The Consumers’ Federation of Australia has joined organisations and prominent individuals nation-wide in an open letter calling for Senators to block the weakening of safe lending laws.
The following is a CHOICE media release.
Axing safe lending laws will be bad for people, bad for the economy and directly contradict the first recommendation of the banking royal commission, say leading voices across Australia.
Speaking with one voice, Australia’s leading consumer advocacy organisations, charities, community, legal and family violence organisations, unions and financial counsellors have condemned the government’s plans to axe safe lending laws.
In a national open letter launched today, 122 organisations and 97 prominent Australians are urging Senators to block proposed weakening of safe lending laws which protect consumers from aggressive lending by financial institutions. Supporters of the open letter include ACTU, ACOSS, Anglicare, and a range of religious, community, legal and family violence organisations from across Australia.
The Open Letter is also supported by new national polling that shows that Australians expect lenders to check if credit is unaffordable. 79% of people think that banks should be required to always check a customer’s ability to repay before offering a mortgage (only 4% disagree).[1]
Read more about the campaign at debtdisaster.com.au
Media contact: Katelyn Cameron, 0430 172 669, media@choice.com.au
Notes:
[1] Polling was completed as part of the Dynata’s weekly “Omnipulse” omnibus. The fieldwork was conducted on 11-16 November, 2020. 1,014 people completed the survey and data was weighed to the latest ABS census data so results are nationally representative.