Financial
difficulty
If you’re having trouble making repayments and experiencing financial hardship we want you to know Zip is here to help.
We encourage you to reach out to us early so we can work together on a personalised payment assistance plan to help get you back on track.
Understanding
financial hardship
We understand that life can bring unexpected changes to your personal circumstances. Financial hardship can impact you at any time, often due to reasons beyond your control.
The causes of financial hardship may include:
- Change of income: such as unemployment, reduced income, downturn in business
- Medical reasons: such as physical illness or disability
- Natural disasters: such as floods, bushfires, drought
- Vulnerability: such as family violence, mental illness
- Family matters: such as separation, loss of a loved one, carer obligations
These unexpected changes can be very stressful. If you’re struggling to keep up with bills or repayments, you may be experiencing financial hardship.
3-step Financial Hardship process
Zip is committed to helping customers who are vulnerable or experiencing hardship. Our Australian-based team understand everyone’s needs are different, so we assess each application on a case-by-case basis.
Complete the application
Start applicationWe'll ask you to provide:
- Short explanation of your situation in the online form
- Online banking to access your bank statements
Approx time: 10 - 15 minutes
We'll review & get in touch
Our support team will review your situation before contacting you to discuss the available options or to request additional information required.
Approx time: 5-10 business days
What happens next?
If your application is approved, Zip will provide you with an assistance period during which we may:
- Reduce your minimum monthly repayment
- Freeze fees, interest, charges
- Lock your Zip account for the duration of the assistance period
- Cancel any instalments plans (if applicable)
Other support options: It is important to note that the steps outlined above are for long-term financial hardship assistance. If you’ve missed a scheduled repayment and wish to delay repayments temporarily, please follow the process for short-term arrangement. Please also ensure you’ve reviewed our alternative repayments options that may help alleviate your financial stress.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you want to speak directly with an experienced team member about our financial support options, you can reach us at:
Phone: 02 8294 2345 (Mondays to Fridays between 9:00am - 5:00pm AEDT)
Please note the quickest way for our team to support you is to submit the financial hardship form.Providing financial hardship assistance is an internal process and will not be reported on our customer's credit file.
During your financial hardship arrangement, Zip will take steps to restrict the services ensuring that no further transactions occur on the account(s). This is in the best interest of our customers to ensure that they are not in a position to put themselves further into debt while experiencing financial difficulties.
Depending on the financial assistance provided, we will place a temporary hold on the regular repayment schedule. This will resume once the financial hardship arrangement has ended.
No, this information is not shared with other creditors.
Alternative support
If you feel the issue has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you can contact:
- Way Forward: a not-for-profit organisation financial counselling service offering free, long-term support for people to manage and repay their debts. Way Forward can help you if you have debts across multiple creditors, have an income but are experiencing financial difficulty and would benefit from someone working with the lenders on your behalf. Contact 1300 045 502 or visit wayforward.org.au.
- National Debt Helpline: a not-for-profit service that provides free, independent and confidential financial counselling to help people tackle their debt problems and get back on track. Contact 1800 007 007 or visit ndh.org.au.
- Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA): AFCA provides free and independent complaint resolution. Contact 1800 931 678, info@afca.org.au or lodge a complaint via their website.