Centrelink Payday Advance

Bank Loans overextend Centrelink Recipients

2006-01-26T07:59:00.000+10:30

From AAP: "About 400 Commonwealth Bank loan customers in indigenous communities in Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory may have been left over-committed because of the eligibility criteria used by the lender. Many of the borrowers were dependent on Centrelink payments for their income."

The bank is reviewing their lending practices and has apologised to the customers now suffering greater financial hardship.

So careful how much debt you get into with the ole credit card if you are lucky enough to qualify for one and if you are making a loan application remember they are happy to make money out of you and care a lot less then you do if it doesn't work out.

How to get fast and polite phone service from Centrelink

2006-01-25T12:58:00.000+10:30

If you are phoning Centrelink and waiting longer than you want to wait, hang-up.

Phone your federal member of Parliament's electoral office and tell them you are having trouble contacting centrelink.

Typically the person working in the electoral office will just take your details, ask generally what the inquiry is about, your nearest centrelink office and say 'I'll have Centrelink call you.'

They have the direct number to your local centrelink office or the relevant contact and will call them directly.

Prepare yourself for the best service you have ever recieved from Centrelink! When they call they will address you formally 'Mr. Surname...' etc. They will be more helpful and polite than you could fathom.

What happens when someone from the federal member's office calls any government department is that the public servant (or their supervisor usually) has to report back to the politicians office that they have resolved the enquiry to your satisfaction.

It's a big deal and they are super keen to make sure you are happy and the member's office doesn't call their supervisor's supervisor (or any way up the chain of centrelink command to the top) to kick heads and get good service for you.

Obviously you can't use this trick every time you want to phone centrelink - but if you are having trouble and waiting for ages - here are the keys to the side entrance.

If you are trying to apply for credit or a credit card or payday advance unsuccessfully while on centrelink payments because of financial hardship, that is worth mentioning to the person from your federal member's office as it makes clear to them the state of play.

Year 12 Student on Centrelink Payments

2006-01-25T12:49:00.000+10:30

If you would like to share your experience with Centrelink generally or applying for credit, a credit card or payday advance while on centrelink payments, email: centrelinkblog at gmail dot com

I recieved this email about Centrelink problems:

"Dear Centrelink Blogger,

I am a year 12 student who lives away from "home". Apart from being paid a pittance to study (I can hardly afford to eat!), I am continually hassled by Centrelink.

They have quotas each month that they have to adhere to don't they? Numbers of people they can get off benefits without thought of whether they really need the assistance.

The Centrelink mindset seems all wrong- an us against the bludgers type feeling, I feel I'm continually asked to provide proof of income, when at times it's very hard to produce documents when they request them, and when I produce them well within the due date (as I always do) they send me letters stating that I haven't lodged the form yet- and withhold my benefit (that I desperately need to buy food) even though I've followed their instructions to the letter!!!

Oh, and as far as ringing Centrelink.. people who suggest that have obviously never sat on the phone for 30 minutes waiting for assistance, which is what happens. If you're lucky! It's a joke.

Incensed."

Thanks for your email, check out my post on how to: contact centrelink

How to complete a Credit Card Application on Centrelink

2005-10-24T01:19:00.000+09:30

So you are on Centrelink and want a Credit Card? Like me, you are probably one of the few people that stops and takes the flyer from people pushing credit cards right? Well when it comes to completing a credit card application while you are on Centrelink Payments you don't really have much hope right? Short of applying for a payday advance from Centrelink you don't have much chance of getting credit.

Funny thing is even after rejecting a credit card application, the company will still send you more application forms in the mail... in the hope that your circumstances change and you will apply again. Maybe your sorry butt isn't on Centrelink anymore they are hoping.

Apparently there are a few places that will give you credit, not a whole lot but enough to help out in a real tough spot. I guess all I can say is if you are trying to get credit keep trying, keep filling out those credit card application forms and so on, maybe you will strike it lucky!

Centrelink Complaints Process - How to make a complaint about Centrelink

2005-07-16T11:47:00.000+09:30

If I knew how to make a complaint about Centrelink... I would have done it in person and at the top of my voice the other day.

Can you believe I was waiting in line the other day at Centrelink and for some reason it was really busy. Everyone was frustrated, but you could see the Centrelink staff were working their collective butts off to serve everyone.

Then, this Centrelink staff member comes out and mouths off at everyone in Centrelink, saying 'why did you all decide to come in today, most of your queries could be handled over the phone anyway, what's going on today?'

I was just about to arc up and shame her in front of everyone when she turned on her heel and walked off.

Who the hell does she think she is? Do you think people would go out of their way, all the way to Centrelink if they knew they could just pick up the phone? People don't know what is going to happen until they get to Centrelink and find out. They have everyone running scared that their payments will stop or they will get breached that everyone presents to make sure everything is OK.

On top of that, 90% of the people there were from non-English speaking backgrounds. What a shame job. I'm Anglo and was ashamed this white bitch mouthed off at a room full of people who have a language barrier on top of dealing with Centrelink policy, forms and flip flop. Disgraceful.

Centrelink Breach Duration - No Payday Advance

2005-07-16T11:38:00.000+09:30

Wow! That lasted for ages. The Centrelink Breah has ended and I'm finally back on full payments. What a difference it has made to our household income, that portion they shave off sure is big chunk.

I didn't get a payday loan or cash advance... wouldn't have qualified anyway.

It seems the storm has passed.

Right when the government has gone and changed their policy on breaches anyway.

Instead of applying breaches, apparently they just cut people off entirely, then when they contact Centrelink for a please explain, they give the reason why the payment was stopped and you are given the opportunity to rectify the problem... something like that anyway.

Short of complaining about waiting in line for half an hour last week to put my form in at Centrelink I'm over this breach drama and am making peace with the universe.

Suspension of Centrelink Payment

2005-03-18T20:00:00.000+10:30

Today my housemate and I recieved notice that our Centrelink Newstart Allowance had been suspended. Seems too many people have their Centrelink mail sent to our house.

Fact is we allow 5 homeless people who are friends of ours to send their mail to our address and we hold it and pass it on to them when we see them. So the reason we came up on their radar was 7 people recieving mail at the one address.

They sent us a form to complete to update our rent details for rent assistance to make sure we aren't getting over paid... we filled it out, got the real estate agent to stamp it and brought the Centrelink Rent Certificate in to lodge.

Guess what... Centrelink said, we already have your rent details we don't know why you were sent that form but you don't need to lodge it.

Having already been breached once, I said 'So this is not going to make me get another breach, is it?' They said 'No, no problems at all.'

A breach..?!! Forget that, they suspended our payments entirely!

So forget getting a payday loan or payday advance anymore as we have no money coming in at all. Happy fricken Easter!

Maybe if this isn't sorted out - and I mean soon, we will be homeless too. Then where will everyone get their mail sent?

Centrelink Half Fare Entitlement Card (Transport - Train Bus Ferry)

2005-02-28T15:09:00.000+10:30

Standing in line one day at Centrelink, the person in front of me turned and asked...

'Hey, do you have one of these (showing me his Half Fare Entitlement Card).'
'No, what is it?' I asked.

I had attended the seminar where they explain to you what your rights and responibilities are, but never heard you could get half fare train travel if you were on Centrelink. What's up with that?

'How do you get one?' I asked.

Can you believe, they don't ever tell you this but if you just ask you can get a Half Fare Entitlement Card for buss ferry and train travel if you are on Centrelink in NSW.

This is a great bonus, but there must only be a small percentage of people who actually have one as it relies on word of mouth amongst people on Centrelink. The powers that be won't actually tell you that you can get one!

But here is the kicker!!!

When I went to renew my Centrelink Half Fare Entitlement Card they told me since I had been breached I no longer qualified for one. WHAT?!!!

First they breach me, then they take the Half Fare Entitlement Card off me. So I said 'But this will impact on my ability to complete job seeking activities and Work For the Dole requirements. How can you hold me back like that?'

The lady almost went blue. Um, let me call someone. So she calls someone, prints something out, gathers herself and shows me a print out of the policy which states that to qualify for the card you must be on full payments.

Now she is desperately trying to get my breach overturned so I qualify for the Centrelink Half Fare Entitlement Card again! Oh, now you really want to see the breach lifted do you? So I can qualify for the Centrelink Transport Card again and you can regain your faith in the failed Centrelink system.

It seems people at Centrelink do care about me and don't want me to suffer financial hardship.. they don't want my credit card to go into cardiac arrest (too late for that), they don't want me to apply for a payday loan or payday advance, they want everything to be peaches... so they can sleep at night.

She just couldn't believe I put the ball back in their court and said 'this is not right,' because she agreed with me. She agreed with me and said she disagreed with the policy.

I almost went blue!

Here is what I want to know:

1. How many people who qualify for the card actually have one?

2. Why aren't people informed that they qualify for a Half Fare Entitlement Card?

3. What does it cost the government in lost ticket revenue to issue these cards [and] how much do they save by not issuing it to anyone unless they somehow discover the secret existence of the card and that they can get one?

3. What can be done to remove the double wammy effect of missing out on the card due to a breach?

4. Why don't eggs bounce?

Centrelink Loan

2005-01-19T01:08:00.000+10:30

I have almost payed off my last Centrelink Loan and will soon qualify for another Centrelink Loan. That's $500 I can put towards my debts.

Getting a Centrelink Loan / $500 Cash Advance is kinda a catch 22 though.

When you get an advance, it is a payday advance from Centrelink where they take money out of your future payments to pay the loan back. This decreases your fortnightly income.

But when you are breached like I was, your income is decreased further. So you have to wait out the term of the payday advance and wait out the term of the breach before your payments return to normal.

So if I don't get a payday advance or centrelink loan, my income will rise a little and counter the lost income from the breach on a fortnight to fortnight basis.

But, I need to pay off debt now! So I need to get the centrelink loan again or else.

I still don't qualify for a centrelink loan for a little while longer so I'm going to do the maths and see exactly how both options will effect me.

Centrelink Statistics

2005-01-10T10:38:00.000+10:30

Centrelink Statistics I just found include: 90% of all breaches applied in 1999-2000 period were imposed on people aged 18 and 34 years old. Approximately 60% of all breaches were imposed on people under 25.

I know I'm just another statistic centrelink but you didn't have to breach me. The guy on the phone from centrelink sounded like he enjoyed doing it too. Why waste the phone call mate and my time, just boot me and get it over with, write me a letter and send me five coppies of the same letter on the same day from three different offices like you enjoy doing from time to time.

Centrelink statistics, calling all centrelink statistics... you can email your story to: centrelinkblog at gmail dot com and I will publish your story here. We especially want to know if the centrelink breach had any consequences in your life or if you had to go for a payday advance or take something to cashys. PS - all emails from centrelink statistics are confidential, I won't post your name.

Payday Advance

2005-01-10T05:43:00.000+10:30

Since I was breached by Centrelink I think I need a payday advance.

I could fill out a credit card application and cross my fingers but I doubt I'll get it, being on Centrelink and all.

What do you think, will they give me a payday advance because I was breached by Centrelink?

The fat it seems has been cut from my Centrelink payment and a payday advance is the only thing that will keep me in the high standard of living I have become use to while on Centrelink.

Do they realise what you go without when they breach you? I never have any money left after a fortnight's pay.

I pay rent, go to the supermarket and buy the essentials... that's it, no spare money left over.

So I though in between my stella job seeking efforts (that's right Centrelink I'm on Newstart Allowance), I'll post a few things here in this blog and hopefully make up some extra cash from clicks on ads so I don't have to get a cash advance or pay day loan of some variety or fill out a credit card application.

Lets see how it goes....