NICK BRUINING: Your Money claims win for retirees locked out of WA’s new solar battery rebate scheme

Revelations earlier this month by Your Money that seniors were being turned away from the State Government’s new solar battery rebate scheme have triggered a significant review of the program.

The main issue related to seniors accessing no-interest loans of up to $10,000 that are available to households with a combined annual income of less than $210,000.

Sydney-based lender Plenti was appointed by the Government as administrator and financier of the rebate scheme.

“I have been made aware of concerns in relation to approximately 40 applicants aged 65 and over having difficulties meeting responsible lending criteria affecting their ability to access the scheme’s no-interest loans,” said Energy and Decarbonisation Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson.

Those who contacted Your Money were seniors with substantial assets and a stable income — in some cases supported by a part-age pension from Centrelink.

Your Money received emails and calls from retirees who had been turned away from the scheme, which is targeted at low and middle-income earners.

“To reflect these concerns, the Government has agreed with Plenti to make a change to the loan assessment approach, while continuing to comply with responsible lending practices,” Ms Sanderson said.

Responsible lending obligations put in place by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission require an assessment of each person’s capacity to repay a loan without financial hardship.

The most common reasons for loans being declined are applicants not meeting serviceability criteria.

Serviceability typically considers the income and expenses of an applicant as well as the reliability and stability of the income being received.

Despite specific requests from rejected applicants, Plenti told Your Money earlier this month it did not detail why applications had been turned down, claiming the information might undermine the integrity of the application process.

“Such information could potentially be used to circumvent the credit assessment process in future applications,” Plenti said at the time.

The Government said the loan assessment criteria had now been amended to include a broader range of income sources.

“These changes have been applied to all loan applications in progress and will be applied to all new loan applications,” Ms Sanderson said.

“Plenti will also retrospectively apply the expanded criteria to the 40 applicants aged 65 and over who have had their loan applications declined.”

That’s come as welcome good news for Warnbro resident John Wootton, one of the applicants turned down by Plenti.

In his case, Mr Wootton and his wife both have stable incomes from Australian and UK sources, including part-time lecturing roles at Murdoch University — all backed by substantial assets, including their family home.

“I’m very glad the Government has listened to our concerns. I also completely understand the need for lenders to act responsibly and hopefully, expanding the loan assessment criteria will fix the problem,” Mr Wootton said.

“I hope we are included in this group being automatically reviewed and, in addition to that, a senior Plenti official calls us directly to ensure a positive outcome.”

Nick Bruining is an independent financial adviser and a member of the Certified Independent Financial Advisers Association.