Reports & Submissions

Between February and May 2019, 111 people who were clients of financial counsellors shared their stories about trying to live on the Newstart allowance. They also provided information about their weekly income and expenditure showing that it is simply impossible for many people to make ends meet on the current rate.

The Rank the Telco report describes the results of a survey of Victorian financial counsellors about the hardship practices of major telecommunications providers. It is FCRC’s fourth report ranking financial hardship practices, and our first to examine the telecommunications sector.

The results of this report evidence the need for improvement and warrant serious consideration by the telecommunications industry, regulators, government and other stakeholders. Providers now have the opportunity to take the lead and work to significantly improve hardship performance, both individually and across the industry.

Considerable structural changes in the aged care landscape in recent years have impacted on the financial literacy of the Older Person population to manage their finances. The Dignity and Debt Financial Difficulty and Getting Older initiative was designed to address these issues by assessing the effectiveness of one-on-one financial counselling sessions with Older Persons.

The ‘Rank the Energy Retailer’ survey provides insight and analysis into the efficacy of Victorian energy retailer practices when dealing with customers experiencing financial hardship. 70% of financial counsellors in Victoria undertook the survey to provide their input.

In June 2015, Colac mother and financial counsellor Julie Barrow started a petition on change.org asking the Victorian Government to provide affordable payment options for annual vehicle registration costs.

FCRC formed a working group of financial counsellors to build the case for payment options for motorists. The working group produced the below report which featured financial counselling case studies and comparison to other state registration payment options. The report made a series of recommendations to the State Government on the issue.

The campaign garnered the support of VCOSS and the general public – by July 2017, more than 100,000 people had signed the petition. Media attention was attracted, with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell and ABC Radio both covering the campaign, and discussing the potential benefits of payment by instalments.

By the end of 2017, the Andrews State Government announced a new online system which would allow for instalment options of 3, 6 or 12 monthly payments for all Victorian motorists.

After the success of our ‘Rank the Bank’ surveys, FCRC introduced the ‘Rank the Energy Retailer’ survey. Over 100 Victorian financial counsellors undertook the survey to provide their input. Our report reveals the efficacy of Victorian energy retailer practices when dealing with customers experiencing financial hardship.

The FCRC Rank the Bank survey assessed the opinions of more than 100 Victorian financial counsellors with regards to the financial hardship policies of Australia’s ‘big four’ banks, namely ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac.