At Škoda Financial Services Australia we understand that life can take unexpected turns and anyone can experience financial hardship, due to unforeseen circumstances.
We are committed to assisting you with finding a suitable solution to manage your repayments, whilst you get back on your feet.
Financial Hardship is when a customer is willing and has the intention to pay, but due to a change in their circumstances, is now unable to meet their repayments or existing financial obligations. With formal hardship assistance, their financial situation will be restored.
In order to assess your eligibility for financial hardship assistance, we require you to apply online via our Financial Assistance Portal (supported web browsers include Google Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge).
Once your application has been completed and returned to us, your circumstances will then be assessed to see what arrangements or options may be suitable for you. We will notify you of the outcome within 21 days. Should we require additional information, one of our Financial Assistance representatives will be in contact with you to discuss the matter further.
Our Hardship department will look at your individual situation and provide options. This may be short term and in some cases long periods of time dependent on your situation.
Each situation is assessed on its own merits. You may need to provide further information such as proof of income, liabilities, expenditure and anything that is applicable to your circumstances.
We are required to provide you with an outcome or next steps within 21 days of you submitting your application. However, in most cases you will receive a response sooner.
No, there will be no collections activity during this period as long as you comply with your hardship arrangement.
We will advise you in writing of the reason. You may wish to seek further financial advice from a financial advisor or a third party in regards to the alternate options that may be available to you.
If you are unsatisfied with our response, you can contact our Financial Hardship Department on 1300 734 567 (Option 1) to discuss our decision. If your concern is still not resolved, you may lodge a complaint via our internal dispute resolution scheme by emailing feedback@vwfs.com.au. If you do not agree with our decision or suggested resolution, you may lodge a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA):
Australian Financial Complaints Authority
GPO BOX 3, Melbourne VIC 3001
1800 931 678 (Free call)
www.afca.org.au