Financial Hardship Policy
Definition of Hardship
The Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code (TCP) defines financial hardship
as:
a situation where a Customer is unable, reasonably, because of illness, unemployment
or other reasonable cause, to discharge those obligations if payment and/or Service
arrangements were changed. Financial hardship can be of limited or long term duration.
Identification of a Customer Experiencing Financial Hardship
Aggregato Australia considers financial hardship a state that involves an inability of the
customer to pay bills, rather than an unwillingness to do so. Customer hardship
can come about from a variety of situations and can result from a number of factors
including:
- Loss of employment by the consumer or family member.
- Family breakdown.
- Illness including physical incapacity, hospitalization, or mental
illness of the consumer or family member.
- A death in the family.
- Abuse of service by a third party leaving the consumer unable to
pay the account.
- Natural Disaster.
Financial Counsellors
For a current list of community financial counselling services, please consult the
Financial Counselling Australia website: www.financialcounsellingaustralia.org.au
Reaching a Financial Arrangement
The basic principle of any agreed financial arrangement is that the repayment should
be sufficient to cover expected future use of the service (as adjusted to ensure
the consumer’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 consumer should not be going into further debt under the arrangement).
To enable this to occur, there are options available to Aggregato Australia and our customers
to manage the use of their services. For example, we may agree to restrict access
to a service, or bar access to certain call types.
To assist us in assessing your application for hardship assistance, we will need
you to provide your account details and other personal information so that we can
verify you as the account holder of the service. Depending of your circumstances
of your application, we may also require documentation in support of the information
you provide to us as part of your application (i.e. a letter from your doctor if
your hardship is due to illness). If we will require such supporting information
from you, we will advise you when we discuss your application with you.
How to Find Out More
By Phone
Hardship Inquiries: 1300 663 570
Hours of Operation: Monday – Friday 9:00am – 5:00pm AEST
By Post
Aggregato Australia Financial Hardship Team
P.O. Box 107,
Chatswood NSW 2057