Greetings Ms Anna Bligh
Hello, Nice to be talking to you
Considering what's happening with Covid-19 pandemic what can a banking customer do?
There are many Australians right now who are facing real financial difficulties because of Covid-19. People who are facing financial difficulty should be talking to their bank who can provide very practical help. Banks have offered to defer the repayments on loans - either business loans or mortgages up to 6 months during this time; and already more than 700,000 Australians have deferred the repayments on their loans. This basically gives them breathing space. They can press pause on their loan for six months and give them the breathing space they need to recover from the economic downturn that Covid-19 has brought us.
Banks are also providing different opportunities for small businesses to get access to working capital if they need to keep their businesses afloat. So, whether it's an extension to an existing overdraft, or a new loan through the government's small business guarantee loan scheme, there are cheaper products out there at the moment being offered by banks - make sure that small businesses particularly keep afloat, and banks are essentially throwing them a lifeline. I would really encourage your listeners if they are at all worried about their personal financial circumstances - their mortgage, a personal loan, a business loan, or if they want to get a loan because they need to improve like an opportunity to grow their business then now is the time to be talking to your bank.
Will any of these arrangements with a bank affect their credit rating?
Any customer who takes a deferral on their mortgage will not be reported to credit agencies as in arrears. They will be reported as in making their payments unusual times. Regulators banks and the credit rating agencies understand that this is not business as usual and those people who defer repayments on their mortgages or other personal loans under these packages of support will not be reported to credit agency so it will not affect your credit rating.
Few of our listeners have said that they have applied for a loan when they had a job and now, they have reduced hours, or they have lost their jobs; will the banks honour the loan applications that they had already made?
That will depend very much on the circumstances of the customer and banks will certainly be talking with every customer to assist them where they can. You will appreciate that for certain customers putting them into further debt may not be the right thing for them and their financial circumstances for others it may be. Banks certainly ARE approving those in those circumstances and customers should certainly be talking to their banks.
How about elderly customers? are there anything that the banks are doing to help with the elderly banking customers?
Covid-19 has brought some very difficult circumstances for many Australians. The government and health authorities have advised all of us to social distance, to isolate in our own homes, and they have absolutely made it clear that for people who are 70 and over they should not be leaving home for anything other than the most urgent and necessary requirements. In addition, we know that many shops and grocery stores have moved from taking cash and only taking card payments. Because they don't want their staff handling cash. So, what this has meant is that many older Australians, many of whom do not use debit cards who have not moved to digital banking and who have relied on getting cash and using that to their purchases have found some day-to-day things like shopping very difficult. Banks across the board have been sending out the biggest roll out of debit cards in Australia's history more than 500,000 customers are being offered that's 500,000 customers who do not have a debit card - many of them still have passbook accounts that are not attached to a card and banks are rolling out these cards. If your listeners find one of these in their letterbox, this is not compulsory but it's there to give customers the option of changing the habit of a Lifetime and moving on to a card system. If people want to do that encourage them to. The banks have all given a phone number to ring, and someone can help you get your card activated so you can shop with a card and you can do that online or in a store. If you have got an elderly parent or an older family member, reach out and see if they need help on these issues because all of us having to make big changes and the way people are doing their banking has certainly changed during Covid-19.
It certainly has, and online banking and online shopping has increased in the last few months. What are the precautions that the listeners should take to ensure that they are not spammed, or they are not falling into any kind of online traps?
Right across the board we see more customers using the Internet banking and digital baking apps than ever before. During Covid-19, people have been taking the medical advice and not going out when they don't need to, and they have been doing their banking from home and from their phone and their computers. Unfortunately, while people have been doing the right thing taking the health advice, there is always scammers out there right around the world who are trying to take advantage of the stretched systems. Banks have put extra staff into their Cyber security areas, but as customers we all have to take our own precautions. I would say this to anybody who is digitally banking - it doesn't matter whether you are 15 or 75, make sure that you check your accounts regularly so that you can see where there has been any unusual or suspicious transaction secondly you should never ever give your PIN to anybody and only remember that your bank will never contact you asking for a pin number or for any passwords. So, if you get a phone call or an email saying that they are from your bank and they want your email or your password, it is like to be a scam and you should delete it. We all need to pay attention to make sure that we keep the scammers and the crooks at bay but I do know that many many customers now are relying much more heavily on the convenience of digital and internet banking and that is why banks are going to keep making cybersecurity a parity.
Thank you very much for those advices Ms Bligh, where can a banking customer or our listeners go for additional information or new information that comes about on banking industry or for any new services that banks may be offering?
I would suggest that the first place to go would be the Australian banking Association website. This association represents all Australian banks, and they have collectively put information on that website so you can go and get very quick answers to your questions, but if you have your own Bank every bank has also been regular updating their own website, banks also have put additional staff into their call centres, but you can also imagine with almost 700,000 Australia in the last 8 or 9 weeks deferring payments on their loans, our call centres while they have got additional staff, it certainly is very much under the pump. So, if you can in the first instance, go to your Bank's website or to the ABA website you'll find all the information you need. And, if you need further advice, by all means ring your call centre, but remember that it was time we all need a bit of patience and goodwill as our Call centres cope with many customers who need help.
Thank you very much Ms Anna Bligh. Very useful tips that you have shared with us; and appreciate your time
Terrific, thank you for the opportunity, and again I encourage any of your listeners if you are worried about your finances talk to your bank early and they can help you make sure you get through. All of us are in this together.
