Consumer Action has helped a client take on one of Australia's biggest finance companies about add-on insurance and a high-cost loan. In April 2013, our elderly client asked for a loan of $10,000 to...
Consumer groups have cautioned policy makers not to fall for payday lending spin as new research from Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) shows the devastating impact of the industry on Australians strugg...
Payday lending reforms from 2013 have failed vulnerable Australians according to Consumer Action Law Centre, as they take Cash Converters to court on behalf of a disability support pensioner over a ca...
The poorest and most vulnerable Australians are paying grossly inflated prices for household goods via “rent-to-buy” or “consumer lease” deals, as shown by a new report from the Australian Securities...
Leading consumer groups are calling for the Australian Parliament to support moves by the Senate to protect the integrity of Centrelink’s budgeting tool for essentials, Centrepay, by excluding rent-to...
Payday lending and rent-to-buy products are often a source of financial distress and hardship according to Consumer Action Law Centre. The centre welcomes the Federal Government's announcement that it...
Where the poorest pay the most - our session at #ALPConf2015 Fringe #auspol — Consumer Action (@consumer_action) July 26, 2015 Today, at an ALP National Conference fringe event, Consumer Actio...
Consumer groups say draft legislation to ban rent-to-buy goods providers from Centrepay (Centrelink’s service that allows third parties to receive direct payment from welfare payments) is an essential...
Australia’s leading consumer groups have made a joint submission to the Senate Economics Committee’s Scrutiny of Financial Advice Inquiry calling for a last resort compensation scheme for consumers wi...
Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) welcomes the opportunity to provide input into the Essential Services Commission's (the Commission) Inquiry into the financial hardship arrangements of ene...
The Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) and Financial Rights Legal Centre (Financial Rights) welcome the opportunity to comment on the Review of Card Payments Regulation Issues Paper (the Iss...
Consumer Action Law Centre welcomes reports that independent Senator Nick Xenophon MP and Labor Senator Sam Dastyari have called for a last resort compensation scheme for financial services...
The Financial System Inquiry (FSI) Final Report was released in December 2014. Consumer Action has made a submission to the Treasury as part of consultation on the final report. A full copy of our su...
Australia’s leading consumer advocates and largest microfinance organisation have today called on the Australian Government to take a fresh look at regulation governing payday lending. New research r...
Consumer Action Law Centre welcomed a new report from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) which questions whether payday lenders are complying with the law. The 2013 law ref...
Consumer Action Law Centre has welcomed news that Allianz Australia Insurance will refund $400,016 to Australians who were sold its Consumer Credit Insurance (CCI) alongside payday loans. Consumer Ac...
The spotlight will be on ‘vendor terms’ home sales in a new case before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). ‘Vendor terms’ contracts are an alternative to mainstream bank mortgages...
Consumer Action has provided a submission on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's Consultation Paper 224: Facilitating electronic financial services disclosure. Our responses to the...
Earlier this year consumer advocates got wind that that Bank West was charging a $15 fee for cancelling a direct debit payment. So we looked around and couldn’t find a single other bank or mutual that...
The Financial System Inquiry Interim Report notes that the current disclosure regime for retail financial products and services is not always effective in meeting its objective. It produces complex an...
Consumer Action welcomed the panel's interim report, particularly that fairness, as much as stability and efficiency, are important objectives for the financial system. We strongly support the panel's...
As Australian banks cut fixed term interest rates on home loans to record lows, financial counsellors at Consumer Action Law Centre have advised prospective borrowers to consider the longer term and w...
Key points the regulatory distinction between 'consumer leases' and 'credit contracts' used in the National Credit Code is flawed and has created opportunities for regulatory arbitrage (defined b...
Consumer Action welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Financial Systems Inquiry. The submission below responds to the Inquiry's terms of reference released on 20 December 2013. The submission...
Consumer Action and the Consumer Credit Legal Centre NSW have made a joint submission to Treasury on exposure draft consumer credit regulations affecting payday lenders. In summary, we are supportive...
A scan of Consumer Action's casework records (including both our legal advice and financial counselling services) reveals that we have on record at least 1900 calls from low income and vulnerable clie...
The Federal Court has ruled that ANZ’s credit card late fees were penalty charges rather than a cost recovery measure. This is significant because, while businesses can recover the costs of late paym...
Consumer Action welcomes the opportunity to comment on the draft terms of reference for the Financial System Inquiry. In summary, we recommend that: the overall objective for the Inquiry could be e...
New figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority show Australians spent $330 million on Consumer Credit Insurance in the twelve months to June this year, yet only 23 cents in every doll...
Consumer Action has provided comment to the Review of the regulation of owners’ corporation managers Issues Paper. Our submission makes two primary recommendations: that the unfair contract term pr...
Consumer Action has contributed to the Post Implementation Review of the ban on mortgage exit fees. Briefly, this submission supports the existing ban on mortgage exit fees; argues that ava...
Two Cash Converters franchises are being sued in the Magistrates Court by a Victorian mother who received 83 payday loans over three and a half years–54 of which were loans from Cash Converters outlet...
Consumer Action Law Centre welcomes Maurice Blackburn’s class action against Cash Converters, which alleges Cash Converters ‘illegally exploited thousands of financially struggling Australians by impo...
This self help kit was written at a time when Direct Share Purchasing Corporation had sued a number of consumers. Changes to the law have made it unlikely that consumers will see these types of cases...
We’ve all seen adverts promoting ‘Rent to Buy’ or ‘Rent to Own’ arrangements, where customers rent a product for a number of years before being given the option to buy or keep that product, but our la...
One of Australia’s biggest payday lenders, The Cash Store, will face allegations of irresponsible lending and unconscionable conduct before the Federal Court. The case being brought by the Australian...
Consumer Action, Consumer Credit Legal Centre NSW, and Financial Counselling Australia have made a joint submission on Australian Securities and Investments Commission's discussion paper Credit Hardsh...
Consumer Action is urging consumers to seek legal advice if they have entered into a rent to buy car agreement at 10-12 Plunkett Rd in Dandenong. This agreement may be with R.V. Investments (Aust) Pty...
Key points: If you are a borrower, mortgagor, or guarantor, under most consumer credit contracts the creditor is obliged by law to give you: your credit contract, mortgage, or guarantee; acco...
Key Message: You can cancel a direct debit from your bank account (not a credit card); Get advice about the consequences of not paying a debt before you stop payments. What is a direct debi...
Use this Fact Sheet if: You have received an unsolicited phone call from someone claiming to be from Consumer Action or a similar organisation; AND They claimed that the bank has overcharged y...
Consumer Action Law has made a submission to the Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Advisory Council’s study into Credit Card Surcharges and Non-Transparent Transaction Fees. We believe the key problems i...
Consumer Action has made a submission to the Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Advisory Council review of the benchmarks for industry dispute resolution schemes. In broad terms, we strongly support the b...
Financial Counselling Australia, the Consumer Action Law Centre and the Consumer Credit Legal Centre have welcomed a new hardship package released by the Australian Bankers Association (ABA) today. T...
Consumer Action has provided a submission to the discussion paper, Banking Act exemptions and section 66 guidelines, published by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. The discussion paper p...
Consumer Action and the Consumer Credit Legal Centre welcomes Treasury's approach of basing revised disclosure on the findings made by the Uniquest report. Uniquest was commissioned by the Standing Co...
A Victorian Disability Support Pensioner has issued proceedings in the Magistrates' Court against two Cash Converters lenders.[1] Consumer Action's client alleges that over approximately a three year...
A recent report looking at use of short-term cash loans showed half of borrowers interviewed had taken out more than ten loans in the previous two years, and three quarters of this group had taken out...
Consumer Action has made a submission on Treasury's Discussion paper regarding the exemption of retailers from the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009. Briefly, this submission: supports o...