About This Service
We all have to deal with money but it is one of the leading causes of stress for Australians. Whether you’re struggling to pay bills, worried about debts, unable to save or juggling a tight budget, support is available to reduce the financial stress in your life.
Kyabra offers no-interest loans and support with budgeting and paying bills. Building financial resilience can help you to gain confidence in your everyday life.
No Interest Loans (NILs)
Kyabra is part of a national network of NILs providers delivering safe, fair and affordable loans across Australia. A NILs loan allows people on low incomes (Centrelink payments or wages) to borrow up to $2000 for essential goods and services such as furniture, appliances, education or medical expenses. Payments are made directly to your chosen retailer; cash loans are not available. There are no fees, charges or penalty payments when taking out a NILs – the amount you borrow is the same amount you pay back.
As borrowers repay their loans, the NILs network is able to continue to provide loans to other people who are on low incomes. This “recycling” of money provides a valuable, ongoing resource for our local community.
To ensure that a loan is the best option for you, we ask you to provide evidence of your income and expenses and complete a loan interview, either in person at one of our Brisbane or Sunshine Coast offices, or over the phone. Here’s a list of documents that you may need to provide – our Intake and Assessment Workers will talk through this with you when you first contact us about a loan. After a loan interview and all required documents are provided, the Loan Assessor will assess your application and, if approved, make payment to your preferred Retail Supplier usually within 5 – 10 working days. These times could be less for essential items such as a refrigerator.
Useful InformationFinancial Conversations
If bills and/or other debts are creating stress for you, we may be able to help you get on top of things by developing an individual or household budget. A written budget can provide a snapshot of your finances allowing you to make informed choices about how to spend your money on the things that are important to you. Our staff can talk to you about available concessions and hardship programs to ensure your money stretches as far as possible.
We can support you to reassess your income and expenses when something unexpected has happened to help you get back on track.
For people with high debts or unfair contracts, we may refer you on to a Financial Counsellor or free legal service for advice and advocacy.
Useful Information
If we can’t help, there are a number of other services which may be able to assist. Here are some useful sites with resources and services that we recommend: