How Life Without Debt can help
This document contains four beneficiary-facing draft pages written in plain English for four distinct audiences. It is the copy source that will feed the public LWD website rewrite once ACNC registration and DGR endorsement are confirmed. Nothing here has been published yet. Every claim is anchored to the corresponding operating policy so the public and staff-facing documents stay in lockstep.
- Reading age: targeted at ~Year 8 (approximately grade 8). Sentences short. No jargon unless immediately explained.
- Tone: warm, direct, unhurried. Never patronising. Never salesy.
- Never promise a specific outcome — every "we can" is qualified by "if [condition]" or "we will try to".
- Never say "free" without also saying "no fees, no commissions, no strings" — funders' expectation.
- Every audience page ends with the same three things: what happens next · what does not happen · a clear next step.
If you've been given a diagnosis
Written for the person themselves — the one who has been told the news, and who is now also being told they owe money they can't pay.
If you've been given a diagnosis
You are the person we exist for. This page is for someone who has been told by a doctor that they have a terminal illness — and who is also being asked to pay debts that feel impossible right now. It doesn't matter what the debt is: credit cards, personal loans, buy-now-pay-later, a mortgage, utility bills, medical accounts, telco, ATO, or the aggressive private company calling three times a day. It doesn't matter how big or small it is. It doesn't matter whose fault it is. You didn't plan for this. Nobody plans for this.
Here's what we do.
What Life Without Debt does, in one sentence
We take the debt conversations off your plate — our licensed practitioners (operating under Australian Credit Licence No. 387398, held by Credit Mediation Services Pty Ltd) talk to your lenders and debt collectors on your behalf, push for pauses, write-offs, and hardship arrangements, and where the numbers still don't work, in some cases LWD can put money directly on the account to make the pressure stop.
Who does the licensed mediation work
Life Without Debt Ltd is the charity. It raises the money, sets the eligibility rules, and refers cases in. LWD itself is not credit-licensed. The regulated mediation work — the actual conversations with your creditors — is performed by our related-party service provider, Credit Mediation Services Pty Ltd, which holds Australian Credit Licence No. 387398. Their licensed practitioners handle each case under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act framework. Individual outcomes vary and depend on creditor cooperation; mediation is not debt discharge.
Do you actually have to pay?
Sometimes yes. Sometimes less than you think. Sometimes nothing. What's true for you depends on who the lender is, what kind of loan or account it is, whether you were the only borrower, whether you have superannuation or life insurance that pays out on terminal illness, and a dozen other things you shouldn't have to work out by yourself. Our first job is to work that out with you — not tell you what you should have already known.
What it costs you
Nothing. No fees. No commissions. No "success fees" out of any money we help you access. We are a registered charity. We are paid by donors. You are not a customer.
What we ask from you
Honesty about your situation, and permission for us to talk to the specific people you want us to talk to. That's it. You can stop at any time and we walk away. You can take our help for one thing and not another. You are in charge of what happens.
The first conversation — what actually happens
1 You (or someone you trust) contact us. Phone, form on the website, or a hospital social worker referral. We aim to call you back within one business day.
2 A Beneficiary Liaison Officer — one person, your person — arranges a chat, either on the phone, over video, or in person if that's easier. It takes about an hour. You can pause it and finish another day. Nothing is decided until you decide it.
3 We work out together what would actually help. Sometimes that's just us writing to your debt collector telling them to stop calling. Sometimes it's a formal hardship notice under the National Credit Code. Sometimes it's helping you access your superannuation early because you meet the terminal-illness release rules. Sometimes it's one payment to close out one account so you can breathe.
4 If we can help, we help. If someone else is better placed — a financial counsellor, a legal centre, a hospital social worker — we introduce you to them properly and stay in touch. You are not a hot potato.
The specific things we can push for
- A cease-contact order on debt collectors — under the same regulator's guidance the banks and BNPL companies use for vulnerable customers (ASIC RG 96 and RG 271).
- A hardship variation of your loan — under National Credit Code section 72, which every credit provider in Australia has to consider.
- A pause on mortgage repayments — most banks now offer bereavement or terminal-illness pauses under the Banking Code of Practice.
- A waiver or partial write-off — many lenders will write off a debt on medical grounds. Nobody advertises it. We ask directly.
- Early access to your super on terminal-illness grounds — where two medical certificates support it (Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulation 6.01A). We help you get the certificates and lodge the application.
- A life-insurance early-payout claim — many policies pay the death benefit early when a doctor certifies a 12-month prognosis.
- A one-off direct payment to close out an especially aggressive account — subject to the limits our Board has set (see our Direct Relief Policy).
What Life Without Debt is not
- We are not a lender. We won't lend you money.
- We are not a debt-consolidation company. We don't take over your debts and re-sell them to you.
- We are not lawyers. If your situation needs a lawyer, we say so, and we help you find a free community legal centre.
- We are not palliative care. We are not a counsellor. We work alongside the people already helping you, we don't replace them.
Your privacy
Everything you tell us stays with us unless you specifically ask us to share it. Even inside LWD, only your Beneficiary Liaison Officer sees your case. When we talk to your lenders on your behalf, we tell them only what we need to — never the details of your diagnosis, unless you ask us to. The full policy is here: Privacy Policy. But the short version is: we treat your story with the seriousness it deserves.
What happens after this page
You can contact us through the form on our website, or by phone on [phone — TO CONFIRM]. What does not happen: nobody calls you back trying to sell you something. Nobody puts you on a mailing list. Nobody passes your name to a third party. If you decide LWD isn't for you, we walk away with no follow-up.
If someone you love has been diagnosed
Written for the partner, parent, adult child, or best friend — the person who is trying to hold everything together and now discovers the debts too.
If someone you love has been diagnosed
You are trying to hold it all together. You may have found out about debts you didn't know existed — a personal loan taken out to cover treatment, credit cards you didn't realise were maxed, a mortgage in trouble, or a debt collector calling on a phone you now answer because they can't. You are not the reason for the debt. You may not even be legally responsible for it. But you're the one dealing with it right now, and that's exhausting.
Life Without Debt can help — either directly, if the person themselves gives permission, or by walking alongside you to work out what should happen. Here's how it works.
The most important thing to know first
In Australia, a debt does not "pass to family" just because someone dies. It does not attach to a spouse or a child unless they signed the loan as a joint borrower or guarantor. The estate is responsible; the individuals usually are not. This is one of the most common misunderstandings we correct in the first phone call. If you have been told otherwise by a debt collector, that debt collector may be misleading you — and there are laws about that.
Can Life Without Debt help you directly?
We can help the person with the diagnosis directly, with their permission. That's who we're set up for. But we can also — and often do — talk to family members first, help them understand the situation, and only then, together, decide whether to bring the person themselves in. Sometimes the person is too unwell for that first conversation. Sometimes they don't want to. Both are fine.
What we ask you to help us with
Understanding the picture. Which debts. Which lenders. Which collectors. Which super funds. Which insurers. What has already been paused or written off. Whose name is on which loan. Whether there's a Will and who the executor is. You don't need to know all of this before you contact us; we work it out together.
Practical things you can do this week
- Ask the person if it's OK for you to speak with LWD on their behalf. Written permission (even a text message) is what our BLO will look for.
- Make a list — even a rough one — of every lender, debt collector, super fund, and insurer you know about. Don't chase paperwork you don't have. We can request statements.
- Ask hospital social workers or palliative care nurses about a referral to us. They can call us on your behalf.
- If someone is calling multiple times a day threatening consequences, screenshot the calls and tell us. That behaviour is not lawful and we can stop it.
Looking after yourself
Carers of terminally-ill people are among the most stressed people in the country. If you are close to breaking, please talk to your GP, or call the Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737. Our BLO can also help you understand what support is available for you — we don't do that ourselves, but we know where to point you.
What happens after this page
You can contact us through the form on our website, or by phone on [phone — TO CONFIRM]. You can call on behalf of the person with the diagnosis. We will ask you gently what permission you have, and we will explain how we get started with the person themselves — at their pace, not ours.
If you are an executor or administrator of a deceased person's estate
Written for the executor / administrator — the person named in the Will, or appointed by the court, who is now sorting out debts the deceased person had.
If you are the executor of a deceased person's estate
You are doing a job nobody wants. If the person who died was already a Life Without Debt beneficiary, we would like to continue that case with you. If they weren't — but they had a terminal illness before they died, and their estate is now being chased by lenders and debt collectors — we can sometimes still help.
What continues, and what doesn't
The permission the deceased person gave us to act on their behalf ends at death. What continues is our record of the case and the work already done with the lenders. To keep going, we need you, as executor or administrator, to give us fresh authority — in writing — plus evidence that you are the executor or administrator (a grant of probate or letters of administration under the relevant state legislation, e.g. the Probate & Administration Act 1898 in NSW).
What we can do for an estate
Push back on debt collectors who continue to chase the estate aggressively; help you identify which debts the estate is actually legally required to pay (some are; some aren't; some are only payable up to the value of assets in the estate); and in specific cases, contribute a bounded direct payment to neutralise a particularly aggressive debt so that funeral costs and small legacies to family can be honoured. This is subject to the caps in our Direct Relief Policy and requires Board approval.
What we cannot do
We are not lawyers. We cannot give you legal advice on the administration of the estate. If the estate is solvent, you should be dealing with a probate solicitor. If the estate is insolvent, you may need to consider Part XI of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (administration of insolvent estates) with a lawyer. We will help you find a low-cost or free option if you need one.
What we'll ask you to send us
- A copy of the Will (or the grant of letters of administration if there is no Will).
- A copy of the grant of probate, if issued.
- A signed authority letter appointing LWD to communicate with the specific lenders and collectors you want us to talk to.
- A list of the debts still active against the estate, as far as you know.
What happens after this page
Contact us through the website form or on [phone — TO CONFIRM]. Please mention that you are the executor of a person who was a beneficiary of ours (if applicable), or that you are dealing with the estate of a person who died from a terminal illness. We'll take it from there.
If you're a health professional, financial counsellor, lawyer, or social worker
Written for referrers — the people who see terminally-ill Australians in financial trouble every day, and want to hand them somewhere useful.
If you're a professional wanting to refer someone
You see this every day. A patient, a client, someone you know from a community centre — the diagnosis has come in and the debts are already there. You want to hand them off to someone competent. Here is what we do, in the language you actually work in.
Eligibility (functional, not diagnostic)
- Adult Australian resident with a medically-diagnosed terminal illness — we do not require a specific timeframe unless the beneficiary elects to pursue SIS Reg 6.01A early-release-of-super (which requires a 24-month prognosis, two medical practitioners, at least one a specialist).
- Current consumer debt causing material distress — credit cards, personal loans, BNPL, telco, utility arrears, mortgage arrears, medical accounts, ATO, fines. (Note: LWD does not assist with commercial or business debt.)
- Consent to LWD acting on the beneficiary's behalf. Consent may be given by the beneficiary directly or, where the beneficiary lacks capacity, by their appointed decision-maker.
What we bring
- Hardship advocacy under National Credit Code ss.72–75 with credit providers.
- Cease-contact / vulnerable-customer advocacy with debt collectors under ASIC RG 96 & RG 271; escalation to AFCA where appropriate.
- SIS Reg 6.01A early release of super — help beneficiary compile the required certificates and lodge with trustee(s).
- Life-insurance terminal-illness benefit trigger — 12-month / 24-month prognosis claim support.
- Direct financial relief — bounded, per the caps in our Board-approved Direct Relief Policy and Board Charter Delegated Authorities Schedule §5.4.
- Direct debt payoff — one-off payments to end particularly aggressive accounts, within the same governance envelope.
- Warm referral back — we don't compete with financial counsellors, CLCs, or palliative care social workers. We assist them.
What we do not do
- We are not credit-repair. We do not attempt to remove default listings that were lawfully placed.
- We are not debt-consolidation. We do not lend, and we do not partner with lenders.
- We are not a legal service. Where legal advice is needed we refer to Community Legal Centres or private solicitors on a sliding scale.
- We do not accept payment or referral fees from any lender, insurer, super fund, or collector. Ever.
How to refer
- Ask the person if they would like a warm referral. Written or verbal consent is fine — we record it at first contact.
- Call us on [phone — TO CONFIRM] or email [email protected] [placeholder — domain pending]. Please include your name, your organisation, and the best time we can call the referred person.
- We call back within one business day.
- You will be sent a short outcome note (with beneficiary consent) once the case is opened, so you know what has happened.
What happens after this page
We are building a network of referrer contacts across palliative care, financial counselling, community legal, and hospital social work. If you'd like to be on that list, please email [email protected] [placeholder — domain pending] — we will not add you without your explicit request.
Editorial governance
This document is the copy source for the beneficiary-facing pages of the public LWD website. Every claim is anchored to a Board-approved operating policy. Any material change to this copy must be reviewed by the Beneficiary Services & Case Review Committee before publication.
| Claim category | Anchor policy | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Eligibility statements | Direct Relief Policy | Beneficiary Services Chair |
| Direct-payment amounts, thresholds | Board Charter DAS §5.4 | Board |
| Handling of personal & health information | Privacy Policy | Secretary |
| Process narrative — what happens after first contact | Beneficiary Intake Pack | CEO |
| Hardship-negotiation authorities (NCC ss.72–75, RG 96/RG 271, Banking Code) | Legal Research — Terminal Illness & Debt | Solicitor |
| Deceased-estate handling | Privacy Policy §7 + Case Studies Bank — Case 3 | Secretary |
- Direct Relief Policy — the source of every eligibility claim on this page
- Privacy Policy — the source of privacy statements on every audience page
- Beneficiary Intake Pack — the operational form behind "what happens next"
- Media Kit & boilerplate — the companion externally-facing document
- Case Studies Bank — the anonymised outcome stories that will populate the public site