Consumers in Australia and other developed countries are increasingly required to interact with providers of complex financial products and services, and to estimate, mitigate or absorb the risks that flow from their financial decisions. A range of debt-related problems in Australia have been...

Legal protections are in place to allow Australians in financial hardship to avoid negative credit ratings and bankruptcy by negotiating alternative payment arrangements with creditors. This article draws upon focus groups with consumer advocates to investigate whether these protections are...

This article outlines the findings of Australia's first large-scale study on the experiences of people who have recently been unable to pay a debt when it fell due. The study builds upon empirical research on the causes and impacts of financial hardship in the United Kingdom and the United...

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) was established in 2008 to resolve disputes between Australian consumers and financial service providers. This article outlines the role of FOS in resolving disputes under the statutory protections for Australians in financial hardship. This article also...

Special protections for Australians in financial hardship have recently been incorporated into the legal frameworks governing the consumer credit, energy, water and telecommunications sectors. These protections have the objective of enabling consumers to avoid the serious legal consequences of...

Financial hardship occurs where a consumer takes on payment obligations under a contract but then becomes unable to meet them when they fall due. The authors present the results of a survey of financial counsellors with the aim of drawing upon the extensive work experience of the counsellors to...

The Financial Hardship Project at Melbourne Law School is the first in-depth study of the practical operation of Australia's financial hardship laws, which are designed to protect consumers suffering from financial hardship, facilitate the performance of monetary obligations, and thus forestall...

The authors focus on one of the most important statutory protections for Australian consumers in financial hardship: the right to seek a variation of a credit contract contained in s 72 of the National Credit Code. They provide a comprehensive history of this right, which has been part of...

Financial hardship, in a credit society such as Australia, can affect almost anyone. To protect consumers from the negative impacts of financial hardship — which can include the stresses of enforcement action and disconnection from essential services — legal protections have been...