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27 November 2007

Westpac launches new 'Westpac Assist' initiative

Westpac has enhanced its ability to proactively assist those customers who may be struggling to meet their financial commitments with the launch of the new Westpac Assist support team.

Westpac Assist, announced in September as the centerpiece of Westpac's new Responsible Lending Principles, has been established to provide assistance to help customers maintain control of their financial affairs.

From this week, the new Westpac Assist team will begin making outbound calls to those customers who are showing signs of repayment stress to offer them personal solutions to regain control of their finances. Customers concerned about their financial affairs are also encouraged to call the team freecall on1800 067 497 to discuss their individual circumstances.

"Westpac Assist is an important part of Westpac's long-standing commitment to responsible lending. We are very pleased to be providing further support to our customers through this important new initiative," Westpac's Group Executive Consumer Financial Services Mike Pratt said.

Mr Pratt said the new Westpac Assist extended the services already provided by the bank's Financial Solutions team because it was aimed at getting to customers who were showing signs of repayment stress.

"This initiative is all about early identification and providing assistance to prevent long-term financial difficulty," he said.

Westpac also announced today, that it would launch a new credit card in early 2008 which prevented customers from exceeding their card limit, providing them with more direct control over their finances and greater choice in determining the type of access available on their credit card.

In addition to the new credit card, Westpac has also recently made a number of reductions to exception fees. These include the reduction of Outward Dishonour and Account Overdrawn fees to $10 for all Westpac Basic and selected Student and Youth accounts and the reduction of Outward Dishonour fees to $35 on all transaction accounts. Westpac has also published information on its website on how customers can avoid or minimise exception fees.

These initiatives are consistent with Westpac's commitments under its Responsible Lending principles namely:

• We will seek to lend only what our customers can afford to repay
• We will market our products and services responsibly
• We support customers facing financial difficulty
• We help to improve our stakeholders financial literacy and capability