If you’re struggling to make your repayments, you can ask your credit provider to assess you for ‘hardship assistance’ – this is where you and your credit provider agree to change your repayments to provide you more time to pay or to reduce the amount required to be paid.

Asking your credit provider to assess you for hardship assistance should not affect your credit score or be recorded on your credit file.

However, if you agree to hardship assistance, this may affect your repayment history information depending on the terms agreed with your lender. Make sure you ask them to confirm how a hardship arrangement will impact your repayment history information on your credit report.

Consumer advocates have expressed concern over how assistance will be reported under CCR, and if customers could potentially be penalised if lenders are able to see these arrangements in someone’s repayment history information.

After calls to delay CCR, Australia’s four major banks have agreed to not include customers who have reached agreement on financial hardship in their CCR reporting. This exclusion will continue for the first 12 months of CCR during which time the Attorney-General will conduct a review into how vulnerable customers can be fairly treated.

If you’re struggling with debt, check out a range of resources in our Key Resources article.

This article was originally published on Credit Savvy.