New Year. No Debt: Budgeting, Debt and Credit Reports

Law for Community Workers

The Financial Counsellor role sits within the Consumer Law Team, and the Financial Counsellor is available to receive referrals from the Civil Law division

A Financial Counsellor can:

Assess a client’s financial situation and advise on possible solutions.

Make financial hardship applications, including requesting debt waivers.

Provide advice for clients who are struggling to pay bills, meet basic financial needs and prioritise creditors.

Help clients to negotiate with creditors, such as banks, water and energy suppliers, telco’s, government agencies, landlords, debt collectors and others.

Refer clients to other services they may need such as legal, accommodation, or crisis services.

Provide training to solicitors and community on financial hardship issues and how to complete a statement of financial position.

Our Financial Counsellors cannot give grants or arrange relief.

All Financial Counsellors at Legal Aid work within our Allied Professional Framework that states that “all Allied Professional Services are tied to the legal matter in which LA NSW is engaged”. Lawyers working with allied professionals result in an improved experience and better outcomes for our clients. Only in exceptional circumstances will the Financial Counsellor be able to work with clients who do not have an ongoing legal matter.

All referrals to the Financial Counsellor will be triaged. We encourage maintenance of relationships with local Financial Counselling services. To find your local financial counsellor, please see - Financial counselling - Moneysmart.gov.au

Budgeting tools and websites

Budget planner - Moneysmart.gov.au

budget-planner_moneysmart.xls (live.com)

Some Legal Aid resources

Credit Law Toolkit - https://www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au/for-lawyers/resources-and-tools/civil-law/credit-law-toolkit **Please note: This resource is aimed at Financial Counsellors and other professionals**

Better way than Payday Loans - http://www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au/publications/factsheets-and-resources/theres-a-better-way-than-payday-loans

Being Squeezed for a Debt - http://www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au/publications/factsheets-and-resources/are-you-being-squeezed-for-a-debt

Acknowledgments

The music in our Law for Community Workers on the go podcasts is Blue Highway by Podington Bear licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 Licence

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

Legal Aid NSW has met all our legal copyright and intellectual property obligations in the preparation of these podcasts.

Link to Transcript: https://otter.ai/u/cpkW2NUBXhp_WRUYSWnwRq9QIvY?utm_source=copy_url

Disclaimer: This podcast is a general guide to the law. You should not rely on it as legal advice. We recommend that you talk to a lawyer about any particular situation. The information is correct at the time of publishing but it may change. For more information, start with our team at LawAccess NSW via webchat at www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au or on 1300 888 529.