Home arrow Legal Advice
Legal Advice PDF Print E-mail

We provide free telephone legal advice to NSW consumers on credit, debt and banking matters. However we cannot provide advice to businesses.

For an example of what sort of issues we can help you with, read this short case study.

Legal advice is available by talking to one of our solicitors over the phone by calling 1800 808 488.

Interpreters are available by calling 131 450 (also for the hearing impaired).

If you or your client are having difficulty contacting our advice service because of a disability or problems using an interpreter service, please let us know on our administration line (02) 9212 4216.

If you are simply having difficulty getting through to us, please be patient and persistent - we are a small service and we are often very busy!

Please note that you will not be able to talk to a solicitor by ringing the administration line and we do not give legal advice in response to e-mail correspondence.

LEGAL ADVICE CASE STUDY

The following case study gives an example of what sort of legal advice Consumer Credit Legal Centre can provide to clients - what our solicitors can and cannot do.

The problem

Maria owes $20,000 in personal debts, including two store cards, a credit card and a personal loan. She is currently on unpaid maternity leave and does not know when she will return to work, or who will look after the baby. She is very stressed and is thinking about bankruptcy as a solution. She doesn't like the idea of going bankrupt because she lives in a remote suburb with little public transport and she doesn't want to lose her car. She had also imagined that she would buy a house one day. The phone calls and letters demanding money, however, are becoming a constant source of distress.

What our solicitor can do

A solicitor at Consumer Credit Legal Centre can give Maria free advice over the phone.

That advice may include:

  • What her creditors can do to her if she does not pay them and does not go bankrupt
  • What she can do if her creditors take her to court and whether she may have a valid defence to any court action
  • Whether or not she may be eligible for a hardship variation on one or more of her loans (that is a temporary break from repayments or a reduction in repayments and extension of time to pay the loan) and how to apply
  • How to apply for bankruptcy and what will be involved - including whether she will lose her car and what effect it might have on her ability to borrow money in the future
  • A referral to a face to face financial counsellor who can explore her options in more detail, negotiate with her creditors on her behalf and assist her with taking appropriate action.

What our solicitor cannot do

  • Our solicitor generally will not contact Maria's creditors on her behalf
  • Our solicitor generally will not assist Maria to go bankrupt, access her superannuation or take any other step to alleviate her financial position
  • Our solicitor generally will not file any court papers or represent her in any legal action except as set out below.

In some circumstances we may find that a caller raises an important legal issue about a loan or other banking service, such as that a lender or their agent has not complied with the law, or has acted unfairly towards the consumer. In such cases we may agree to look at a caller’s case in more detail.

In deciding whether to offer additional assistance, our solicitors will give priority to disadvantaged consumers. However, simply not being able to afford to pay your debts is not a legal issue.

For more information, see Legal Assistance.

 
[ Back ]
Copyright Consumer Credit Legal Centre NSW 2007