Financial Counselling
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Life is full of uncertainties.
If your financial circumstances have changed and you need help sorting out your money problems, financial counselling is there for you. Financial counselling is a free and confidential service that is available to every Australian who, for whatever reason, finds themselves, or believe they may get themselves, into financial difficulty or are suffering from financial stress.
There are many different reasons to be suffering from financial stress. Sometimes all it takes is a single unexpected, unplanned emergency, such as injury, ill health, or a job loss, to put you behind on paying your bills.
Once you miss a couple of payments, you can struggle to catch up, as interest rates and penalty fees build, increasing the amount you owe and the stress you’re feeling.
Financial counselling is a free and confidential independent service to assist you with managing your budget and changing your spending habits. It can help you get your finances back under control and you back on your feet if you are struggling to pay your bills or put food on the table.
When you owe money and your debt only seems to increase, living life can become stressful and frustrating; you can’t sleep at night, your relationships are affected and even everyday tasks like buying groceries can seem overwhelming. The impact of the stress can lead to physical health problems, including decreasing our capacity to fight off illnesses – which is the opposite of what we all need right now.
To keep yourself from drowning in debt, you could take out more loans or use multiple credit cards, but the harder you try to get out of debt this way, the deeper you sink, and sometimes if you are only paying off the interest, it can feel like you are trapped. What a time it is! Fires, drought, pandemics, toilet paper shortages and now we are looking down the barrel of a recession. Not many people would have planned for this five years ago, let alone anticipated what an impact this would have on their financial security.
As we all have learnt, we live in an unpredictable world. One minute, life could be all chocolate and roses, you have a few debts but nothing that you can’t manage, the next minute everything could change. There are many reasons that you could be suffering from unexpected financial stress and struggling to pay your bills, including:
- A relationship breakdown
- Family tragedy
- Major illness, accident or medical expense
- Impact of a natural disaster such as fire, flood or pandemic
- Unemployment
- Reduction in work hours.
There are many more reasons a person’s life and financial situation could change at the drop of a hat. Life is simply unpredictable, and when life is unpredictable it is hard to plan for, making it is easy to get on the debt roller coaster. If, for whatever reason, you’re struggling or feeling overwhelmed by debt, contact a financial counsellor for free and gain confidential advice as soon as possible. The earlier you get the help the more options that are likely to be available.
What is a financial counsellor?
Financial counsellors are skilled professionals that offer free of charge, non-judgemental, independent and confidential financial advice and guidance to all Australians. They will listen to your problems and help you with things like:
✓ Bills or fines you’re struggling to pay
✓ Being harassed by creditors or debt collectors
✓ Gas, electricity or phone disconnection
✓ Being evicted from your house
✓ Car accidents with no insurance.
Financial counsellors can also provide you with referrals or information on how to access other specialist support services such as legal aid, crisis food and accommodation services, personal counselling, gambling support or emergency relief. This service is largely tax funded and is provided by local community organisations and agencies, community legal centres and some government agencies. Financial counsellors do not offer legal advice.
Who needs a financial counsellor?
If you are experiencing any level of financial stress, then a Financial Counsellor may be of benefit to you. Financial stress is extremely challenging. A report issued prior to the COVID-19 pandemic reported that more than half of Australians were suffering financial stress, and 85 per cent of people that reported they were suffering from financial stress said it was impacting their well-being. Financial stress is the number 1 contributing factor to relationship break downs. The COVID-19 Pandemic would certainly have made this situation a lot more challenging.
How do I find a financial counsellor?
Demand for financial counsellors in Australia is high. Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) published research from 2019 showing that 40% of people who sought help during 2019 calendar year had to be turned away. With the 2020 bushfire crisis, and now the COVID-19 pandemic, the pressure upon the current system will be far greater than ever.
Financial Counselling Australia Director of Policy and Campaigns, Lauren Levin, said people experiencing difficulty should seek help as soon as possible. If you need a financial counsellor contact the free National Debt Helpline on:
1800 007 007 – The free National Debt Helpline is open from 9.30am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.
Alternatively, talk to one of Fix Bad Credit’s Credit and Debt Solutions Expert who will happily provide a referral to a Financial Counsellor, at no cost to yourself.
Does Fix Bad Credit offer financial counselling?
Fix Bad Credit are not registered financial counsellors, nor do we present as such. However, with over 25 years’ experience in the finance industry Fix Bad Credit’s Credit and Debt Solutions Experts offer you the following free of charge and with no obligation:
✓ Free Credit Report – As an Authorised Access Seeker, Fix Bad Credit will assist you in obtaining your current Credit Report from the credit reporting agencies.
✓ Free Assessment of your Credit Report – Once we have a copy of your current credit report, our expert team of professionals will review the report to identify those areas where you could improve your credit worthiness, making you more financially attractive to creditors, and possibly giving you access to better finance options. This may provide opportunities to save thousands each year in interest.
✓ Free information on budgeting and budget software – Based upon the information you provide, you will receive a completed budget template, that will allow you to personally update and regularly track your income and expenses, allowing you to stay in control of your money, and not allow your money to control you.
✓ Free report on how to improve your financial situation – If you decide you would like further assistance with managing your debts, your Fix Bad Credit Credit and Debt Solution Expert will provide Informal or Formal debt solution options that are tailored to your specific circumstances. Then it’s up to you to make the decision about how you want to proceed.
We offer the above free services at no obligation or cost to yourself. If you decide to formally engage our debt negotiation, or credit repair services, then your Credit and Debt Solutions expert will work with our legal team, assisting you by stopping the debt collectors phone calls and negotiating with your creditors to eliminate your debt, often for a fraction of what you owe.
You will be joining other Australian’s just like yourself who have saved between 40% – 90% of what they owe and been able to get on with living their best life. However, if you decide what we offer may not be a suitable outcome for you and your specific financial situation, then the team at Fix Bad Credit will be more than happy to refer you to a local financial counsellor who can hopefully help you with finding the outcome that’s best for you, and your situation.
Fix Bad Credit pride ourselves on delivering first class customer service in a confidential, non-judgemental, and independent professional manner. Over 90% of our business comes by word of mouth referrals from people just like yourself who once had financial problems, and the team at Fix Bad Credit was able to work with them to find the outcome that best suited them to get back on the road to their financial freedom.
Fix Bad Credit’s 4 Steps to Your Financial Freedom
Step 1: Identify
Asking for help is the hardest part. Which is why you get a personal debt and credit solution expert to confidentially review your unique situation and work with you every step of the way
Step 2: Plan
We then work with you, providing options for improving your credit, reducing debt and managing any repayments
Step 3: Repair
We can then assist with your chosen options each step of the way, implementing your unique credit and debt solution strategy
Step 4: Monitor
We offer an on-going service to continue to monitor your credit situation, regularly reviewing any changes to your credit score and identifying potential problems before they affect your financial well-being.
