---
title: "Hardship notice response letters under the National Credit Code (information request, decision and notice of change)"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/financial-services-regulation/hardship-notice-response-letters"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a28-hardship-notice-response-letters"
area_id: "A28"
kind: "letter"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
task_ids: ["A28-X20260927-5", "A28-B5-4"]
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-18"
---

# Hardship notice response letters under the National Credit Code (information request, decision and notice of change)

> Three linked letters for a credit provider responding to a debtor’s hardship notice: a request for information within 21 days, a decision letter that either records the agreed change or gives reasons and AFCA details,…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/financial-services-regulation/hardship-notice-response-letters  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-18

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

Three linked letters for a credit provider responding to a debtor’s hardship notice: a request for information within 21 days, a decision letter that either records the agreed change or gives reasons and AFCA details, and the s 73 notice of change, with a timing diary.

## Key facts

- Kind: Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Practice area: [Financial Services Regulation](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/financial-services-regulation.md)
- Jurisdictions: Australia
- AI level: Yellow. AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-18
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-18 against the 3 authorities it cites, for Australia.

## When to use it

Use when a debtor under a credit contract regulated by the National Credit Code tells the credit provider, orally or in writing, that they are or will be unable to meet their obligations. Not for business loans outside the Code.

## Used for these tasks

- [Respond to a hardship notice under the National Credit Code](https://ailawframework.com/practice/financial-services-regulation.md#A28-X20260927-5)
- [Prepare a NCCP default notice and hardship-variation checklist](https://ailawframework.com/practice/financial-services-regulation/prepare-a-nccp-default-notice-and-hardship-variation-checklist.md)

## How AI may be used

AI may fill the letters from the hardship file and calculate the deadlines, but a person in the hardship team decides whether to agree a change, and checks the reasons and the debtor’s circumstances before any letter is sent.

**AI may:**

- Record the date the hardship notice was received and calculate each deadline in the s 72(5) table
- Fill the account, debtor and proposed change details into the approved letters from the hardship file
- Draft a plain-language summary of the proposed change for the decision maker to approve

**AI must not:**

- Must not decide whether to agree to a change or what change to offer
- Must not write reasons for refusing that the decision maker has not given, or request information that is not relevant to the s 72(2) questions
- Must not send any letter to a debtor who may be affected by family violence without the case being checked by a person for safe contact details

**The lawyer checks:**

- The hardship notice date is correct, including oral notices, and each letter is sent within the s 72(5) period
- A refusal states the reasons and the AFCA scheme’s name, contact details and the debtor’s rights under it (s 72(4)(b))
- Any agreed change of more than 90 days is recorded in a decision notice and a s 73 notice to the debtor and any guarantor within 30 days
- No enforcement step is taken while the hardship process requires the credit provider to wait (see s 89A, referred to in the note to s 72(1))

## Authorities

- [National Credit Code (Sch 1 to the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth)) s 72(1) to (3) (hardship notice; request for information within 21 days, to be answered within 21 days)](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/nccpa2009377/sch1.html)
- [National Credit Code s 72(4), (4A) and (5) (notice of decision recording the agreed change, or stating no agreement, the reasons and AFCA details; time limits in the table; civil penalty)](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/nccpa2009377/sch1.html)
- [National Credit Code s 73 (written notice of the change to the debtor and any guarantor within 30 days of the agreement)](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/nccpa2009377/sch1.html)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/financial-services-regulation/hardship-notice-response-letters and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*