On 25 September 2025, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) published Report 815 Hardship, not so hard to get help (REP 815).
REP 815 sets out the actions that ASIC has taken since the publication in May 2024 of Report 782 Hardship, hard to get help: Findings and actions to support customers in financial hardship and sets out certain observations since the release of the report. REP 782 was a review of 10 large home lenders to understand how they were supporting customers experiencing financial hardship.
Whilst ASIC has observed continued improvements in lender approaches including lenders communicating more proactively with customers on their options there are still some lenders who have been slower to show progress and there are concerns with the quality of some hardship responses.
ASIC Commissioner O’Rourke said, ‘We urge all lenders to adopt a proactive, continuous improvement approach to supporting their customers experiencing financial hardship, and to ensure adequate focus on customer experience and outcomes in their practices.
‘Financial hardship assistance continues to be a key focus area for ASIC, particularly as some consumers continue to experience cost-of-living pressures.’