It’s getting to be that time of year again. A time for joy, for sadness, for guilt, for pleasures and for bills. The holiday season comes every year and yet people are annually surprised by holiday bills, and they will be again this year.

Westpac bank in Australia offers an excellent guide to responsible lending practices. Consumers will benefit from the guidelines in they find themselves in financial trouble.

Westpac today announced a new financial assistance initiative aimed at assisting customers in danger of falling into financial difficulty as the centrepiece of its new Responsible Lending Principles.