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Abstract: Credit, telecommunications and energy providers have obligations to assist people who have difficulties in paying their debts. There is also legislation to prevent provision of unsuitable credit. All of this depends on the concept of hardship. Being in hardship is a state or condition. Its meaning requires more judicial attention. There are clear indicators of hardship for the provision of credit. There is no clarity regarding what difficulties there are in repaying an amount due to hardship for credit or paying telecoms or electricity bills. While rules require providers to vary contractual obligations, providers, who are private entities, make their own decisions which can be adjudicated by complaint bodies. This article argues that three sets of rules and three complaint bodies for a person in hardship is not consumer-centric and there should at a minimum be a one stop shop for a person in financial difficulty.
Keywords: Australian Energy Regulator; Australian Communications and Media Authority; Australian Financial Complaints Authority; Australian Securities and Investments Commission; consumer credit; Energy and Water Ombudsman; financial hardship; Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman
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