Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697633228796.pdf (Australia)
Submission to the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Supporting Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 I strongly oppose any legislation designed to lessen consumer protection in a so called effort to aid financial recovery caused by the current economic crisis.
Far from banks having no interest in lending to customers who cannot repay their loans, as maintained by Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh, 25th November 2020, banks systematically strip defaulting customers of their assets; Denise Brailey of the Banking & Finance Consumers Support Association has repeatedly exposed that as house prices soared in the ‘noughties’, banks aggressively targeted ‘elderly asset-rich, income-poor Australians’, trapping them into mortgages they could never hope to repay, even drawing up fraudulent mortgage documents to justify the loans in order to seize their homes.
In this era of financial engineering & exotic derivatives, banks have methods of turning bad loans into assets which can be passed off to unsuspecting investors – and institutional investors using ‘other people’s money’ – as mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt & loan obligations, gambling on these debts through the use of interest rate derivatives & credit default swaps.
In a December 2nd opinion column in the Sydney Morning Herald, the CEO of the Consumer Action Law Centre, Gerard Brody, reminded Australians of the consequences of irresponsible lending whereby unwary customers are trapped into unserviceable contracts that benefit only those raking in profits from commissions & fees for late payments.

According to Brody, the new bill substantially reduces consumer protection in three ways: 1.
It reduces legal rights for consumers, removing the right to take legal action for compensation from banks for breaching responsible lending standards; 2.

It removes many criminal & civil penalties, particularly for banks, which reduces incentives for lenders to comply with good lending standards because it reduces the likelihood that they will face court penalties for breach of lending standards; and 3.
It weakens credit assessment processes, as lenders will no longer be required to understand the borrower’s requirements & objectives for a loan, increasing the risk of inappropriate lending with greater fees or interest.
In conclusion, the bill will not help to support economic recovery because it will encourage consumers to take on unsustainable levels of debt & the profits from the loans will not go National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Supporting Economic Recovery) Bill 2020Submission 108 towards sorely needed infrastructure but back into the preferred area of bank lending, namely the profitable & already over capitalized housing market.
ends National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Supporting Economic Recovery) Bill 2020Submission 108