20th April 2016 - Today’s announcement of a user-pays funding model for ASIC – effectively a levy on the banking industry – is good news for ASIC, but a missed opportunity for financial counselling. The user-pays model should also be extended to include funding for free financial counselling. Financial counsellors…
Experts Roundtable, February 2016 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 social and industry impacts of businesses that provide quasi-financial service “solutions” to consumers with debt problems or who have concerns about…
Townsville, Australia January 25, 2016 – The Queensland financial counselling sector is calling on a strategic response from the Queensland State Government in supporting people through resource sector job losses. A financial storm of Yasi proportions has once again headed straight towards Townsville with 1,500 jobs expected to vanish in…
24th December 2015 - Usually FCA keeps our correspondence private, but we think it is in the public interest to release this recent important exchange with Santa. 1st December 2015 Dear Santa We would like more funding for financial counselling. Love FCA PS We’ve been really, really good this year. ********…
23rd December 2015 - Access to financial counselling and financial capability services in areas where government welfare recipients are subject to income management, will drastically reduce from 1 January 2016. The areas affected are the Northern Territory, Shepparton (Vic), Bankstown (NSW), Playford, APY Lands and Ceduna (SA), Logan (Qld), outback…
Financial Counselling Australia has today released its submission to the Barry O’Farrell review of the Interactive Gambling Act. The submission sets out “12 Things that Need to Change” (attached) if Australian consumers are to be adequately protected from the harm associated with gambling. “The current consumer protection regime is manifestly…
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 and Investments Commission (ASIC) released today. The report found that people receiving Centrelink payments are being charged much higher prices than the…
Financial Counselling Australia welcomes the Government’s announcement of its inquiry into the Interactive Gambling Act legislation, but as the terms of reference stand, by focusing on offshore illegal betting, they fail to address the damage that legal online gambling companies are causing. “It is a welcome first step, but the review with…
2nd September 2015 - Financial Counselling Australia welcomes the Government’s announcement today of a review of online betting legislation. If the review is to be meaningful, it needs to have wide Terms of Reference, looking at the activities of legal onshore operators, as well as offshore bookmakers. Financial counsellors, who…
Access to credit provided by online sports betting companies, as well as inadequate mechanisms for limiting losses, is fuelling a dangerous increase in online sports betting and problem gambling according to a report released today by Financial Counselling Australia. Launched by Senator Nick Xenophon, (read his media release here) the report, ‘Duds,…