General Insurance Code of Practice
The Insurance Council of Australia Limited has developed the General Insurance Code of Practice (“the Code”), which is a voluntary self-regulatory code. The Code aims to raise the standards of practice and service in the insurance industry.
Lloyd’s has adopted the Code on terms agreed with the Insurance Council of Australia. For further information on the Code please visit www.codeofpractice.com.au
The Code Governance Committee (CGC) is an independent body that monitors and enforces insurers’ compliance with the Code. For more information on the Code Governance Committee (CGC) go to www.insurancecode.org.au
ABC Insurance trading as Members Protect follows the Code's guidance under Part 10. Financial Hardship.
Financial Hardship Support
The page below provides information on what constitutes financial hardship, how you can apply for support, including the support options available, and how we will handle your support request.
Are you eligible for support?
You may be entitled to support because you are experiencing financial hardship if:
- you are an individual insured or a third party beneficiary who owes us money, including an excess, under an insurance policy we have issued; or
- you are an individual and we are seeking to recover money from you because we believe you caused damage or loss to either an insured or a third party beneficiary who we cover under an insurance policy.
You also have a right to ask us to fast-track a claim if you have an urgent financial need.
Please note that we cannot support payment of your premium for an insurance policy we issued or intend to issue to you.
Are you experiencing financial hardship?
Our staff have been trained to be receptive to any indications that you may be experiencing financial hardship, and will take all reasonable efforts during our dealings with you to identify whether this is the case.
We also encourage you or your representative to reach out and tell us about your financial hardship so that we can work with you to
discuss your situation and the options available to support you. Otherwise there is a risk that we may not find out about it.
Please contact us as follows:
Financial Hardship Support Officer
ABC Insurance Pty Ltd t/as Members Protect
Level 17, Angel Place, 123 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000
Email: support@abcinsurance.net.au
Once financial hardship is identified or notified, our staff and management will decide how we may be able to provide support to you.
We will give you details about how to apply for financial hardship support; and
if appropriate, contact details for the National Debt Helpline: 1800 007 007
Rest assured your situation and personal information will always be treated sensitively and discretely.
Keeping you informed
We will communicate with you about your financial hardship support application.
Where possible we will use your preferred method of communication.
If we know that you have nominated a representative, then we will keep that person updated about your request for financial hardship support, unless you tell us not to.
Assessing your request for support
When we are assessing your request for financial hardship support, we will consider all reasonable evidence — for example:
- evidence of serious illness that prevents you from earning income;
- evidence of a disability, including a disability caused by mental illness;
- if you are a Centrelink client, your Centrelink statements; and
- evidence of your unemployment.
We may request additional information of you, but only if it is reasonably necessary for us to assess your application for financial hardship support. In such cases we we will tell you the information we need as early as possible and be specific about the information we need.
You have 21 calendar days from the date of our request to provide that information to us, unless we have agreed to a different timeframe.
Putting recovery on hold
If we are taking action to recover an amount from you, we will put that action on hold if we identify that you are experiencing financial hardship, or if you ask us for financial hardship support in relation to that amount.
When we put the action on hold, we will contact any collection agent or solicitor that we have appointed and tell them the action is on hold.
The action will stay on hold until we have assessed your application for financial hardship and notified you of our decision about it.
Making our decision
We will tell you in writing of our decision about whether to give you financial hardship support within 21 calendar days after we receive your application, unless we have asked you to provide us with more information.
If we do ask you for more information and:
- you provide all information we requested, then within 21 calendar days of receiving it we will tell you in writing our decision about whether to give you financial hardship support; or
- you do not provide all information we requested within 21 calendar days (or by a later date we agree to), then within 7 calendar days of that deadline passing we will tell you in writing our decision about whether to give you financial hardship support.
If you are entitled to financial hardship support
If we decide you are entitled to financial hardship support then we will work with you to implement an arrangement that could include any one or more of the following:
- delaying the date on which the payment must be made;
- paying us in instalments — we will not refuse a reasonable request from you to pay the amount you owe in instalments;
- paying a reduced lump sum amount;
- delaying one or more instalment payments for an agreed period;
- deducting the excess from the claim amount we pay you;
- waiving cancellation fees.
We will confirm the agreed arrangement with you. Where possible this will be via your preferred method of communication.
If we agree you are entitled to financial hardship support, but we are unable to agree about how you can be supported, then we will tell you in writing about our Complaints process.
Releasing your debt
If we decide you are entitled to financial hardship support, then you may ask us to release, discharge, or waive a debt or obligation. However, you are not automatically entitled to this.
If we agree to release, discharge or waive a debt or obligation, then we will confirm this with you in writing.
You can ask us to notify any financial institution with an interest in your insurance policy that you are entitled to financial hardship support and, if applicable, that we have released, discharged or waived a debt or obligation. If you ask us to do this then we will tell them about this in writing.
If you are not entitled to financial hardship support
If we decide that you are not entitled to financial hardship support, we will tell you the reasons for our decision and about our Complaints process. Where possible, we will tell you this in your preferred method of communication.
If your circumstances change, then you may re-apply for financial hardship support in relation to the amount you owe. However, for any further application you make, it will be at our discretion whether we again put any recovery action on hold.
Debt & money collection standards
We, as well as any collection agent or solicitor collecting money for us:
- will comply with the:
- are required to understand the financial hardship requirements in the Code and receive training to help identify whether you might need financial hardship support.
When we, our collection agent or solicitor, first communicates with you about any money owed, then we will ensure that this
communication provides you with information to show that the amount we are seeking to recover from you is fair and reasonable.
This may include:
- information on the relevant loss and/or damage and the claim;
- the actual cost of completed repairs; and
- the evidence we relied on when we calculated the amount.
This communication will also include:
- information about our financial hardship process; and
- contact details to enable you to contact us to discuss financial hardship support or if you have any questions.
If our collection agent or solicitor communicates with you about money owed, then that communication will identify us as the insurance agent that they are acting on behalf of and will specify the nature of our claim against you.
If you tell our collection agent or solicitor that you are experiencing financial hardship, then they must notify us and give you information in writing about our financial hardship process.
Bankruptcy
If you tell us that you intend to declare bankruptcy, then we will work with you (or your representative) to agree on the amount owed.
We will also give you written confirmation of that amount for the purposes of your declaration of bankruptcy.
If we cannot agree on an amount, then we will provide details of our Complaints process in writing.
Claims
In the event of a claim arising under this Insurance notice should be given as soon as possible to:
Updates
This page was last updated on 10 August 2026.