Between August and October 2014, the Financial Rights Legal Centre, Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Counselling Australia and the Australian Privacy Foundation lodged a series of complaints against Veda Advantage (Veda) to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (the Privacy Commissioner). Under new credit reporting laws that came into effect in March 2014, and the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code [ More ]
MEDIA RELEASE Shadow Attorney General Paul Lynch MP Media Release-250615 Labor to Protect Non-Government Organ Shadow Attorney General Paul Lynch has today introduced legislation to the NSW Parliament to protect non-government organisations (NGOs) against government gags. The Labor Opposition has introduced ‘Freedom to Advocate’ legislation that would protect NGOs from government gags. “Non-Government organisations should not be prohibited [ More ]
Financial Rights Legal Centre is glad to see some real reforms in the life insurance industry, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. As the Assistant Treasurer’s Media Release states, “ASIC’s Report found unacceptable levels of poor quality advice, and a strong correlation between high upfront commissions and poor customer outcomes.” In response to ASIC Report [ More ]
Media Release Wednesday 24 June 2015 Don’t make the poor pay more – time to end the free ride for rent to buy businesses: Consumer Groups Download pdf here: DontMakeThePoorPayMore 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 step to protect [ More ]
In June 2015 a $23m settlement was reached of two class actions launched by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers in 2013 in the Federal Court of Australia on behalf of Cash Converters customers in New South Wales who were alleged to have paid excessive fees and interest on short term loans. The settlement is subject to court approval and is without admission [ More ]