Frequently asked questions
What is Way Forward?
Way Forward is an Australian registered charity that provides a free service to hundreds of Australians in financial difficulty, assisting them on a path towards financial stability.
Way Forward is proudly backed by Australia’s biggest banks and lenders, including ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac. If you are earning an income but in financial difficulty due to unmanageable debts, Way Forward can negotiate with all creditors on your behalf and establish a realistic budget alongside a single regular payment, 100% of which goes towards reducing the debt.
Why does Way Forward exist?
Way Forward was created in response to the alarmingly high number of Australians who have found themselves with unmanageable unsecured debt (credit cards, personal loans, payday loans, etc.). This means they cannot find a way out of their financial hardship.
Although every person in financial hardship is battling a different set of life challenges, the good news is that Way Forward’s response is custom-made, considered and unanimously brings a sense of relief to our clients.
In fact, our research shows that most of clients (83-90%) are confident they can gain control of their finances now they have a realistic budget and repayment plan in place. This is the exact impact Way Forward’s service aims to achieve: to improve wellbeing in the form of a clear, achievable, dignified pathway out of debt.
Can I trust Way Forward?
As an independent not-for-profit organisation, our sole purpose is to support our clients. You can trust us to always act in your best interest. We are not selling products or working on behalf of a particular business.
We take your privacy and safety seriously. Our protocols ensure that what you share with us remains confidential. When we speak to your creditors on your behalf, we only share what is necessary to set up your repayment plan, and we only do so after you have given your permission.
Can I get help from Way Forward?
We’re proud to have been able to assist more than 600 Australians who are in medium to long term financial difficulty. We can help people who struggle to pay unsecured debt (credit cards, personal loans, payday loans, etc.) across multiple creditors.
Do you have money left after covering all your living expenses to repay some of your debt? Further, are your circumstances unlikely to change? If the answer to both these questions is yes, then we can help.
Contact us on our website, or give us a call on 1300 045 502 and speak to one of our helpful financial hardship advocates today.
If we cannot assist or we believe that you could get better support from another organisation, we will refer you the right support services.
Find out more how we can help here.
How can Way Forward help me?
Way Forward has close relationships with creditors and a process to renegotiate debt to develop fair and reasonable repayment plans. We speak to your creditors on your behalf, saving you time to focus on the important matters in your life.
We ensure you get a reasonable arrangement where you pay what you can afford and leave enough for living expenses. We make things easy for you, by allowing you to make a single regular payment to us, which we then distribute to your creditors.
Does Way Forward provide any free tools I can use?
Yes, use our free budget tools tools to help you understand your current financial situation. See our free budget planner or our repayment calculator.
Can Way Forward help me with all my debt?
We will look at all your debt when we assess your situation and determine how much you are able to repay. We currently focus on helping clients with their unsecured debt only.
If you have secured debt (e.g. a mortgage or car loan), we will outline some options for where and how you could get support. We are also happy to connect you to other organisations better placed to help you.
Our service is 100% free so get in touch today to see if we can help you towards financial freedom.
What is a repayment plan?
A repayment plan is an agreement between you and your creditors to pay off your debt.
After we look at your income and expenses, we discuss how much you can afford to pay towards your debt. With your permission, we contact your creditors and negotiate the changes to your repayment amount.
We realise that most people want to pay their debt back, but just can’t afford their regular payments with high-interest rates, fees and extra charges. We work to reduce your repayment to an amount you can afford by asking your creditors to consider reducing or stopping interest, waiving fees and charges or a reduction of the debt.
Do I have to pay anything?
No. All our services are completely free to you. In addition, 100% of what you pay goes towards reducing your debt, so unlike most other providers we do not take a cut of your payments.
What happens if my situation changes?
Easy – just give us a call!
We understand that your situation may change in the future. If things either improve or become more difficult, just call and we can work through any adjustments.
We may also check in with you every now and then, just to make sure that you are still happy with your repayment plan.
What happens if Way Forward can’t assist me with my situation?
If we believe other organisations can provide better support, we’ll refer you to them. Some situations that fall outside our scope are clients with problem gambling, homelessness or no capacity to make repayments.
Will this affect my credit report?
We ask creditors to treat our arrangements as a hardship variation and for them to, stop repayment reporting on your credit file, and, not create a default listing on your credit report. Whilst this shouldn’t impact your credit report it may impact future lending with your current creditors.
