As the drought tightens its grip on much of eastern Australia, I congratulate the banks for recognising this is an extremely difficult time for farming families.
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The announcement by the National Australia Bank that it will allow farmers to offset their Farm Management Deposits against their loans will be welcomed by the farming community.
FMD’s enables producers to set aside pre-tax income in years of good cash flow but are able to draw on it in tougher years.
NAB’s decision that it will no longer charge penalty interest payments on farmers who fall into loan default is a responsible move, although I could never understand the logic behind excessive penalty rates which only make it harder for people to meet their commitments and survive.
I also note that some other banks are in their own ways reaching out to their agri-business clients. I also commend the Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud who has been putting pressure on the banks to show they are serious about regaining the trust of people and not just pay lip service to this deepening crisis.
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