Payne prunes some noxious lenders from Centrepay

1024_AUD_02

 

Human Services Minister Senator Marise Payne has moved to cull the number of questionable consumer leasing and payment plan providers who milk welfare recipients through the government’s Centrepay automatic deduction service — but the Opposition says the biggest firms that cause the most harm have yet again escaped being booted off the taxpayer-funded service.

Ms Payne on Friday set out new restrictions on what kind of companies can directly access welfare payments so that consumer leases “that run for an indefinite period, or have a duration of four months or less, will be excluded from Centrepay” and that “only those which are regulated under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 will be allowed.”

“These leases provide better protection for vulnerable customers as businesses must comply with the responsible lending obligations overseen by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC),” Senator Payne said.

Access to Centrepay by consumer goods leasing companies like Radio Rentals, Rent the Roo and Make it Mine has come under substantial fire from welfare advocates and the Opposition because deals offered to welfare dependents often have effective interest rates of around 70 per cent.

The core argument of critics is that the government should not be enabling what amount to predatory lenders to mine a vulnerable segment of the community through a taxpayer funded facility that remits taxpayer-funded payments.

Shadow Human Services Minister Senator Doug has hit out at the crackdown as tinkering on the edges of what has grown to become a major problem.

“The vast majority of consumer leases are provided by the big consumer leasing business like Radio Rentals, Rent-The-Roo and Make It Mine. These leases typically have terms of two to three years, they are regulated by the National Credit Code and they are known to cause financial harm to financially vulnerable Centrelink clients,” Senator Cameron said.

“To protect vulnerable Centrelink clients, the Abbot Government should exclude all consumer leases from Centrepay, whether they are regulated by the National Credit Code or not.”

One service being booted from Centrepay that few will be sorry to see the back of are Funeral Insurance providers, which the government has decided pose risks to vulnerable customers.

Senator Cameron said he welcomed the “belated” exclusion of “funeral plans” from Centrepay, saying that “aggressive selling of funeral plans has been causing financial harm in indigenous communities for several years.”

“It is well beyond time payments for these plans were excluded from Centrepay,” Senator Cameron said.

Another move getting a big thumbs-up is allowing social lending providers who offer low or no interest loans to the needy who cannot access welfare payments and Senator Payne said Centrepay services will now be expanded to allow for Centrepay deductions for low interest loans, savings plans and layby.

The micro and social finance services are regarded as an important circuit breaker to reduce harm from predatory lenders because they offer much lower cost alternatives to commercial products that are heavily weighted to maximise margin in a riskier market.

Chief executive of Good Shepherd Microfinance, Adam Mooney, said he was pleased that the government had taken action to boost protections for people on low incomes in relation to high cost consumer leases.

“Many people on low incomes simply can’t afford to be paying three times the market value for household goods under a consumer lease agreement,” said Mr Mooney.

He is also more optimistic than Senator Cameron.

“These changes to Centrepay will ensure that only goods rental companies with responsible lending obligations are allowed,” Mr Mooney said.

“This means that companies are required to ensure that consumers can afford the lease repayments before signing up to the agreement and accessing Centrepay.”

But he also cautioned that there is still a long way to go in making necessary reforms.

“Broader reform in the small amount credit and goods leasing market is still needed to ensure people on low incomes are making fully informed choices as to the cost and conditions of these products,” Mr Mooney said.

“We look forward to working with the government to raise awareness about alternatives to consumer leases such as our no interest and low interest loans and to encourage more informed decisions about renting versus buying.”

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@governmentnews.com.au.  

Sign up to the Government News newsletter

One thought on “Payne prunes some noxious lenders from Centrepay

  1. Good Evening Minister Payne,
    Surely it is plain to see that, many of the large companies are not abiding by the directives that the Credit Providers License dictates. Things like Budgets and ability to pay are being “fudged’ to get people into the consumer contract, then these
    Rent to Buy outfits, try to upsell the customer into a package or suite of goods to hire.

    Centrepay is then being used to collect the payments. The Welfare system is not generous enough to allow people to Save for a car or house or BIG SCREEN TV.
    its extremely rare for a centrelink customer to have $500 in his/her account. thus they would all fail a simple Capacity to Pay test.

    The Good Sheppard Society (God Bless them) don’t tell you the full story. All they see is that after the Never do wells have been down the pokkies, bought some weed, a bottle of vodka and a gut full of Mc Donalds, there is no $$$ left for food,
    and its obviously the rentals industry’s fault.

    Minister, I challenge you to borrow $250,000 against your family home, ( and thus risk your family’s future) go down to your nearest Harvey Norman store, buy up 350 new Fridges, Washers, Laptops and 50” TVs and then, head down to a centrelink and ask 30 Disability support recipients, 20 single mothers and 50 dole recipients to promise to pay you $32 a fortnight to for 2 years, to hire an $800 fridge. ($1550 after GST)

    How will you cope with your customers, cancelling deductions, insufficient funds at bank, going to Darwin with your fridge and Big screen TV ( stealing), selling your laptops on e-bay and swapping your TV’s for drugs.

    Mr Mooney gets the NAB Banks money, Church backing, government grant wages and Volunteer labour to conduct microfinance and NILS schemes. He has No risk, but will be afforded unfettered access to Centrepay to collect Good Sheppard’s outlay.

    What about my Outlay My Risk, My Family’s future. It will cost $2 Billion for Mr Mooney to buy enough whitegoods to replace the rental/hire industry. But due to the subprime quality of the customers, he will only recover half of that.
    Who will make up the shortfall? Mr Mooney? The Church No !!
    TAXPAYERS will pick up the tote, but it will be called a ( Do-Gooders ) Grant.

    I re-iterate, After the customer has bought smokes, grog, drugs , fast food and spent a night in front of the pokkies. They have NO cash left. And it’s all my fault. Sorry.

    Phil Massingham
    Rental Business Owner (for now)

Leave a comment:

Your email address will not be published. All fields are required