One of the most common ways to provide relief for financial problems is to consider the option of seeking relief from paying a debt for a period of time. This is commonly referred to as a moratorium.

Under certain circumstances, the lender/creditor will grant up to 90 days to allow you to get back on track before recommencing payments.

Sometimes there are consequences such as accrued interest that needs to be paid back, however if you are successful in seeking relief, it can give you the breathing space to free up some cash flow and reorganise your financial plan.

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If your personal circumstances have changed in ways that affect your ability to pay off the debt, you can request a variation to your contract.

Example of a variation of a contract are:

• Extension of the repayment period by 6 or 12 months which will reduce the repayments made each month or fortnight.
• Changing the date the direct debit comes out. This can help by having the money come out of your account after your pay goes in, rather than having the debit coming out before your pay goes in.
• If you have missed some payments and are unable to pay those missed amounts in full, pay more than the original repayments and over a period of 3 to 6 payments you can catch up with the amount outstanding.
• Paying fortnightly instead of monthly. By dividing a monthly payment by 2 and paying half each fortnight will mean that you make 13 months payment in a year and after a 1 year have a month’s payment in credit.
• Paying weekly because you get paid weekly.

Legal Aid Queensland has a Self-help Kit called changing a loan that covers the following topics:

• what will happen if you don't pay your loan
• whether you can change your loan
• the court procedure you will need to go through to change your loan
• what options are available to you if you can't meet the current loan/lease repayments
• sample letters to use when negotiating to change your loan or lease

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