Late payment charge and interest under the Student Assistance Act 1973 107-05100020

Late payment charges and interest under the Student Assistance Act 1973 are no longer applied. This information is for historical purpose. Existing cases of late payment charges and interest can be manually ceased, adjusted or deleted.

Apply repayments to a debt which include a late payment charge and/or interest. This reduces the debt components in the following order:

• the late payment charge, then
• the interest, followed by
• the original debt

The following payments attract late payment charges and interest:

• Austudy
• ABSTUDY
• Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme, or
• Austudy/ ABSTUDY Financial Supplement

A late payment charge of $100 per debt and interest of 20% per annum were payable when the customer:

• had not paid in full within 3 months of the original debt notice
• failed to enter into a satisfactory payment arrangement within 3 months of the original notice, or
• defaulted on a repayment arrangement for more than 7 days without a satisfactory explanation

Late payment charges and interest were not payable when:

• the debt balance was under $200
• defaults on repayments were not the customer's fault and they had taken reasonable steps to repay
• it was not cost effective to pursue recovery of the late payment charge and/or interest, or
• the late payment charge and interest would cause the customer undue financial hardship

Interest automatically ceased accruing when:

• a repayment arrangement was made
• a garnishee was applied, or
• the debt was written off/waived