At risk of harm or need extra care

If you are in imminent danger of physical harm call the police on 000 immediately.

If you feel you are at risk of harm, physically, emotionally or financially, or need some extra care to regain or maintain control of your finances, we are here to support you and, as needed, refer you to external support.

If you are experiencing any of the following, please let us know:

• Domestic and family violence
• Other circumstances we can help with
• How we can help
• What other support is available

What is domestic and family violence?

As well as physical and sexual violence, family and domestic violence includes threatening and coercive behaviour, emotional, psychological, or financial abuse (including elder abuse).

• It is often when one person in a relationship hurts another or makes them feel unsafe, and is a repeated pattern of behaviour. It can happen in any kind of relationship, not just with husbands and wives or intimate partners.
• It can happen to anyone and cause you to live in fear. We can help you look at ways you can regain or maintain control of your finances and financial independence.

What is financial abuse (including elder abuse)?

Financial abuse occurs when someone takes away another person’s access to money, manipulates another person’s financial decisions, or uses another person’s money without their consent.

Elder abuse can be defined as “a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person”.

Financial abuse can happen to anyone, particularly those who are dependent on others. It may also coincide with physical, sexual and mental abuse or neglect.

This may be committed by formal and informal carers, supporters, representatives or others. Indicators that you may be in a financial abuse situation may include:

You are being pressured to:

• Change your will, power of attorney or other legal arrangements;
• Sign a document, such as a blank withdrawal form or blank loan application, or feel you are being misled about what they are asking you to sign;
• Invest money in schemes that sound too good to be true;
• Act as a guarantor when you feel you don’t understand enough about the transaction and the risks involved, or simply don’t want to act in a guarantor role; or
• Stay away from your family or friends, or threatened with being isolated from others if you don’t give the abuser what they want.

Your:

• Signature has been forged on cheques, bank accounts or legal documents;
• Bills haven't been paid, even though you have entrusted someone to do this for you;
• Money is being used for a purpose other than what you wanted.

Or:

• Unexplained withdrawals or transfers have been made from your bank account;
• Another person is accessing or controlling your bank accounts or using them without your consent;
• A friend or family member is pressuring you to appoint them as your enduring power of attorney.

We understand that life doesn’t always run smoothly, and you may find yourself needing help when dealing with difficult and challenging circumstances. It could be that your life isn’t going as planned because you are suffering from:

• Age-related impairment: You may have trouble undertaking normal activities if you have a physical or mental age-related impairment, e.g. limited hearing / impaired vision.
• Dementia: We want to help you if you are living with dementia to remain financially independent for as long as possible and be less vulnerable to financial abuse. 
• Cognitive impairment: Having a cognitive impairment makes it hard to remember, learn new things, concentrate or make decisions affecting everyday life.
• Mental illness: This health problem affects how you feel, think, behave and interact with other people.
• Serious illness: A serious illness can impact your ability to earn an income and put a dent in your finances.
• Limited English: if you have limited English, please contact us and we will make the necessary arrangements for a translator or interpreter through National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI).
• Any other personal, or financial circumstance causing significant detriment: This could range from the loss of a loved one to a relationship breakdown or a natural disaster.

You can speak to our call centre or branch staff about your banking needs; we’re here to help.

How our support works

We can help you look at ways you can regain or maintain control of your finances and financial independence. Including:

• How we will communicate with you and other account holders; 
• We will explain to you the information we must share with other account holders (e.g. transactions on the joint account) so that you can plan accordingly; 
• We will be respectful of your confidentiality, particularly in any domestic or family violence situation. We will always take care to protect your personal information and ensure it is in line with our Privacy Policy;
• Referring you to internal and external support (if appropriate).

What we can do to help

Once you’ve told us about your situation, here are some of the ways we can help:

Security:

• Set up a single point of contact within the Bank to protect your confidentiality and so that you don’t have to explain your situation again.
• Change your online banking login details, password and PINs to help protect the security of your information.
• If an account is held by two persons as a joint account, we will explore with you possible ways to change operating authority from one to operate to two to operate.
• Put in place blocking of your Rabobank Online Savings account (for debits and credits) until written instructions have been provided or agreement is reached with both account holders on how to operate the account.

Privacy:

• Change arrangements for anything we may need to send to you (including new debit cards). For example, by nominating the mailing address of a trusted family member or PO Box.
• We can assist with the appointment of your agent or representative while complying with privacy obligations.

Other assistance:

• If you are experiencing financial hardship or financial difficulty and would like to discuss the hardship or difficulty concerns in relation to your loans or other accounts (for example, you would like to be released early from your Term Deposit). Please refer to our hardship page to find out how we can help.
• Understand your power of attorney arrangement, if you have one. If you have revoked an existing power of attorney or appointed a new attorney, we will review the new arrangement and update our records accordingly.
• Identify and discuss with you the accounts you have and arrangements you can make as well as the implications of the changes.
• Provide copies of documents such as bank statements, terms and conditions, and agreements free of charge to an agreed email or postal address.
• Assist with alternative identification if you need to access or open new accounts.

You can also reach out to us at any time to discuss whether:

• Withdrawals may be made on the account;
• One or more joint account holders are required to approve transactions.

Or how to:

• Change to two-to-sign and how that works;
• Get account statements and correspondence separately.