CFA member Nicola Howell (PhD researcher, Melbourne Law School and Senior Lecturer at QUT) is researching the impact of financial difficulty assistance/hardship variations, bankruptcy and debt agreements on consumer debtors .
In the next phase of the study, Nicola is keen to hear from financial counsellors, consumer advocates, insolvency practitioners and others working in the consumer debt / personal insolvency sector.
About the study
In a story for the CFA website posted earlier this year, I provided some information about my PhD study, in which I am exploring the impact of bankruptcy, debt agreements and financial difficulty assistance.
Although many people are directly affected by one or more of these options, we don’t know very much about how these options impact on debtors and their financial situations, either during the life of an administration or arrangement, or once it has been completed. My study is designed to explore these issues, and to help identify how the relevant laws are working in practice, what features best help consumers improve their financial wellbeing after having had problems with debt, and whether any changes are needed.
In a first Australian phase of the study, I invited people who have used one of these options to share their experience through an online survey and/or research interview. I am very grateful to those organisations who were able to help promote the surveys to potential participants. The data collection for this part of the study will finish on 22 December 2019.
In the next Australian phase, I hope to hear from financial counsellors, consumer advocates, insolvency practitioners and others who work in the consumer debt / personal insolvency sectors.
If you have views on the impacts of the current options, please consider completing an anonymous online survey for my study. More information and entry to the survey instrument is available here.
More information
For more information about my study, visit https://law.unimelb.edu.au/students/grd/students/nicola-howell or
https://debtstudy.wordpress.com/
Or contact me on (07) 3138 2006, or nhowell@student.unimelb.edu.au.
Nicola Howell PhD researcher, Melbourne Law School
Senior Lecturer, Law School, Queensland University of Technology