Financial difficulty

We'll respond promptly to requests, calling you to confirm the main details of any arrangement made. If required, we'll ask you for further information to help us come to a decision. We aim to provide you with an outcome for your application within 7 working days of your request. At this time we will advise you of our decision through the phone, email or SMS.

We'll give genuine consideration to any request, irrespective of your loan value, reason for financial difficulty or your repayment history.

We will hold our collections activity during the assessment process and we will not commence further action to enforce or recover your debt, nor will we consider outsourcing your debt to a debt collection agency until we have completed our assessment and advised you of the outcome.

Financial difficulty occurs when you find yourself in a situation where you're unable, reasonably, to meet the repayment terms of your credit contract or other financial obligations.

Financial hardship can be both long term or temporary depending on your individual circumstances and could arise as a result of:

• Illness or injury
• Unemployment or a reduction in income or overtime allowance
• Death to co-borrower or death in the family
• Business breakdown
• Workers' compensation
• Relationship separation

Hardship assistance or hardship arrangements offered by HSBC can vary depending on a number of factors, including:

• Your individual circumstances, needs and financial situation at the time the unforeseen change in personal or financial circumstances took place
• The type of credit facility you have with us (for example, credit card or loan)
• Whether the period of change to your personal or financial circumstances is known
• The commercial position of the bank, such as ensuring consistency of hardship, collections, credit risk and compliance policies and rules, as well as reputational and other impacts

The suitability of options will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, such as:

• Reducing the amount of each payment due under the contract through interest adjustment and / or extending the period of the contract
• Reducing the amount by waiving interest or fees
• Other financial arrangements that will better suit your needs

These options will be made available in circumstances where you will be able to meet the new repayment terms and you will be able to meet contractual obligations in the long run in order to maintain your collectability status in Sistem Layanan Informasi Keuangan (SLIK).

It's recommended that you directly contact HSBC when experiencing financial difficulty. We have solutions that may fit your individual needs.

Note, referring your account to unauthorised third parties such as a 'street lawyer' or other financial third party (not appointed by HSBC) will not solve your problem. HSBC is the only legal party who has the rights to manage your financial difficulties on any HSBC products.

Once a customer has notified HSBC that they may be experiencing financial difficulty, depending on your individual circumstances, we may ask you to provide more information. This information will allow the bank to better understand your financial position, determine whether assistance will be appropriate and will allow you to explain how your circumstances have changed and how you expect them to improve in the future.

The type of information and documentation required may be dependent on a number of factors including the period of time where hardship assistance is required and the type of arrangement that may be offered to the customer.

Information and documentation that may be required include:

• Statement of financial position - outlining income and expenditure, assets and liabilities, living expenses, etc
• Employment contract and / or payslips
• Account statements
• Medical certificate from a qualified medical practitioner
• Separation statement

If adequate information is held about your current financial position then the next step is for the bank to make an assessment as to any proposal it can make to achieve repayment of the debt on reasonable terms.

We will not ask you for supporting evidence that is unreasonably onerous or unnecessary such as detailed medical records unless we consider approving long-term assistance or other financial treatments.

If you are declined, either because we did not receive a response from you or for some other reason, you are required to adhere to the terms of the HSBC credit contract and make the repayments to us as and when they fall due.

We value our customers and are committed to dealing with all financial difficulty applications in a fair and equitable manner. If you feel that your situation has not been adequately addressed by us, you can ask us to reconsider.