We understand there may be times when your circumstances change. We have established processes to assist customers suffering from financial difficulty for our customers are individuals or small businesses (as defined by the Banking Code of Practice). You may also have rights under the National Credit Code if you are a consumer.

Perhaps you've lost your job, suffered an illness or injury or have been impacted by a pandemic or natural disaster. If, as a result, you are unable to repay what you owe, you expect to be unable to pay upcoming repayments, or you are experiencing difficulty meeting your repayment obligations on your loan or credit card, please contact us as soon as possible. We will discuss your situation and the options available to you. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can try to help.

When you contact us, or are thinking about contacting us, it is important for you to be open, and as realistic as you can be, about your financial position. In turn, we will be compassionate in trying to understand your situation and when discussing any way we can help.

If your financial hardship is associated with circumstances that make you a vulnerable customer please let us know so that we can take these into account as we consider how to deal with your financial distress. Refer to the Bank of China Inclusivity and Accessibility Statement on this website for details.

1. How to apply

If you think you are, may be, or expect to be unable to meet your debt obligations, or are experiencing difficulty meeting your repayment obligations, please contact us as soon as possible.

With your co-operation, we will work with you to help you find a sustainable solution to your financial difficulties. Any help we can give will depend on your individual circumstances. We provide help to customers on a case-by-case basis.

In many instances and depending on your situation, we may be able to enter into a temporary arrangement quickly and efficiently over the phone.

Alternatively, we may require further information and documentation to complete a more detailed assessment of your personal and financial circumstances to help us understand your financial position and to identify how we may be able to help you. The bank may require:

• A statement of financial position to be completed summarising your current income, expenditure, assets and liabilities
• Employment contract and/or payslips
• Account statements
• Centrelink statement and/or social security payment details
• Medical certificate from a qualified medical practitioner
• Employment separation statement
• Contract of sale /sales agreement
• Other documents which support your request

After you have provided us with all the requested information reasonably necessary to review your financial situation, we will provide you with a decision on whether and how we can help you within 21 days.

If we are working with you to help you respond to financial difficulties, then you can tell us to deal with your financial counsellor or representative, rather than dealing with you.

To do this, you will need to give us their contact details in writing.

However, we may deal with you directly again in the following situations:

a)if you ask us to;

b)if we have made reasonable attempts to contact, or deal with, your financial counsellor or representative but we are unsuccessful; or

c)if your representative is not a financial counsellor, and we reasonably believe the representative is not acting in your best interests or it is otherwise reasonable to do so in the circumstances.

If we decide to deal with you directly under (b), or (c), we will tell you, and will suggest other free alternatives that may be available to you.

We may also contact you if we think you are experiencing financial difficulty

We employ a range of practices that can identify common indicators of financial difficulty. If you haven't yet reached out to us regarding your circumstances a

nd we identify that you may be experiencing difficulty paying what you owe under a loan (or are experiencing financial difficulty), then we may contact you to discuss your situation and the options available to help you. If we do so and we offer basic bank accounts that you are eligible for, we will offer this product to you.

2. Relief that may be available

The options available will depend on your personal circumstances and financial situation. Below we set out examples of steps we may be able to take to help you in particular situations.

If restoring your financial position is possible

Our financial hardship arrangements focus on situations from which you can recover your financial position. In these situations, we may be able to help you by:

• agreeing to interest only payments for a short period;
• extending the term of your Loan to reduce your repayments; or
• temporarily postponing or deferring payments.

These arrangements may require you to pay more interest over the loan term.

In these circumstances, contact us and we will help you work out what you need to do.

If restoring your financial position is unlikely

A permanent change to your financial situation may mean it is now unlikely that your financial position can be recovered — even if your existing loan were to be changed.

In that case, it may not be appropriate, for us to offer you changes to any payment arrangements under the National Credit Code’s financial hardship process.

However, even in these circumstances, we may be able to offer you help — for example, options may include:

• agreeing on an alternative arrangement, plan or contract;
• changing the terms of your loan;
• giving you time to sell your property; or
• giving information about bankruptcy or insolvency arrangements.

In these circumstances, contact us and we will help you work out what you need to do.

We may refer you to people who can help you find a financial adviser or financial counsellor.

When we may waive your debt

In exceptional circumstances, we may look outside normal processes to find a way to assist you if you are experiencing long term hardship as a result of a material change in circumstances.

If you are an individual, we may, at our discretion, reduce or waive your debt if it is an unsecured personal loan or credit card, on a case-by-case basis and on compassionate grounds, having regard to the following:

• your individual circumstances;
• if you are unable to meet your repayments now and in the future;
• whether the hardship is genuine and being caused by factors outside your control; and
• our commercial considerations.

3. We will assess each application for financial difficulty assistance

When we are deciding whether, and how, to help you with financial difficulty, we will take into account the information available to us, including information you give us about your financial situation. Some factors we may consider include:

• the cause of your financial hardship
• your current financial position
• how you can meet the commitments under any proposed arrangement
• whether your current financial hardship can be resolved and your financial position restored to meet your future obligations
• whether deferring your obligations may cause your financial situation to deteriorate in future

4. We will confirm any arrangement with you

We will tell you in writing whether we will provide you with help in relation to your financial difficulty and the reasons for our decision.

If we agree to provide you with help in the form of changes to your agreement with us, except in the case of minor individual instances of help we provide such as deferrals, refunds or fee waivers, then we will tell you in writing about the main details of the arrangements, including:

a)the repayments you need to make under the proposed new arrangement;

b)what will happen at the end of the new arrangement; and

whether you accepting the proposed new arrangement will have any adverse consequences in relation to banking services or your credit history (for example, an entry in your credit report or cancellation of a banking service). You must ensure that you meet the terms of the arrangement or the arrangement may be terminated.

If you find you are unable to meet the terms of the arrangement, you should contact us as soon as possible to discuss your situation.

5. If we are unable to accept your application

There are circumstances were we will be unable to provide financial difficulty assistance. We will provide you with reasons for our decision in writing and we will discuss the next steps we will take and any other options that may be available to you.

If you ask us to and where appropriate, we will refer you to financial counselling organisations that may be able to help you. We may also recommend on our own initiative that you seek independent advice from a financial counsellor.

6. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the assessment

You can lodge a complaint if you are not satisfied with the outcome of our assessment.

To find out how you can lodge a complaint, please refer to our Guide for Customers Lodging a Complaints that is available from our Retail Branches or on our website at www.bankofchina.com/au.