Policy & Law Reform | Policy & Law Reform |
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CCLC has a strong involvement in policy and law reform in the area of consumer credit, debt and banking. Our advice and casework services inform the Centre’s policy priorities. We promote reforms in regulation, policy and industry practices that will help create a fairer marketplace for consumers of financial services, particularly disadvantaged consumers. In addition, we make submissions to government and industry, participate in working groups, comment on draft legislation, undertake research, refer unfair practices and systematic issues to regulators and/or industry groups for investigation, and raise awareness through the media. While successfully advocating for a number of individual clients, we have effectively harnessed the knowledge obtained in this process to lobby for systemic protection from problematic practices. We regularly communicate with regulators such as the OFT, ASIC and the ACCC in a combination of formal meetings (such as the Consumer Credit Code Working Party), written submissions to government initiated reviews, publishing reports on our own initiative and other ad hoc consultation.
We have also regularly undertaken major research and policy projects that further analyse systemic issues identified in our advice and casework service, such as:
Credit Reporting: Getting it right for consumers Access to credit is important to consumers, and it is increasingly difficult to live a “normal” life in today’s society without credit. Despite this, most consumers are unaware of the details of the invisible system of information exchange that has the power to greatly influence their ability to access credit – the credit reporting system. The Credit Reporting: Getting it right for consumers reports on the consumer experience with the current credit reporting system, and analyses the various issues and problems faced by consumers. The project also questions the extent to which these problems faced by consumers are addressed by the current regulatory and self-regulatory framework. Debt Collection Research Project CCLC released its ‘Report in relation to Debt Collection’ in April 2004. The report, produced with support from the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, reviewed the law in relation to debt collection, and consulted with industry and consumer stakeholders. In partnership with the Australian Consumers’ Association, we surveyed consumers regarding their experience of debt collection practices. The level of consumer debt in Australia has been growing at unprecedented rates. At the same time there have been changes in debt collection practices, including increased outsourcing of debt collection to specialised debt collection agencies, and considerable consolidation of the debt collection industry resulting in a number of large, listed companies operating across state borders. The report identifies a number of issues of concern, including harassment, collecting old debts, credit reporting, issues in relation to proof of debt, and other unethical debt collection practices. The Report is available to download here.
CCLC was commissioned by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to conduct a research project on finance and mortgage brokers operating in Australia. We set out to look at some key aspects of the broker industry in Australia (such as fee/commission structures, access to lenders, etc) as well as the consumer issues that arise out of the use of broker services. The Report was released in March 2003, and contains an extensive analysis of the Australian broker industry, the regulation of brokers, the effectiveness of consumer redress, international regulation of brokers, and suggestions for reform. The Report is available to download here. 2006-07 |