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What is domestic and family violence?

Domestic and Family Violence occurs when one person in a current or former relationship uses violence and abuse to exercise or maintain power and control over another person. This includes behaviour that is:

  • physically, sexually, emotionally, spiritually, psychologically or economically abusive
  • threatening and coercive or aimed at controlling or dominating the other person through fear

Domestic violence can occur in any relationship including current or former: partners, spouses, carers or paid support workers, parents, guardians, adult children and adolescents. We know domestic and family violence does not discriminate, it can happen to anyone regardless of their religion, culture, social background, gender or sexuality.

Source: Australia's Challenge DV, 2021

What is financial abuse?

Financial abuse is an extremely serious problem affecting many people in Australia.

Some examples of financial abuse include if your current or former partner:

  • Refuses to give you access to money and information about your own finances, such as your loan account or offset sub-account
  • Forces you to take on a debt you haven't consented to
  • Withholds a large amount of money
  • Transfers your home or car out of your name
  • Intentionally tries to damage your credit by not making payments
  • Fraudulently uses your details on a loan without your permission.

How can we help?

We're here to help customers impacted by domestic and family violence and financial abuse.

You can speak confidentially to a specialist loans.com.au Customer Wellbeing team member about your current situation if you're experiencing financial abuse.

CALL NOW

You can speak with the Customer Wellbeing team on 1300 538 488 between 8:30am-5:00pm, Monday to Friday (AEST). We are available on public holidays excluding national public holidays where we'll respond on the next business day.

Please note, our Customer Wellbeing team are not counsellors, they are experienced customer care consultants here to chat to you in confidence and assist you with managing your loan.

Our Approach

As one of the leading lenders in Australia our approach is to lead the way for our industry. As a result, we've written a very comprehensive financial abuse policy that has been tailored to our organisation.

Our mission is to make the conversation about family and domestic violence a conversation that is had by all Australians, and we encourage all lenders to form a process and put procedures in place to identify financial abuse and respond. We’ve engaged with our Community Partner, Challenge DV, to not only form our Financial Abuse Policy, but to also train our staff and team leaders to recognise and react accordingly, for both our customers and our staff.

The more our industry is trained in this area, the more we bring the conversation out into the open and away from the shadows.

borrower comparing refinancing options borrower comparing refinancing options

Our Policy

Our internal policy is built on the below principles.

RECOGNISING

DFV can occur in any relationship and can affect people of all cultures, religions, ages, genders, sexual orientations, educational backgrounds and income levels. Some groups are more vulnerable to DFV include women, culturally and linguistically diverse, LGBTIQA, First Nation people or people with a disability.

Customers may not disclose or recognise they are suffering from financial abuse. Staff should be alert to the following signs of potential financial abuse from customers on phone calls or in other communications:

Legal support
Sounds distressed or scared
Legal support
Can be heard taking instruction/s from their partner or another party
Legal support
Remain silent while their partner or another party does all the talking
Legal support
Does not understand or is not aware of recently completed transactions or loans in their name
Legal support
Asks questions about the other account holder’s behaviour or activities
Legal support
Has concerns about protecting their personal privacy, safety or security of their accounts
Legal support
Expresses reluctance to involve the other co-borrower when seeking a hardship variation or other assistance
Legal support
Discloses concerns that financial services/accounts have been acquired in their name without their knowledge or consent
Legal support
Discloses the existence of an intervention order, domestic and family violence or equivalent

RESPONDING

Customers may be in significant distress, in fear for their personal safety, homeless or residing at temporary accommodation. We will be flexible and accommodating in considering requests from customers in circumstances of financial abuse to meet the individual needs of each customer.

We’re committed to ensuring the confidentiality and privacy of customers and staff, and all records will be kept confidential.

COMMUNICATING

We prioritise the safety and wellbeing of our customers and those affected by DFV. It is important for our staff to understand that it can be a challenging time for customers when they choose to disclose their experience of DFV. It is also important for our customers to:

  • Feel heard and only need to make this disclosure once. Staff will ensure that notes kept on file will remain confidential and will reduce the need for customers to re-tell their story.
  • Have confidential and respectful interactions with our staff
  • Be certain their personal information is kept confidential and safe
  • Are provided with time and information to help them consider their options and make informed decisions

In an emergency contact 000.

Legal support
Family Support Resources
1800RESPECT

Call 1800 737 732
www.1800respect.org.au

Family Relationship Advice Line

Call 1800 050 321

Relationships Australia

Call 1300 364 277
relationships.org.au

Mensline Australia

Call 1300 789 978
mensline.org.au

No to Violence

Call 1300 766 491
www.ntv.org.au

Lifeline

Call 13 11 14
lifeline.org.au

Another Closet

www.humanservices.gov.au

Centrelink

Call 1800 737 732
www.1800respect.org.au

Child Protection Helpline

Call 132 111

Kids Helpline

Call 1800 551 800
www.kidshelpline.com.au

QLife

Call 1800 184 527
www.qlife.org.au

National Disability Abuse Hotline

Call 1800 880 052
jobaccess.gov.au/complaints/hotline

Elder Abuse Hotline

Call 1300 652 192
eapu.com.au

Translating and Interpretiang Service

Call 131 450
tisnational.gov.au

Services and Practitioners for Elimination of Abuse (SPEAQ)

speaq.org.au

Legal support
Legal support
Legal Aid

Find a legal aid commission at
www.nationallegalaid.org

Community Legal Centres (CLC)

Find a local CLC at
www.naclc.org.au

Women's Legal Service Australia

www.wlsa.org.au or
www.familyrelationships.gov.au

Legal support
Financial support
Financial Counselling Australia

www.financialcounsellingaustralia.org.au/Home

                     MoneySmart

                 www.moneysmart.gov.au/life-events-andyou/families/financial-abuse

Useful tools

Daisy app
Daisy app

Daisy is 1800Respect's app for women experiencing domestic abuse to connect them with local support.

Download for: Android | iOS

Daisy app
Sunny app

Sunny is 1800Respect's app for women with disability who have experience violence and abuse

Download for: iOS

Daisy app
PENDA app

PENDA provides national safety, financial and legal information and referrals to support women with financial independence.

Download for: Android | iOS

Daisy app
Help me app

Help me is designed to help anyone, including children, increase safety.

Download for: Android | iOS

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