Dollars & Cents FREE. Inside

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1 Dollars & Cents Inside Small Amount Loans and Your Options How could you use an extra $500 in your bank account? Reduce Your Juice If your landlord has let you down keep paying the rent! Be Money Smart Financial Counselling Not Enough Income Think Microenterprise Invitation to Participate TAKE ME I M FREE Issue 06 April 2015 Foresters Community Finance & Kyabra Community Association

2 Small Amount Loans and Your Options Small amount loans are loans under $2,000 repaid within 12 months. These are sometimes referred to as Payday Loans or Cash Loans. It s important to research all your options before taking on these types of loans as they are usually the most expensive source of finance. Often, there are cheaper alternatives which will not put you under more financial stress and will also assist you understand the underlining cause of your financial issues. If you are on a Centrelink benefit, a Centrelink advance can be used to fund those bills and short-term money issues. It s best to keep your advance for those times when you need urgent funds to meet an unexpected bill. Try and avoid using any advance to purchase household items like fridges and washing machines as a No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS) can be used, hence you can save the advance for other urgent expenses. Taking any form of loan to meet an utility bill is again false economy as you can call your provider and ask to be put in touch with the hardship section. They will help you make a payment arrangement this arrangement should be made up of part payments to cover future bills and a second part payment to make up for your arrears. This second part payment to catch up is equivalent to making an extra repayment on a loan, but is much cheaper as it does not have any fees and charges. If you are on a benefit, you can even set this payment plan up via Centrepay, this very convenient and safe. Community finance organisations can also provide much lower cost loans than a payday loan and will also help you understand you financial position and credit history. The back page of this newsletter lists your local providers. 2 3

3 How could you use an extra $500 in your bank account? If you complete a NILS with Kyabra you are eligible to apply for the AddsUp Savings Plan. Finish a NILS, start saving and get rewarded With $500. Simply save up to $500 within 12 months, and the National Australia Bank (NAB) will give you an additional $500. Many people who have received a loan from Kyabra have already completed their AddsUp matched savings plan and have received a $500 payment from NAB. Reduce Your Juice Get ready for the ultimate battle against high energy bills! You could be one of 1,000 people to score either a new fridge, washing machine or BBQ. Reduce Your Juice is a whole new way to use less power and earn big rewards. If you re not earning a big bucket of cash, are 18 to 35 year old and renting in the greater Brisbane area, you could be eligible. Pre-registrations open 20 April reduceyourjuice.com.au If you are about to finish your loan or you have already completed a loan from Kyabra and you want to apply for the AddsUp Savings Plan, contact the Community Finance team at Kyabra. Unfortunately if you have already received an AddsUp $500 reward, you are unable to receive another one. 4 5

4 If your landlord has let you down keep paying the rent! He still hasn t fixed the hot water and the front door is still broken. You have a right to feel annoyed at your landlord, but no matter what, keep on paying your rent! It may seem fair that you stop paying rent to get your point across, but the problem with this, is if you don t pay your rent, your landlord may have legal grounds to force you to leave the property. So don t risk becoming homeless. If you have tried to ask the landlord to fix something within a reasonable period of time and nothing has happened, send a completed Notice to Remedy to your landlord. If this dosen t work, you are then entitled to lodge a formal complaint with the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA). If the work required is an emergency, such as a broken toilet, a leaking roof or a dangerous electrical fault there are other procedures to follow if your landlord refuses to fix the problem or is too slow to act. Whatever the problem it is important to keep paying your rent. For more information, contact Tenants Queensland on Tenants Queensland (formerly Tenants Union of Queensland) is a specialist state-wide community legal service for tenancy law matters and provides a free tenancy law advice service for residential tenants. 6 7

5 Be Money Smart The ASIC MoneySmart website (moneysmart.gov.au) is an amazing source of information about any aspect of money and finance. In the managing your money section you can find budget planners and tips on managing your money. In tools and resources you can find calculators to play with to test out different ways of managing your money and even apps to download to help you track where you spend your money (TrackMySpend) or how to save for a goal (TrackMyGOALS). The loan, credit and debit calculators section has a payday loan calculator that shows you how much a payday lender will actually cost. The rent vs buy calculator shows you a comparison between renting whitegoods and appliances verses buying them. Both these calculators have extra information that gives options such as using community finance and NILS to fund your needs rather than using expensive options. The managing debts section has lots of helpful information about types of credit and personal loans, as well as advice on how to decide on the best form of credit for your needs. If you are experiencing trouble with debt the MoneySmart website is a good place to get useful information on how to manage and prioritise your debt repayments and make hardship arrangements. Financial Counselling Financial counsellors assist people with a wide range of financial problems. They work with their clients to help them get out of the cycle of debt and take control of their finances. A financial counsellor will: help you get a clear picture of your overall financial situation explain what options you have in relation to your debts and the advantages and disadvantages of them may advocate or negotiate with creditors, government agencies and others will listen and provide support. Financial counsellors are on your side and no one else s. Financial counsellors have strong links with other service providers and may also provide referrals to other agencies who can assist, such as community legal services, housing bodies and so on. Financial First Aid or (FREE) Moneycare/ The Salvation Army 8 Blackwood Rd, Woodridge/ Logan Central QLD Lifeline Community Care Queensland 25 Ewing Road, Logan Central QLD Source: Financial Counselling Australia 8 9

6 Not Enough Income Think Microenterprise Just scraping by and having no success in find a part-time job? Ever thought about working for yourself? Starting a microenterprise may be the solution for you. Microenterprises are just a normal business, but more simplified and usually involves just yourself or a small group of friends. From doing gardening for people in your neighbourhood or making jewellery to sell at a local market these are all microenterprise in action. The key is to find something that drives your passion that you enjoy doing! If you need to improve your skills then TAFE and other providers have lots of courses that can help. If you can establish that the course will lead to an income stream you may be able to access a NILS or community finance loan to assist with the fees. Invitation to Participate Looking for Participants! We are interested in studying how families in your locality organise and manage their financial activities. What will you do? You will participate in a 1-2 hours interview and provide examples of tools that you use to organize and manage your finances. At the successful completion of this study, you will receive a voucher worth $50! Please note that this study has been approved by the QUT Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number ). Contact: Steve Snow steve.snow@qut.edu.au Dhaval Vyas d.vyas@qut.edu.au As your microenterprise grows you need to be aware of all the issues that surround small business in Australia things like getting a ABN or having the right type of insurance cover. A good place to start finding out these sort of things is at a one stop site to assist you with all these rules and regulations. Foresters Community Finance does lend small personal loans to sole traders, so if you have an established small enterprise and need some funds, please contact us and we can see if we can help you out

7 Community Microfinance Reaching more people by recycling money and providing access to safe, fair and affordable credit. NILS (No Interest Loan Scheme) Interest free loans up to $1,200 for new household assets (whitegoods and furniture), educational costs, medical expenses and basic household repairs. To locate your nearest NILS provider visit or: Call: Website: Call: Website: Step Up Loans Low interest loan from $800 to $3,000 over 1 to 3 years for asset purchases such as whitegoods, cars, computers, medical expenses and house repairs. Where: Kyabra Community Association Call: communityfinance@kyabra.org Where: Logan East Community Centre Call: stepup@lecna.org.au Foresters Loans Personal loan from $500 to $4,000 over 1 to 2 years for any worthwhile purpose. Call: individuals@foresters.org.au Website: P: P: Disclaimer: The information contained within this newsletter from all writers is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to substitute obtaining professional financial advice.