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The non-bank is the latest lender to announce a donation made in aid of those affected by the ongoing bushfire crisis in Australia.
La Trobe Financial (La Trobe) has promised to donate a total of $1 million to organisations that are working on the front line to help individuals and communities affected by Australia’s continuing bushfires.
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The total donation will be split between The Salvation Army Disaster Appeal and the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief Recovery Fund, according to the lender.
President and CEO of La Trobe Greg O’Neill expressed his sympathies for those affected by the fires.
“We express our deepest sympathies to people who have suffered tremendous loss as a result of these devastating fires,” Mr O’Neill said.
“We also express our gratitude to the tireless volunteers and emergency workers who are supporting our communities.”
Mr O’Neill encouraged any La Trobe customers impacted by the bushfires to reach out to the lender for assistance.
The lender joins the big four banks and several non-major and non-bank lenders in pledging funds for the assistance of individuals and communities affected by the raging bushfires across the nation.
RateSetter
RateSetter has committed to donate any establishment fees (or “credit assistance fees”) to the Australian Red Cross’ Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund on all broker-introduced loans drawn down as a result of a RateEstimate lodged at any time on 24 January 2020 (the Friday before Australia Day).
The company said it was hoping to be able to donate around $50,000 in total.
RateSetter CEO Daniel Foggo commented: “Australians have witnessed the devastating impacts of an extreme bushfire season on our communities, environment and emergency services.
“We recognise the extraordinarily harsh conditions so many are facing. We want to do what we can to help relief efforts across the country.”
“In partnership with our brokers, we know this commitment can make a real difference and go some way to alleviating the very real horror Australians are enduring,” he added.
We hope our brokers join us in our efforts to assist communities affected by this unprecedented crisis. We also encourage brokers to provide information to their clients about our hardship assistance arrangements so we can support our borrowers as they need.”
Earlier this week, non-bank lender Liberty Financial announced that it donated $250,000 to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund (which assists emergency response teams with resources to provide a wide range of disaster support measures) and mortgage protection insurance provider ALI Group has pledged to donate $50 for every loan and mortgage protection policy arranged by an authorised broker from 1 January 2020 until the end of February.
Through their network of over 4,000 brokers, ALI expects to donate over $50,000, which will be distributed to a range of volunteer and emergency fire service organisations across affected states.
Meanwhile, the big four banks have all committed to multimillion-dollar donation packages.
NAB initially promised a $1-million support package; however, the bank has since increased its contributions to $5 million.
CBA and ANZ have both created donation packages of $1 million, while Westpac announced a $1.5-million fund.
Brokers have also been actively raising funds, with several aggregators donating to the Broker Bushfire Appeal, which has since been re-named to the Mortgage and Finance Industry Bushfire Relief fund.
The fund’s target has now been extended to $700,000, with the total (at time of writing) sitting at just over $300,000.
[Related: Liberty contributes to bushfire relief]
