Financial Counselling
Incolink's Financial Counselling service supports workers in staying on top of their finances
Incolink provides free and confidential Financial Counselling and Debt Crisis Support. This service is available to employee and employer members, and members’ immediate families.
Incolink’s Financial Counsellors understand the construction industry and the problems faced by building workers and their families.
Incolink’s Financial Counselling team assists members in understanding and navigating their finances. These services are offered to Incolink members and their families online, over the phone, or in person.
Incolink can help to provide you with support in managing your finances and budget, including making savings goals and planning out your expenses. Our Financial Counsellors can help you with Savings Planning, Budgeting Support, Saving Strategies, Financial Goal Setting, and can provide you with a Referral to a Financial Planner.
Our Financial Counselling team can help you with:
- Superannuation
- Incolink Insurance Benefits
- Incolink Severance / Redundancy
- Incolink Genuine Redundancy Account
- Centrelink
- Financial Planning Referral
- Workcover Entitlements
- Financial Health Check
- EBA Top-Ups
- Utilities and Services Check
- Financial Life Skills
- Legal Referral Options
- Mortgage Information
Incolink’s Financial Counsellors provide debt crisis and support services, including:
- Bankruptcy
- Mortgage / Rental Debt
- Debt Negotiation
- Tax Debt
- CSA Debt
- Banking Issues
- Credit Card Debt
- Fines (PERIN)
- Small Business Debt
- Interest Rate Issues
Incolink’s Financial Counsellors are on your side and can support you with controlling your financial situation. Contact our Financial Counsellors by calling 9668 3074.
Signs of Financial Hardship
Financial Hardship is one cause of stress, and can arise from unemployment or loss of income, relationship breakup, divorce, gambling, excessive debt, death of a partner or family member, cultural pressures, a crisis, or any number of factors.
The key to preventing financial hardship is Early Intervention.
Some of the signs of people who may be experiencing financial hardship include:
- General signs of stress include being withdrawn, or not being engaged in usual activities.
- Asking to borrow small amounts of money on a semi-regular basis (such as to buy lunch).
- Asking to borrow large amounts of money.
- Can’t afford to run their car and needs money for petrol, or asks to be picked up.
- Requesting advances on their salary.
- Asking for long service leave payments or how to access their superannuation.
It’s important to do something, don’t just stand by.
If you think someone is experiencing financial difficulty, make sure to talk to them and refer them to an Incolink Financial Counsellor.
Our Financial Counsellors provide free and confidential advice to Incolink members and their families on financial hardship or debt related issues. Taking steps to address the problem can help relieve stress. Get in touch with our Financial Counselling Team by calling 9668 3074
Improving your Finances
Want to reduce your expenses – but don’t know where to start? Below are a few tips and tricks for maximising your finances.
If you earn under $680 (gross) per week, or less than $5,440.00 over 8 weeks, you can apply for a Low Income Health Care Card. With a Low Income Health Care Card, you can get cheaper medicine, bulk billed doctor visits, cheaper motor vehicle rego, public transport concessions, and you can even save money on your electric and gas bills.
You will need eight weeks of pay slips (or a letter from your employer), some identification, and a copy of a recent bank statement. Once you receive your card, you must reapply every six months. It is a little bit of work, but you will save thousands of dollars.
Between rego, fuel costs, car maintenance, car insurance, and other expenses – running a car can be costly. The costs can add up quickly, and if you live near public transport – a yearly myki may be cheaper than the cost of your car insurance alone.
If you have lost your job, you can talk to the hardship department of your bank to arrange to have your mortgage or other loan payments reduced or delayed.
If you only pay minimum repayments on a $1,000 credit card debt – it could take you more than 14 years to pay it off.
However, if you’re paying $100 per month, you could be debt free in just 1 year.
By paying minimum repayments, you could wind up paying over $1,300 in interest. That means your debt has more than doubled. However, if you pay off $100 of your credit card debt per month – you’ll only end up paying an extra $100 in interest.
Credit cards can make it very easy to spend more than you can afford. It’s a lot easier to keep to a budget if you use cash or a debit card when shopping.
Making a big purchase? You can use lay-by or save up instead of using a credit card. Find more information about paying off your credit card at Moneysmart.gov.au
If you’re spending around $5 - $10 on lunch for work, you can easily end up paying between $6,500 and $13,000 for take-away lunches over a 5 year period. Making lunch at home can be a lot more cost-effective – and is a lot easier to budget around.
Buy Now, Pay Later services might seem like an easy way to buy something you like – but you may end up overspending.
In fact, one in five borrowers went without essentials such as meals in order to meet repayments on time, according to ASIC’s 2020 research into the buy now pay later industry.
Know the costs before you sign up – visit Moneysmart.gov.au