Royal Australian Navy Relief Trust Fund
The Royal Australian Navy Relief Trust Fund (RANRTF) was established in 1913 with the object of providing welfare assistance to current and ex-serving members of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and their families.
Today, the Trustees of the RANRTF, who are all volunteers, are focused on assisting current and ex-serving members of the RAN and their families through the provision of interest free loans and grants.
In addition, the Trustees in 2013 established the Keeping Watch program, which enables the Trustees to accept tax deductible gifts and donations and use those gifts and donations to benefit current serving members through non-refundable grants.
Types of assistance provided through the RANRTF
The RANRTF, subject to availability of funding and meeting certain conditions, provides the following benefits:
- General Purpose Loans - interest free loans of up to $7000 for current serving members depending on their length of service ($1500 for personnel who have completed three months of service but not completed their initial training) for any purpose that assists the personal welfare or benefit of these personnel and their dependants within certain guidelines.
- Special Purpose Loans - an interest free loan of up to $5000 may be considered on a case-by-case basis for issues impacting on current serving members and their dependants that fall outside of the General Purpose Loan provisions. Some examples include unexpected domestic debts, financial hardship or compassionate needs.
- Christmas Loans - an interest free loan to current serving members of up to $1500 for the purpose of assisting with costs associated with the end of year holiday period.
- Benevolent Grants - on occasion, the Trustees provide non-refundable grants where an eligible person or their dependants are experiencing a significant event such as life threatening illness, bereavement or other exceptional circumstances.
In general, to be eligible for loan assistance from the RANRTF applicants must:
- Be a member of the Permanent Navy (PN) or Naval Reserve (NR) rendering continuous full time service under a SERVOP C arrangement;
- Have a minimum of six months PN Service or SERVOP C service remaining (this is to allow repayment in full prior to the completion of full time service);
- Not have a current RANRTF Loan; and
- Not be bankrupt.
Important points to remember regarding General Purpose Loans
In relation to General Purpose Loans, applicants should remember that:
- Regardless of the amount being borrowed, there is a loan administration fee of $40.00 for personnel who have completed their initial training or $20.00 for personnel who have completed 3 months of service but not completed their initial training.
- When submitting a loan application, it is the member's responsibility to provide latest pay slips to their RANRTFO/PERSO. Failure to do so may delay processing of loans or loans be cancelled.
- Loans are normally approved and paid within 2 to 3 weeks upon receipt of correctly completed loan applications by RANRTF Principal Office (that is, 2 to 3 weeks from Operations Manager level). All members applying for a loan must ensure there are sufficient available funds in their pay to facilitate the loan recovery.
- Borrowers are to retain receipts for all RANRTF General Purpose and Special Loans for a period of at least 12 months after the loan has been paid.
- Failure to provide a receipt upon request by an RANRTF Officer may result in the member being ineligible for further loans for a specified period and the accelerated recovery of the loan balance.
- Borrowers may elect to repay their loan at a higher rate or finalise it with a lump sum payment.
- Borrowers are required to repay their loan in full prior to completion of their continuous full time service or prior to proceeding on periods of unpaid leave.
- Approval can only be given to one General Purpose Loan at a time, with the exception of a Special loan or the Christmas Loan (if approved).
- Top up loans are not available.
Privacy
All information held on members is treated with the upmost discretion, and generally is not passed on to third parties without the borrower’s written consent. An exception is debt recovery agencies where a member defaults on loan repayments. The RANRTF Privacy Policy can be found on the Defence Protected Network (DPN) by searching for ‘RANRTF privacy policy’.
Keeping Watch
The Trustees have determined that, at this time, gifts and deductible contributions received by the Keeping Watch program will be used to provide a grant, subject to available funding, of up to $5000 (unless exceptional circumstances exist), predominantly for the welfare of a person who is currently appointed or enlisted as a Permanent or Reserve member of the RAN. For more information or a copy of the grant application, please visit www.keepingwatch.org.au.
Financial services
The ADF Financial Services Consumer Centre (ADF Consumer) is a Department of Defence entity established in 2006. ADF Consumer exists to serve ADF members and operate under a Charter issued by the Chief of the Defence Force.
ADF Consumer provides financial and consumer education to ADF members to offer, in consultation with appropriate regulators, impartial financial education (not personal advice) and relevant resource material to all ADF personnel in order to assist them to make informed decisions and plans about their financial affairs, and empower them to improve their financial capability throughout their careers.
A budget calculator can be a useful tool to assist an applicant to understand their finances. ADF Consumer provides a link to the Money Smart on-line budget planner which may assist an applicant to develop their annual income and expenditure budget as well as assist to understand their net worth at a particular time.
The ADF Consumer website contains a range of tools and resourses, please visit ADF Consumer at www.adfconsumer.gov.au/.
Further information and contacts
Each RAN Ship and Establishment will have at least one local RANRTF Officer. For all RANRTF loan enquiries please contact your local RANRTFO/PERSO in the first instance, and if unavailable contact the RANRTF Principal Office via phone (02) 6155 9864, or email RANRTF.PrincipalOffice@defence.gov.au.
For those persons who have access to the Defence Protected Network (DPN), further information can be found by searching for ‘RANRTF loan products’.
