Finally, time to Stop the Debt Trap!
Consumer advocates making up the Stop the Debt Trap coalition across Australia have welcomed the introduction of the Financial Sector Reform Bill 2022 which, among other things, enhances long overdue...
With scams at crisis levels, banks and payment system providers must do more
Online and telephone scams targeting Australians are now at crisis levels and victims will continue to bear the burden of financial losses, which will only get worse without urgent action from governm...
Quality of Advice Review proposal: A major step backwards in consumer financial protection
Consumer groups have responded to the Quality of Advice Review’s proposal to dismantle core consumer protections Quotes attributable to Consumer Action Law Centre CEO Gerard Brody “One of the si...
Our Policy and Campaign Priorities for 2022-23
Consumer Action has revealed its Policy and Campaign Priorities for 2022-23 with a refreshed focus on making the marketplace for consumers fairer. Director of Policy and Campaigns Tania Clarke said...
Intense cost of living pressures make longstanding reforms to high-cost credit urgent
An edited version of this opinion piece appeared in the Herald Sun on 19 July 2022 Way back in November 2016, the Turnbull Government announced that it would implement recommendations made by an in...
ASIC lending model ban on rogue lender Cigno applauded
Consumer Action welcomed today’s announcement from the corporate regulator Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) that it will use its product intervention power to ban the excessivel...
Consumer and social service groups welcome community consultation on removing buy-now-pay-later and other credit loopholes
Key consumer and social service groups are welcoming the Federal Government’s announcement that the process of introducing better safeguards for buy now pay later (BNPL) and other credit products has...
Banks can do more to stop scams say consumer advocates
Australia’s banks can do much more to stop the plague of scams that is destroying families and costing the economy more than $2 billion annually. That’s the message from consumer advocates in response...
Consumer advocates praise court decision against Cigno loans
Consumer advocates have welcomed a Full Federal Court decision striking down a credit law avoidance strategy used by Cigno Pty Ltd and BHF Solutions. For years, fringe lender Cigno has preyed upon...
Government’s commitment to regulate buy now pay later products welcomed
Key consumer and community groups are welcoming comments by the new Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, that the Government will move to regulate buy now pay later (BNPL). Minister Jone...
ASIC litigation against payday lender: new Federal Government must deliver overdue reform
Consumer Action has welcomed the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s (ASIC) announcement that it is suing Sunshine Loans for breaches of the National Credit Code for charging unlawful fe...
Crypto: As risky as gambling and a haven for scams that demands action
Consumer Action is calling for meaningful protections from scams to apply to businesses operating in the crypto sector. The call comes in a submission to the Treasury’s consultation paper Crypto as...
Crypto asset secondary service providers consultation paper
Consumer Action broadly supports the intention of the Government to introduce regulation to oversee the rapidly growing crypto asset environment. The crypto marketplace currently poses significant...
ASIC litigation against fictitious high-cost ‘leases’ protects against exploitation
Consumer Action has welcomed the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s (ASIC) announcement that it has sued Rent4Keeps and Layaway Depot for breaches of the National Credit Code involving...
US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Inquiry into Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) Providers
While there have always been various forms of instalment credit products in the marketplace, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) is a uniquely Australian invention, that has now been exported around the world....
US Government urged NOT to follow Australia’s lead with self-regulation of buy now pay later products
Australian consumer groups have warned the USA’s chief consumer regulator, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), about major flaws in the self-regulation of buy now pay later (BNPL) product...
Banking Code Compliance Priorities 2022-23
The Banking Code Compliance Committee’s (BCCC) administration and enforcement of the Banking Code of Practice (the Code) is a key aspect of regulatory oversight in the banking sector. The BCCC’s mo...
Hayne Royal Commission findings on conflicted remuneration forgotten by Federal Government in long-awaited review
Consumer Advocates are calling for an urgent rewrite of the Federal Government’s Draft Terms of Reference (Draft TOR) for the Quality of Financial Advice Review (Advice Review). “This review is sup...
Product intervention orders in credit: A joint submission
Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action), Financial Rights Legal Centre (Financial Rights), the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network Ltd (ICAN), the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and WEstju...
Time to finally end the harm done by Cigno loans
Consumer groups and financial counsellors are urging the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to act now to put an end to the use of harmful lending models used to charge excessive...
Our submission on Buy Now Pay Later to the UK Woolard Review
Our casework experience in Australia shows that buy now pay later (BNPL) debts are causing or exacerbating financial hardship in substantially the same manner as detailed in the Woolard Review. In...
Australian consumer groups warn UK Government against industry “self-regulation” of Buy Now Pay Later
Financial Counselling Australia and the Consumer Action Law Centre have shared Australia’s experience of weak consumer safeguards for Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), as part of the UK Government’s consultat...
Consumer protections and the Post-2025 Distributed Energy Resources Implementation Plan
As the Energy Security Board (the ESB) begins to develop its 3-year reform road map to unlock value for customers from the integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and flexible demand into en...
Banks should take more responsibility for scams
The Treasurer’s proposed transformation of the regulation of payment systems is an opportunity to embed financial safety, and ensure protections are built in from the outset says Consumer Action's CEO...
Joint Consumer Submission to Regional Banking Taskforce
Banking is an essential service that is critical to the wellbeing of consumers, small businesses and community organisations in regional Australia. However, accelerating branch closures are creating v...
Submission: Compensation Scheme of Last Resort and Financial Accountability Regime
Uncompensated losses arising from financial misconduct can cause a range of lasting impacts on people, including the loss of a family home, bankruptcy, the collapse of the family business, mental and...
Our submission to New Zealand Government inquiry into buy-now pay-later
Our submission is supported by Financial Counselling Australia, the peak body for financial counsellors (commonly known as financial mentors in New Zealand), who work with not-for-profit community org...
Tougher consumer protections at core of payments reform welcomed
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s announcement today that the Government intends to reform Australia’s payment systems is a real opportunity to improve consumer protection, according to Consumer Action Law...
“The time is now”: Consumer groups urge banks to implement key code review recommendations
The final report of the triennial independent review of the Australian Banking Association’s (ABA) Banking Code of Practice released today makes over 100 recommendations aimed at improving people’s ex...
Consumer advocates welcome recommendation for stricter controls of credit funded gambling online
Financial Counselling Australia (FCA), Financial Rights Legal Centre and the Consumer Action Law Centre welcome the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services’ recommendation...
Review of the Banking Code Compliance Committee: Our response to the Interim Report
This joint submission from Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Rights Legal Centre, Financial Counselling Australia, Care ACT, Consumer Credit Legal Service (WA) Inc and Council on The Ageing (COTA)...
Buy now pay later surcharge ‘reveal’ a win for consumers and retailers
The Reserve Bank of Australia has said today that retailers should be allowed to pass on or ‘surcharge’ customers for the cost of buy now pay later, a move welcomed by Consumer Action Law Centre which...
Review of the ABA Banking Code of Practice –response to Interim Report
This joint submission is made on behalf of members of the Consumers’ Federation of Australia (CFA) and other consumer representatives and advocates. It builds upon our previous submission made to revi...
Consumers win as long-awaited financial services sector reforms commence
A raft of major reforms in the financial services sector have come into effect this week, the culmination of years of consistent campaigning and casework from consumer advocacy groups representing hun...
15 consumer groups and professional associations call for stronger compensation scheme
A diverse coalition of organisations is calling for a broad financial compensation scheme, as legislation is expected to be introduced into Federal Parliament in the coming weeks. The coalition, wh...
Banks can do better: Consumer groups make more than 100 recommendations to improve bank behaviour
A coalition of the country’s leading consumer organisations is calling on Australia’s major banks to make significant updates to their industry code to improve outcomes for customers. The Consumers’ F...
Consumer groups applaud Federal Court ruling to uphold ASIC intervention in short-term credit market
Today’s Full Federal Court decision to dismiss an application by Cigno Pty Ltd (Cigno), seeking to quash the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC) product intervention order to rei...
Court decision on Cigno lending model ‘extremely disappointing’
Today’s Federal Court decision that the lending model promoted by Cigno Pty Ltd did not breach the National Consumer Credit Protection Act (National Credit Act) is extremely disappointing, and consum...
Gambling should not be funded by credit
While gambling is a legitimate form of entertainment for many Australians, we believe it should not be funded by credit and support a prohibition on the use of credit cards, including via e-wallets, f...
Consumer advocates ‘gobsmacked’ by majority Senate report on predatory lending laws
A newly released report by the Senate Economics Legislation Committee has recommended Parliament pass proposed laws that fall woefully short of what advocates say is needed to protect people from pred...
“Recipe for economic disaster”: Consumer groups slam Senate report on lending laws
Consumer groups condemn the majority’s recommendations of today’s Senate Inquiry Report, as the vote looms next week on the Government's disastrous proposal to axe safe lending laws. The repeal of...
Saving Responsible Lending: Senate Committee opening statement
On 19 February 2021, Gerard Brody, CEO of Consumer Action Law Centre and Fiona Guthrie, CEO, Financial Counselling Australia spoke at the Senate Economics Legislation Committee hearing on the Nation...
Buy now pay later sector must be regulated by Government not itself
Consumer groups have united to call for Federal Government regulation of buy now pay later (BNPL) services to protect consumers and put all credit providers on a level playing field. Today the Aus...
Over 590,000 Australians have relied on safe lending laws for justice
As the Senate Economics Committee hosts hearings in Canberra today, over 22,000 Australians have joined the call for Federal Senators to strengthen instead of repeal safe lending laws, with many sha...
Opinion: Responsible lending law repeal will undo good
First published in the Herald Sun, 8 February 2021. In the two years since the Hayne Royal Commission Final Report while the Federal Government has made some changes to strengthen consumer protecti...
‘A disastrous winding back of consumer protections’: Consumer groups call on lawmakers to reject proposed changes
Proposed changes to consumer credit laws before the Senate must be rejected as they risk harm to individuals and families and hindering the economic recovery they are intended to promote. That is t...
Submission: National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Supporting Economic Recovery) Bill 2020
This submission is made on behalf of Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action), Financial Rights Legal Centre (Financial Rights), Financial Counselling Australia, Consumer Credit Legal Service (WA)...
Consumer advocates call for Parliament to vote against watered-down protections against predatory lenders
Consumer advocates have rejected the Federal Government’s proposed changes to laws governing high-cost payday loans and consumer leases, calling for Parliament to vote against the Bill in a submission...
Consumer groups comment on Banking Royal Commission reforms
Consumer groups welcome today’s passage of Royal Commission recommendations into law, but condemn the government for introducing the law to axe safe lending laws into the House. “This week the govern...