CCLSWA is pleased to have contributed to a joint submission coordinated by the Financial Rights Legal Centre to the Attorney-General’s Department Review of Financial Hardship Arrangements.  Other contributors included Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Counselling Australia, Australian Privacy Foundation, Australian Communications Consumer Action Network and Uniting Communities SA.

This submission, submitted in June 2018, addresses the concerns of consumer advocates regarding whether the current regulatory framework should be amended to allow credit reports to reflect whether a consumer is in hardship.

In the submission, consumer advocates strongly oppose any amendment to the regulatory framework to permit ‘hardship flags’ or any other additional indicators of hardship as an further privacy intrusion and an active deterrent to consumers contacting their lenders when they are in financial difficulty.

To read the full submission, and our strong public interest argument against hardship arrangements being recorded on credit reports click here.