The Rural Financial Counselling Service NSW Northern Region (RFCSNSW- NR) provides free and impartial rural financial counselling to eligible primary producers, fishers and small rural businesses* who are suffering financial hardship, and who have no alternative sources of impartial support, to manage the challenges of change and adjustment.

What is rural financial counselling?

Rural financial counselling is:

• free
• impartial
• independent of financial institutions, welfare agencies and government.

Who makes the decisions:  Your rural financial counsellor will support and work with you to develop options – and you make the decisions.

What rural financial counsellors CAN do

Rural financial counsellors can:

• assess and prepare reports on your current financial, cash flow and viability circumstances
• help clients understand their financial and business position
• help clients to complete action plans, identify issues and plan options to achieve realistic goals
• connect clients to information about government and industry assistance
• support and help clients prepare for farm debt mediation processes and assist you in non-legal appeals processes
• support and help clients prepare for succession planning processes, including preparing statements of your current financial position and compiling relevant questions for succession planning experts
• assist clients to identify their advice and training needs
• refer clients to a range of professional service providers, including accountants, lawyers, agricultural advisers, farm succession planners, financial planners, social  counsellors, family mediators and other relevant professionals as required

Rural financial counsellors CANNOT provide financial advice, succession planning advice, act as a mediator, social or family counselling, but they CAN provide referrals to appropriate professionals and information on how to prepare for discussions with experts.

Contact a rural financial counsellor

• see the lists of rural financial counsellors for each location.

*'Small rural business' eligible to use the rural financial counselling service is defined as a rural business that employs no more than ten full-time-equivalent (38 hours per week) employees and provides the majority of its services to primary producers and is directly involved in primary production (e.g. fencing, harvesting, spraying or stock management).