Community Lending for Tasmanians
Member Agency News Edition 8: October 2014 in this edition
National NILS Conference – Brisbane 2014
Evaluating what we do
Ten NILS people from Tasmania attended the conference in Brisbane this year, and the feedback was very positive.
StepUp Loan number 10,000 Budget of the Month What’s new at NILS
This year each state and territory was asked to nominate volunteers who demonstrated exceptional dedication to the delivery of NILS over a sustained period. We are delighted to share with you that Cleone from Anglicare Burnie was announced Tasmanian’s NILS volunteer of the year. Well done Cleone and thank you for all your hard work and dedication over the past 11 years working with NILS clients. During the conference Diane from Maranoa Community House won the “best tweet of the day” – “the smile on a client’s face when they realise there’s a way forward and a chance to change a circumstance for the better” Well done Diane!
NILS Network of Tasmania AGM Date: Tuesday, 21 October 2014 Time: 9 am Venue: NILS Network Training Room 221 Macquarie Street, Hobart RSVP: rick@nilstasmania.org.au
l our Well done to al r loan officers fo get to working so hard nsure us over the le fited Tasmanians bene S from the HES gy er subsidies for en efficient goods.
FACT S & FIGURES Over the past seven months 1427 loan interviews were undertaken by dedicated NILS volunteers state-wide! In June 276 interviews were conducted state-wide! Over the past 11 years NILS has loaned $6.2 Million to low income Tasmanians. The three most popular items we have loaned for are: > $1.1 million for vehicle repairs > $625,000 worth of fridges > $533,000 for washing machines. Well done to all our loan officers for working so hard to ensure Tasmanians benefited from the HESS subsidies for energy efficient goods.
NILS is proudly supported by
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Community Lending for Tasmanians
NILS ‘Budget of the Month’ Award Thanks to all of you for your hard work! With this award we celebrate loans officers who have helped their clients produce accurate budgets with their NILS application. This is not always easy – especially if the applicant has not had a first go at their budget at home. Things that are important: > Where possible, all stated income is supported by documents > If the client has Centrepay deductions, try to make sure they explain each one to you rather than bundling them all together. Centrepay deductions can be used to pay for things like electricity, rent-to-own items, private rental and phone bills. > The client works through their bank statement with your support to identify any direct debits or periodic payments. These should then be noted on the budget form. The most important thing is to talk with each client about the amount of money that comes in compared to the amount of money they spend. Where a client brings in lots of documents, you can help by passing these on to us and talking through the details with each client. IN THIS NEWSLETTER WE CELEBRATE THE WORK OF:
StepUP StepUP micro finance worker for the North West is Hilary Tague from Anglicare, Burnie (Pictured at left above). She has been involved in StepUP for 4 years and works one day a week conducting StepUP loan interviews. StepUP micro finance worker for the North is Sandra Featherstone from Salvation Army, Launceston. She has been involved in StepUP for 2 ½ years and works one day a week conducting StepUP loan interviews. Both are highly professional and dedicated to the delivery of this community focused program.
www.nilstasmania.org.au
> March Leigh Simpson – Salvation Army New Norfolk > April Mary Williams - Hobart City Mission
of Budget nth the Mo Award
> May Lesley Mackay - Maranoa Heights Community Centre > June Cynthia Clements - Ravenswood Neighbourhood House > July Lynne Dolbey – St Vincent de Paul Devonport > August Patricia Breen St Vincent de Paul Devonport Congratulations to our winners! Your prize is in the mail!
Website – Your Member Area If you haven’t already visited our website and registered to access your member area, please do! Visit www.nilstasmania.org.au go to the bottom of the home page and look for the log on button on the right hand side of the web page. Complete the form and you will be given access to the latest forms and information. Continued over page
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we do! > Evaluating what NILS recently started asking our clients to let us know what they think of the service and the work you do to support them. Here is just a sprinkling of the overwhelmingly positive comments we’ve received so far. Thanks to you, NILS continues to make an important difference in people’s lives. > Thank you. Without your help at the time I couldn’t have kept us safe on our roads and it was a pleasure to deal with friendly people when amendments to payments were required. > Hire purchase is bad! NILS is excellent! Thank you so much. > Thank you for all your help when needed x > You are the best > I love using NILS because the repayments are small and there is no interest. Also it's friendly and easy to use and helps me to get household items with less worrying about trying to find the money to purchase items upfront. > Many thanks for assistance that allowed me to install insulation making it financially possible to remove old carpet and thus improving my asthma which was being complicated by the old carpet. Back to floor boards without losing heat. :). > Keep doing what you do, NILS is fantastic
www.nilstasmania.org.au
Loan number 10,000! We are delighted to announce that we have just done NILS loan No. 10,000! The loan recipient is a pensioner from Ravenswood and used this loan to replace very old curtains with new block-out curtains that will keep the home warmer and reduce electricity costs. Also the applicant has had three previous NILS loans to purchase a fridge, a bed and mattress and a freezer. The loan application was completed with Cynthia at Ravenswood Community House. Cynthia told me about how the NILS loan helped connect the applicant with the neighbourhood house and how the applicant became involved in, and then ran, a craft group and now runs the house op-shop! Rick – NILS Coordinator
Loan Enquiry Information Packs Going Online NILS Tasmania reaches more low income people than any other NILS programs nationally, but we are still missing out on helping 4000 people who enquire about a loan in Tassie. The feedback we have received from those who don’t go any further with an application once requesting our information pack is that it looks too hard and it takes another two days before they receive the packs by post. The NILS project team has been busy working on developing an online information pack to address the issues our clients have presented to us.
NILS is about to launch its new online Enquiry Info Pack to clients. This personalised web site guides people through setting up a meeting with a Member Agency and collecting their documents together beforehand. Have a look on our Facebook page or view the video for a sneak preview of how it work using the following link. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFbtGbn8y9E
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> What’s new at NILS In the upcoming months there will be a few small changes to our lending guidelines:
Repayment amounts Congratulations! Our lovely Jessie is on maternity leave. Congratulations Jessie on the arrival of your baby girl.
Welcome! Welcome to Clair who has joined the NILS team. Clair is answering the phones and supporting the NILS team. She likes going to the gym, soccer and loves to cook. One of Clair’s mottos in life is – “it’s the present because it’s a gift in time”
We’ve listened! The information kit now asks applicants to bring their Centrelink statements to their meeting with you. Application form – Insurance is now included on the budget. The updated applications forms are available for you to access in your member area www.nilstasmania.org.au
We are increasing the minimum amount that must be repaid each fortnight from $10 to $20. A $20 minimum repayment should still be manageable for most clients. The change means that a small loan will be paid back more quickly. As an example, with a minimum repayment of $10 p/f it takes close to 18 months to repay a loan of $300. The change means that this loan will be paid back in 9 months and the borrower is eligible to apply for another loan more quickly.
Computer Loans The purpose of a NILS loan is ‘to assist low-income Tasmanians to purchase essential household items and services’. In line with this goal we currently lend up to $800 for a television. We believe it is possible to get an adequate TV for this amount. Keeping the loan smaller helps to spread our capital further and makes the repayment easier for the borrower. A computer which performs essential functions including internet access and running Microsoft Office and which has adequate storage capacity, can generally be purchased for less than $800. As with televisions, where an applicant wants a more expensive computer to run games, store lots of movies etc., we would lend $800 and the applicant would pay the balance themselves. Where an applicant needs a more powerful computer for work-related purposes we would recommend they apply for a NILS Microbusiness loan or a StepUP loan. We would love to have your feedback on these changes. Email Rick at rick@nilstasmania.org.au
www.nilstasmania.org.au
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e m e h c S r e v a S y g r e n E > Home HESS Stats for Tasmania Items subsidised
The final Hess subsidy total was $861,360 with $611,325 of subsidies delivered just in June of this year. Key HESS results > 665 energy efficient appliances > 602 NILS loans with a HESS subsidy
HESS Stats nationally
Items:
The final subsidy total was $4,363,729 with over $1.6 million of subsidies delivered just in June of this year.
Driers
Freezer Heater
t system) Heating and cooling (inc spli Other Household appliances Refrigerator
Solar Hot Water Washing Machine
Key HESS results > 6,537 energy efficient appliances > 5,305 NILS loans with a HESS subsidy > Over $600,000 in savings through Good2GoNow continues beyond HESS) On (which top of all that, we've also saved over 23,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide which is equivalent to planting more than 400,000 trees.
x 400,000
> Clients save over $700,000 in reduced running costs just in the first year
On top of all that, we've also saved over 23,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide which is equivalent to planting more than 400,000 trees.
www.nilstasmania.org.au
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Community Lending for Tasmanians
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Thanks to a grant from the Tasmanian Community Fund, NILS has produced a multilingual poster and flyer in partnership with The Migrant Resource Centre. www.nilst
asmania.o
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The poster is in nine different languages and directs the reader to find out more about NILS. The languages include: Arabic, Farsi, Nepalese, Mandarin, German, Chin, Hazaragi and Karen.
If you would like some posters and flyers to display at your organisation please contact clair@nilstasmania.org.au
www.nilstasmania.org.au
Questions or comments? E-mail us at danita@nilstasmania.org.au