Exploitative credit— payday loans and consumer leases

Financial inclusion is not only about access to financial services, but protection from exploitative products that are inappropriate to consumers' needs. Over the last three years, we have campaigned...

Do Not Knock—stopping unwanted door-to-door salespeople

Door-to-door salespeople often use high-pressure tactics to get people to buy products they don’t want, don’t need, and can’t afford. We’ve heard of cases where people have been deliberately misled, a...

Your right to return goods bought online

In January 2011, the Australian Government introduced legal protections for consumers buying goods or services called ‘consumer guarantees’. Consumer Guarantees ensure that you can get a refund, repla...

Getting the most out of the new Australian Consumer Law

The Australian Consumer Law came into effect on 1 January 2011. It harmonises consumer protection and fair trading legislation nationally, and introduces new national unfair contract terms protections...

Policy report: Barriers to fair network prices

A new report released by the Consumer Action Law Centre and the Consumer Utilities Advocacy Centre, shows electricity distribution companies are routinely challenging pricing determinations made by th...

Direct Debits

Consumer Action has an ongoing interest in the use of Direct Debits and their impact on consumers. We’d like to hear from you about your experiences using Direct Debits as a payment method. If you ha...

Fair Fees Campaign

Since 2004 we have campaigned against unfair, excessive and unlawful penalty fees charged by Australian banks and other financial institutions. In recent years we have been very successful in getting...

Fair go in insurance

If anything positive can be drawn from the devastating natural disasters that hit many Australians in early 2011, it’s that the public and the government are starting to ask more questions about our i...

Presentation: National Credit Code

This document is a resource tool for community lawyers and financial counsellors. It contains helpful information on the operation of the new National Credit Code. To read the presentation, please cl...

Policy report: Reclaiming community legal centres

Nicole Rich, Director – Policy & Campaigns, was awarded the Victoria Law Foundation’s 2007/08 Community Legal Centre Fellowship. This is the final report of her Fellowship project.The report discu...

Briefing paper: Credit reporting and responsible lending

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) recently recommended that some additional types of information should be allowed on individual credit reports, but that repayment history information should...

Submission: Victorian motor vehicle lemon laws

Consumer Action is pleased to have the opportunity to submit its views regarding the proposed introduction of motor vehicle lemon laws in Victoria. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank...

A loan in lease clothing

This project, undertaken by the now disbanded Micah Law Centre, was initiated in response to an increasing number of consumers presenting to financial counselling services because of problems experien...