Debt Stress

What's the problem?

Banks and finance companies are selling customers more debt in order to generate higher profits.

Credit is what banks provide you, so you can buy a new car, go on an overseas holiday or to keep you going between pay checks. You then have a debt to the bank or finance company.

Personal debt levels now stand at record levels, and many people are struggling to keep up with rising interest rates and repayments. To add to the problem, banks and finance companies are putting increased pressure on their staff to meet higher and higher sales targets in debt products.

What's happening now?

Australia's major banks and finance companies are putting higher profits ahead of customers' needs by linking bank workers' pay to sales targets.

Moves by the banks and finance companies towards sales based pay means that many bank workers are concerned they will be forced to sell more and more credit cards and mortgages to make up their basic take-home pay.

This means that customers' interests could be overlooked or ignored so sales targets can be met.

What's the solution?

Australia needs a simple set of national laws to regulate our banking and finance industries and safeguard customers against being put under more debt stress than they can handle.

Bank and finance companies need to sign up to a Charter of Responsible Lending and follow stricter guidelines on how they assess customers' needs and ability to pay back a loan.

What's also needed is a solid guarantee to make customer service the number one priority