Pre-Paid Services;
(iii)Discounting or waiving of debt;
(iv)Waiving late payment fees;
You can contact the Financial Hardship team between 9am and 5pm to discuss any aspect of your hardship:
Phone: 03 8685 8873
Email: support@bonntech.com.au
Mail: PO BOX 150 Bulleen VIC 3105
Thank you for visiting. We look forward to your enquiry and will respond as quickly as possible.
