A dynamic year for consumer advocacy
There’s no denying that 2019 was a dynamic one for Consumer Action, bringing a wave of change for consumer rights in Australia. You can find out more about what we’ve been up to this past year in our...
Data reveals billion-dollar payday lending industry driving Australians into debt
Over 20 consumer advocacy bodies from around the country have released new data revealing that predatory payday lenders are profiting from vulnerable Australians and trapping them in debt, as they cal...
The Debt Trap: How payday lending is costing Australians
The Debt Trap: How payday lending is costing Australians projected that the gross amount of payday loans undertaken in Australia will reach a staggering 1.7 billion by the end of 2019. It also found t...
Financial product design and distribution obligations must be consumer centred and limit loopholes
The Design and Distribution Obligations (DADOS) require financial service providers to provide products that meet customer needs rather than focussing on securing the sale. In our joint submission on...
ASIC Enforcement Review
In our joint response to exposure draft legislation implementing certain aspects of the ASIC Enforcement Review Taskforce (ERT) Final Report, Consumer Action and Financial Rights Legal Centre (Financi...
Keeping comprehensive credit reporting fair for those who have previously experienced hardship
Leading consumer advocacy bodies are concerned that customers who experience financial difficulty repaying loans will be unfairly penalised by credit reporting reforms proposed by the National Consume...
The norm of fairness must be recognised
Our existing consumer protection framework has failed to prevent unfairness from becoming embedded in business practices. From unclear marketing, subscriptions that make cancellation difficult, to...
Urgent need for payday loan reform acknowledged by Consumer Affairs Ministers
The need for urgent law reform to protect consumers from unfair and predatory payday loans has been reinforced at a meeting of Australian and New Zealand ministers in Queenstown, New Zealand. Minis...
Response to ASIC’s update to internal dispute resolution requirements for financial firms (RG165)
It is critical that the process to make and resolve complaints with a bank, insurer, or super fund is timely, fair, and accessible, including for people experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage. O...
Consumer advocates unite as Government inaction on payday loan reform hits 1,000 days
As the counter ticks over to 1,000 days since the Coalition Government accepted the recommendations from the Small Amount Credit Contract (SACC) review, consumer advocacy organisations across the coun...
Protecting guarantors from financial abuse
In our feedback to the Banking Code Compliance Committee (BCCC) inquiry into banks’ compliance when accepting and enforcing guarantees, Consumer Action discusses our concerns with guarantee provision...
Who is making Australians bankrupt?
One of Australia’s largest debt collectors – Lion Finance (a subsidiary of ASX-listed Collection House Ltd) – turns to bankruptcy procedures to collect consumer debts far more often than its rivals, a...
ASIC Consultation Paper 313: Product intervention power
We welcome the introduction of the product intervention power (PIP) and look forward to ASIC using the power to target businesses that cause consumer detriment by engaging in predatory conduct or fail...
ASIC Consultation Paper 316: Using the product intervention power: Short term credit
Businesses such as Cigno Pty Ltd, which facilitate access to predatory and unregulated payday loans by exploiting loopholes in the law, are on notice as the Australian Securities and Investment Commis...
Victoria’s Mental Health Royal Commission must examine links between links between poverty, debt and mental health
Consumer Action’s financial counsellors and lawyers speak regularly to individuals experiencing mental health issues. These individuals are commonly trying to deal with a range of consumer problems in...
Banks should recognise that anyone can become vulnerable: Submission to ABA Guideline on Customer Vulnerability
There are any number of reasons why a person would be unable to unwilling to speak up when they are struggling with their financial situation. Who among us hasn’t faced a financial issue at one poi...
The justice system could better respond to the needs of people affected by misconduct in the finance sector
Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) has recommended that financial service providers be required to improve their approach to dispute resolution in its comments to the Senate Legal and Consti...
Consumer issues must fall within mental health inquiry’s scope
Consumer Action has provided a submission to the Royal Commission into Mental Health Terms of Reference Consultation. We strongly support the Victorian Government’s announcement of this Royal Commi...
Submission: Inquiry into credit and financial services targeted at Australians at risk of financial hardship
This Senate Inquiry is a crucial opportunity to close the regulatory loopholes exploited by fringe lenders and ‘debt help’ companies. These companies can entrench disadvantage for some of the most vul...
Debt Agreement Reform – Proposed Legislative Instruments
The Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Rights Legal Centre and Financial Counselling Australia provided a submission to the Attorney-General's Department on its Legislative Instruments Consultation...
Submission: Easy and Transparent Trading Consultation Paper
The Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Easy and Transparent Trading Consultation Paper (the Consultation Paper). We have limited our comments to Se...
Joint submission: Attorney-General’s Department Review of Financial Hardship Arrangements
Consumer advocates consider that any additional information permitted to be shared or held as part of the credit reporting system is inherently a further privacy intrusion and must be justified to be...
Review into the Australian Taxation Office’s use of Garnishee Notices
We reject the legal status quo which enables garnishee orders issued prior to bankruptcy to continue to garnish the wages of bankrupted individuals post-bankruptcy. As we understand it, garnishee ord...
“Credit repair” business ordered to pay $1.7 million
The Federal Court has found that credit repair business, Malouf Group Enterprises Pty Ltd (Malouf Group), and its director Jordan Francis Malouf breached the Australian Consumer Law by making false an...
Oversight of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority: Update to ASIC Regulatory Guide 139
In Australia, everyone should be able to easily access a free, fair, fast and effective service to resolve complaints against financial firms. The establishment of the Australian Financial Complaints...
Consumer Groups Strongly Disagree with OAIC Credit Reporting Guidance
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has today published Guidance on its website about how lenders should treat Repayment History Information (RHI) for customers that are exper...
Submission: Debt Agreement Reform
Consumer advocates welcome the reform of the debt agreement regime in the Bankruptcy Amendment (Debt Agreement Reform) Bill 2018. Comprehensive reform is needed to curb the rampant mis-se...
Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Finance Sector – Consumer Action submission part 2
Consumer Action Law Centre has published part 2 of its submission to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Finance Sector today. The submission draws on the experienc...
Submission: Bankruptcy Amendment (Enterprise Incentives) Bill 2017
Financial Rights Legal Centre and Consumer Action Law Centre made a joint submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee's Inquiry into the Bankruptcy Amendment (Enter...
Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Finance Sector – Consumer Action submission part 1
Consumer Action Law Centre has published part 1 of its initial submission to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Finance Sector today. The submission draws on the e...
Joint submission: Establishment of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority
Seven consumer groups made a joint submission to Treasury's consultation on the Establishment of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). Consumer advocates are very supportive of the...
Treasury Laws Amendment (Putting Consumers First—Establishment of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority) Bill 2017
Consumer advocates are very supportive of the move to a one-stop shop external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme that implements the considered recommendations of the Review of the Financial System Exte...
Submission: Open Banking Review
Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Rights Legal Centre and Financial Counselling Australia are pleased to make this submission in response to the Open Banking Review Issues Paper. We acknowledge t...
Submission: Inquiry into Competition in the Australian Financial System
The Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action), Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) and the Financial Rights Legal Centre (Financial Rights) have welcomed the Productivity Commission’s review of c...
Submission: Credit card reform exposure draft legislation
The Consumer Action Law Centre is pleased to comment on the exposure draft Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Measures No. 8) Bill 2017: Credit card reforms (the Bill) and National Consumer Credit Protecti...
Submission: APRA powers for non-ADI lenders
The Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) and CHOICE have made a joint submission on the draft Treasury Laws Amendment (Non-ADI Lender Rules) Bill 2017 (the draft Bill). We support the proposa...
Design, scope, cost-benefit analysis, contracts awarded and implementation associated with the Better Management of the Social Welfare System initiative
The Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) is pleased to provide a submission to the Inquiry on the Design, scope, cost-benefit analysis, contracts awarded and implementation associated with the...
Design and Distribution Obligations and Product Intervention Power – Proposals Paper
Nine consumer advocacy organisations have made a joint submission on the Design and Distribution Obligations and Product Intervention Power. This joint submission was coordinated by Consumer Action La...
Veda to refund consumers after breaching privacy rules
Veda Advantage Information Services and Solutions Ltd (Veda) is being forced to refund thousands of consumers who paid to obtain credit reports under Veda’s expedited delivery deal, according to a dec...
Debt vulture companies are ripping off Australians and stirring up the credit industry
It is not often that consumer advocates and the credit industry see eye to eye. Money worries keep many Australians up at night and for some companies this is good for business. When watching TV br...
Public Inquiry: Data Availability and Use
Consumer Action has provided a submission in response to the Productivity Commission's Issues Paper for its inquiry on Data Availability and Use. The submission primarily focuses on the need to mai...
Federal Circuit Court Financial Counselling Project Evaluation
Since September 2014, the Federal Circuit Court (FCC) in Melbourne has provided direct financial counselling services to self-represented debtors in the FCC’s Bankruptcy Lists. This pilot service, imp...
FOS Determination on hardship variations, and credit reporting
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has recently made a determination which has important implications for credit reporting in Australia, particularly in how it relates to hardship variations. Pr...
Improving bankruptcy and insolvency laws – Proposals paper
The Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) welcomes the opportunity to provide input to proposed changes to Australia’s bankruptcy and insolvency laws. To read a PDF of the submission online,...
As Australians face over $1 trillion personal debt crisis, advocates warn about ‘debt vultures’
With ABS data showing that Australians are living with over $1 trillion of personal debt, consumer advocates are warning that an emerging industry of ‘debt vultures’ is making things worse. Debt vu...
Debt Management Firms Communiqué
Around forty representatives from consumer advocacy organisations, industry associations, ombudsman schemes, government agencies and regulators met in Melbourne on 18 February 2016 to discuss the soci...
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...
Debt vultures are not your friends
The huge up-front fees and dubious value of services provided by for-profit debt businesses is in the spotlight after a new report by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Co...
Unable to open the letterbox – money and mental health
Money is a major cause of distress for many Australians and for some Australians with mental health problems, there are times when being financially responsible for yourself simply isn’t possible. Man...
Solving Energy Bill Disputes – Studio 10
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06LFC6jclIM] Denise Boyd speaks with Studio 10 about energy bill disputes....