Payday loans the next financial disaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaVTYoVoZaE A financial disaster is looming unless there is an urgent response to expert recommendations to clean up payday loans and consumer leases. As pressure...
Review of Card Payments Regulation – Consultation Paper
Thank you for the opportunity to provide comment on the reforms proposed by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in the Review of Card Payments Regulation Consultation Paper (Consultation Paper), relea...
Response to a finance sector Royal Commission: Gerard Brody
In response to the announcement that a Labor Government would initiate a Royal Commission into the finance sector, Consumer Action Law CEO Gerard Brody said: “A Royal Commission into the finance se...
Submission to consumer property law review: Issue Paper 1 – Conduct and institutional arrangements for estate agents, conveyancers and owners corporation managers
Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) is pleased to make this submission to Consumer Affairs Victoria's (CAV) review of Victoria's consumer property laws on Issue Paper 1: Conduct and instituti...
Submission to Council on Federal Financial Relations Affordable Housing Working Group – Innovative financing models
Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) is pleased to make this submission to the Affordable Housing Working Group. Consumer Action's legal service and financial counselling service assist many...
Vendor terms and rent-to-buy schemes
Vendor terms or 'rent-to-buy' schemes promise to help you buy property when you don’t have the income, savings or credit history to get a regular mortgage. Often there’s a broker or agent who advertis...
Our finances are a mess – could behavioral science help clean them up?
Hal Hershfield, University of California, Los Angeles and Abigail Sussman, University of Chicago The first few months of a new year can be a stressful time financially. The Christmas holidays typic...
Victorian Mum takes on consumer rental company Flexirent and wins
A Victorian Mum of four has won a settlement of nearly $4000 after she took legal action against Flexirent Capital Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of the ASX listed company FlexiGroup Limited. Michelle T...
Submission: SACC Review Interim Report
Consumer Action has made its submission in response to the SACC Review Interim Report. We continue to push for tighter regulation on payday loans and consumer leases, which have been shown to cause si...
Payday loans: Julie’s Story
Julie is a single mother who subsists on Centrelink payments. She was recently involved in a family breakdown and suffers from mental health issues. She has had her Centrelink reduced and as a result...
Payday loans: James’ Story
James says he has had approximately 8 to 12 payday loans from a payday lender (that also operates as a pawnbroker) in the last 12 to 18 months, but he's lost count. James says that he was recently pro...
The common car product you might get a refund for
Australians are demanding better from the products sold with used cars and winning. Sarah from Melbourne’s south east thought she had to buy an extended warranty in order to get a loan. Consumer Ac...
Payday loans: Laura’s Story
Laura lives in public housing and receives a Centrelink pension. She has a mild intellectual disability and suffers from mental illness. Laura has two young children one of which has a mild intellectu...
Review of the small amount credit contract laws – Submission
The Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the review of the small amount credit contract laws and comparable consumer leases (the review). Read the full...
Add-on insurance – watch out!
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...
New research shows struggling Australians suffering while the payday lending sector booms: Consumer groups
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...
Cash Converters taken to court after reforms fail to protect vulnerable
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...
ASIC report highlights exorbitant costs of rent-to-buy household goods: Consumer groups
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...
Rent-to-buy products must be kicked off Centrepay
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...
Review is opportunity to improve protections for payday loan and rent-to-buy borrowers
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...
ALP National Conference: Labor needs to take a stand on payday loans.
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...
Don’t make the poor pay more – time to end the free ride for rent to buy businesses: Consumer Groups
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...
Australians should be compensated for poor financial advice: Consumer groups
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...
Submission to the Inquiry into the financial hardship arrangements of energy retailers
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...
Submission: Review of Card Payments Regulation Issues Paper
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...
Too many Australians have suffered at the hands of financial advisers
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...
Submission: Financial System Inquiry Final Report
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...
Media Release: Australians want changes to Payday Lending industry
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...
Media Release: Payday lending report questions compliance with the law
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...
Media release: Consumer advocates welcome Allianz’s $400,016 refund but warn mis-selling of insurance is an ongoing problem
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...
Media release: ‘Vendor terms’ home ownership deal a fantasy with no basis in reality
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...
Submission: Facilitating electronic financial services disclosure
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...
Bank West to stop charging a fee for cancelling a direct debit payment
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...
Submission: Financial System Inquiry – Improving Consumer Disclosure
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...
Submission: Financial System Inquiry Interim Report
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...
Media release: As fixed term interest rates fall to record lows, borrowers advised to look beyond the short term
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...
Summary of Consumer Leases and Consumer Protection: Regulatory Arbitrage and Consumer Harm
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...
Submission: Financial Systems Inquiry Terms of Reference
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...
Submission: Consumer Credit Regulations
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...
Submission: Filing fees for debtors’ petitions, overseas travel requests and an increase to the realisations charge
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...
Federal Court finds ANZ late fees were penalty charges
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...
Submission: Financial System Inquiry—Draft Terms of Reference
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...
Media release: The numbers show Consumer Credit Insurance is a poor deal for consumers
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...
Submission: Review of the regulation of owners’ corporation managers
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...
Submission: Post Implementation Review of Ban on Mortgage Exit Fees
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...
Media release: Cash Converters sued for breaching its responsible lending obligations
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...
Media release: Maurice Blackburn class action to highlight the sad truth about payday lending
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...
Direct Share Purchasing Corporation – defence kit
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...
Report: The Hidden Cost of ‘Rent to Own’
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...
Media release: ASIC case against The Cash Store to shape the future of payday lending
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...