Centrepay is an online tool designed to help people on Centrelink pay for essentials like rent or bills through automatic deductions. But financial counsellors say the government service is instead being misused by some providers to exploit vulnerable Australians.

Rent 4 Keeps is being sued by ASIC over avoiding protections for the vulnerable. But beware of rent to buy in general.

Also watch out for OpenPay, I almost signed up to cover my cat’s vet bills but was thankfully able to manage.

I haven’t personally used No Interest Loans from Good Shepherd so I can’t speak to how safe and legit they are, but if you’re in some unavoidable difficulty they don’t charge interest and on the face of it do seem a bit less predatory.

https://news.nab.com.au/news/nab-and-good-shepherd-20-years/

  • BriongloidM
    4•1 year ago

    I’ve always felt that this business model, which primarily targets people on payments, is incredibly predatory.

    I wish people knew how to find great $300-$400 phones, I got a Poco F3 for $400 1.5 years ago with a SD870 8GB/256GB.

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    1•1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    An approved provider directly arranges contracts with Centrepay’s 600,000 monthly users, taking repayments before the money hits their bank account.

    “People are going in with blind faith [thinking] that because it is endorsed by Centrepay, that it’s an ethical business and they’re going to be treated fairly,” said Caitlin Bender, AnglicareNT financial counsellor.

    The corporate regulator gathered Rent4Keeps customer data over a three-month period in 2019, which showed the appliance company had arranged 533 contracts valued at more than $1.8 million.

    Mr Payne operates Rent4Keeps Australia and replaced his wife Vikki as sole director of both the Victorian and NSW franchises in July last year.

    A solicitor for Rent4Keeps Australia and its Victorian franchise did not respond to questions about why his clients continued operating in NSW, but said they would vigorously defend ASIC’s allegations at a trial in February 2024.

    Services Australia told 7.30 it was unable to comment on individual businesses or those subject to ongoing legal action, but that it was “working across government to stamp out predatory behaviour to ensure Centrepay can continue to operate as a useful budgeting tool”.

    The original article contains 849 words, the summary contains 183 words. Saved 78%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!