ASIC has announced that its surveillance found that Cash Converters Personal Finance Pty Ltd (‘Cash Converters’) had routinely breached Regulatory Guide Debt collection guideline: for collectors and creditors (RG 96), including by too frequently contacting consumers. The company has paid a $650,000 community benefit payment to help fund the National Debt Helpline. 

ASIC found that as a result of poor internal controls and policies Cash Converters routinely breached Regulatory Guide Debt collection guideline: for collectors and creditors (RG 96), which recommends that consumers be contacted regarding a debt not more than three times per week or 10 times per month. These guidelines are based on legislative prohibitions on harassment and coercion.

Safrock Financial Corporation (Qld) Pty Ltd, a related company to Cash Convertors, was responsible for providing incorrect information to consumer credit reporting agency Equifax. The credit listings indicated the total amount of the debt owing by consumers, rather than the outstanding balance. This may have resulted in up to 38,500 customers being reported with inaccurate amounts owing over a one-month period. Cash Converters has worked with Equifax to ensure all incorrect credit listings have been removed.

In response to ASIC’s concerns, ASIC says Cash Converters is outsourcing all debt collection work to a specialist third party debt collector. ASIC has also imposed licence conditions on Cash Converters to require it to obtain ASIC’s consent before returning debt collection activity in-house.