RLC has endorsed a joint submission by Financial Rights Legal Centre and Consumer Action Law Centre, as well as the submission of the Economic Abuse Reference Group to which RLC’s Financial Abuse Service NSW contributed expertise.
RLC provides specialist assistance to people who have credit, debt and consumer law problems. In addition, we provide consumer credit advice and representation through our state-wide Financial Abuse Service NSW, our state-wide International Student Legal Service NSW, and our Health Justice Partnership where we have lawyers based at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Sydney Dental Hospital.
In addition to being a member of various community, industry and regulator consumer advocacy groups, RLC coordinates the Economic Abuse Reference Group NSW which is an informal group of community organisations which work collectively to influence government and industry responses to reduce the financial impact of family violence. Members include Domestic and Family Violence services, community legal services and financial counselling services.
RLC has strong reservations about the proposed reforms and the rollback of a responsible lending framework that has proven effective and accessible. We have examined the exposure draft in detail and are concerned that the reforms are a significant step backwards in progressive responsible lending laws and stand in direct contrast with the recent recommendations of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.
We expect that the proposed reforms, as currently drafted, will create significant adverse impacts for our clients.
Read the submissions (20 November 2020)
