Our Commitments to Customers in Financial Difficulty

We recognise that life is always changing...

Your personal circumstances can change at any time. There may be an injury or illness in your family, changes to your regular income, or a relationship breakdown. You never know when the unexpected may happen.

What is certain is that ASB will be there to help you through these times.

We understand these difficult times can be challenging for you, not just financially but emotionally, and it’s important that we work with you to reduce any financial stress.

There may be ways we can alter your loan commitments to us and help you get back on track with your day-to-day, and month to month financial outgoings. When your circumstances later change, we can then review and adjust your loan commitments again.

So, if you are having difficulties meeting your financial commitments,
call us now.

We guarantee to...

Work with you to help you stay in your own home.
Communicate frequently, fairly and openly with you about the financial issues you raise with us.
Do our best to help you quickly find and put in place a solution to your financial difficulties that works for both of us.
Ensure that our Financial Help Team talks to you in your own language if you wish.

Our commitments to assisting customers in financial difficulty

Everyone is different...

We understand that it’s not just about offering the same concessions and new loan arrangements to everyone. It’s about listening to and taking into consideration your own individual circumstances and wishes. We will encourage you to tell us what your priorities are - it may be managing your day to day loan repayments or it may be adjusting the interest you pay over the long term. It’s then up to us to recommend ways to help you.

Some solutions that may work for you are:

Combining all of your financial commitments, such as hire purchase arrangements and credit card debt, into one easy to manage home or personal loan
Deferring or reducing your regular loan repayments by increasing your loan amount and extending the term of your loan
Adjusting your home loan repayments to provide you with a ‘loan holiday’ from principal and sometimes interest, for a period of time
Reducing your debt repayments by ensuring that you have the right type of credit card (e.g. low interest Mastercard)

How you can help...

The first step is for you to contact us as soon as possible, so that we can together talk about your own personal circumstances and preferences and help build a personalised, workable loan repayment plan for you. Early action allows a greater number of options.

To help us, you could start thinking about your financial circumstances and asking the following questions:

1. What’s changed recently?
2. Do you expect your current situation to be temporary or long term?
3. Are you more concerned about managing your day to day loan commitments
    or the long term overall cost of your debt?
4. What information do you have about your income, outgoings, assets, loans
    and other debt commitments to share with us so we can together come up
    with a practical and workable financial solution for you?

Our statement of intent

ASB is committed to providing world class customer service.
We believe that you deserve to be treated in a fair, transparent and responsible way.
There are times when your personal circumstances change and, as a result, you may find yourself in financial difficulty. We will do our best to identify when this happens.
If we do become aware that you are in financial difficulty we will consider your situation quickly and fairly, engaging with you as soon as possible.
We will be flexible and sympathetic where extraordinary circumstances have affected your ability to meet your indebtedness.
We will regularly review our performance to ensure we are living up to both the letter and the spirit of these commitments to you, our customer.

Our commitments to you

We will conduct all of our dealings with you with integrity and to the highest ethical standards.
It is always in both your and our best interests to work together to find a mutually acceptable solution for you if you are experiencing financial difficulty.
We will be aware, open, empathetic and pragmatic in our dealings with you – this will help us to fully understand and appreciate your financial circumstances.
We know and accept that early and frequent communication with you is the best way to establish a positive working relationship with you to help you through any financial difficulties you may be experiencing.
Forced sale of your secured assets will always be a last resort, and we will only do this where your situation is irreversible and so it becomes necessary to minimise your and our losses.

Our communications with you

We will be unfailingly courteous and professional in all our communications with you.
If you are in financial difficulty our efforts to assist you are much more likely to succeed if you communicate with us about your changed circumstances as early as possible.
If you prefer, you may contact our Financial Help Team anonymously between 8.30am and 5pm Monday to Friday to discuss your changed circumstances.
We will contact you at your place of choice and, in the absence of a stated preference, at your home address.
We will be clear about who is calling, and why.
We will positively verify your identity and will speak to you and no-one else about your financial affairs.
We will preserve your privacy at all times.
We will respond quickly and fairly to any complaints you may have.

Changing your financial commitments to us

We will seriously consider all reasonable offers by you to repay your indebtedness to us by instalments or other changed payment arrangements.
We will take a reasonable approach to the time allowed for you to repay us.
We will, where appropriate, offer to change your financial commitments to us. This may include extending the term of your loan, changing your loan type, deferring the payment of principal and/or interest, or by adding a payment shortfall into the amount of your loan.
If you request us to do so, we will work with you on options to defer the payment of principal and/or interest on your owner-occupied home loan. A payment deferral period may be extended after the initial term if your circumstances indicate that this is the best option for you.
If your principal and/or interest payments are reduced or deferred this will increase the amount you owe to us and extend the term of your loan. We will provide you with the details of these changes.
We will give you a reasonable time to consider any proposed changes to your financial commitments.
We will talk with your solicitor or financial adviser if you ask us to do so.
The charges we pass on to you for collections and recovery activity will comply with the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act, 2003.

Sale of your property or other assets

We will only sell your secured property or other secured assets when all other reasonable attempts to reach a resolution with you about your financial commitments have been unsuccessful.
We will not sell your property unless we have first clearly set out in writing the extent of your indebtedness to us and the consequences of you failing to repay the debt or come to an alternative payment arrangement with us by a reasonable disclosed date.
We will consider reasonably and fairly any request by you to sell your secured property yourself within a reasonable timeframe in order to repay your indebtedness to us.
If we do sell your property we will market it for sale as soon as practicable and obtain the best price that might reasonably be expected at that time.
If we sell your property or other assets we will inform you of the net sale price as soon as possible and advise you in writing of any shortfall or surplus.