How to Find Free Financial Counselling in Australia

The rent is due on Friday and a card repayment falls in the same week, but the pay won't stretch to both. The fix that's easiest to find is another loan, which usually leaves every pay after it a bit smaller. Talking to a financial counsellor first means someone on your side looks at the whole picture before you sign anything.

What a financial counsellor does

A financial counsellor is a qualified professional who helps people who are in debt or can't keep up with their everyday costs. They're based in community organisations and some local councils, and they don't lend money or sell anything.

The help is practical. A counsellor can help you see which debts come first and make a plan your pay can carry, including any grants or concessions you may be able to get. They can also help if debt collectors are contacting you. For a dispute or a legal problem, they'll explain your rights and connect you with free legal help, since legal advice itself isn't their job. What no counsellor can do is promise that a debt will be written off or that a business will agree to a particular plan.

Who's on your side of the conversation

Several kinds of money help sound alike, and it matters which one you're talking to. When you ask a lender, telco or power company for a break on repayments, you speak to its hardship team. They can change what you pay that business, which may be exactly what you need, but they work for the business. A financial counsellor sits on your side of that conversation.

On your side

You

Financial counsellorWorks only in your interest

The business you owe

The lender or provider

Its hardship teamCan change what you repay it

can negotiate with

Two other names come up. A financial adviser gives advice about financial products, such as where to invest money you have, and charges for it. And a business that charges fees to sort out your debts is a debt consolidation or refinancing company, not a financial counsellor.

You can still ask a provider for help yourself, and our guide to financial hardship assistance walks through that request. A counsellor can help you work out what to ask for before you call.

How to reach a counsellor

Call the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 and you'll be put through to the financial counselling service in your state. There's also a live chat on its website, and both are open on weekdays. If you'd rather sit down with someone, the helpline's map of financial counsellors shows services near you where you can make an appointment.

A local appointment isn't always available straight away, so getting in touch before the next missed payment helps. The earlier you ask, the more options you'll have.

What to have beside you

Whatever you can gather helps the first conversation get further, and anything with a deadline is worth mentioning early in the call.

1. Deadlines
   • Court papers
   • Disconnection notices
2. What you owe
   • Statements and balances
   • What's overdue
   • Letters from collectors
3. What comes in
   • Payslips
   • Centrelink statements
   • Recent bank statements
4. What goes out
   • Rent and bills
   • Food and transport
   • When each is due

A starting list, not a required one.

Tell them, too, if you need an interpreter or a safe way to be contacted. Ask how they'd like documents sent, and keep your banking and myGov passwords to yourself, since nobody helping you needs them.

Buy now pay later instalments count as money owed, even though they rarely feel like debt. Balances are the fiddly part when your money sits with a few different banks. Clova brings your accounts from every bank into one view, so the numbers are in one place before you call.

When something can't wait

Some problems need help sooner than an appointment. If someone has started court action over a debt, get free legal advice straight away. Moneysmart's free legal advice page lists community legal centres and Legal Aid services. If you need food or help with a bill this week, charities and community groups run emergency relief, and Ask Izzy can find services near you.

After the first conversation

What comes next depends on what's going on. It might be a plan for which bills to pay first, help asking a business for more time, or a referral to another service. If the pressure comes from an essential item you need to buy, No Interest Loans are worth a look. They charge no interest or fees, which makes them a very different thing from the quick loan in the ad.

A plan only helps if it holds for the next few pays. Clova puts upcoming bills beside your pay, so each agreed payment is in view before the pay that covers it arrives. If your hours drop or a new bill turns up, you can go back to the counselling service rather than reworking it on your own.

Getting in touch about money can feel like admitting something has gone wrong. You can talk with someone whose job is to help rather than judge.

A note from us

Getting money help should leave the decisions with you. When a pay has money left, Clova asks where you'd like it to go, so you can choose what to do with it alongside the plan you agreed.