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.
I’m not sure this qualifies as sophisticated - or even a scam, when everything is specified in plain text.
Except obviously it is because nothing on that website alerts the buyer to the possibility of paying 4x the price of the good as the total cost of transaction. 33% to 38% interest pa is already egregious enough as it is but 4x the base cost of the good is absurd and usurus.
Sounds like you just have an ideological bias against consumer regulation and are trying to fit the facts into your framework.
I’m in favor of consumer protection laws on aspects like quality, safety, etc. Things that are more nebulous and harder or impossible to check. But at some point, I do believe consumers have a responsibility as well. I understand that convenience stores charge me more than groceries, and it’s fully on me if I shop there. In the same vein, if I buy a car that’s going for 50% above market value, I’m not about to scream fraud, provided all information on costs and fees were given to me.
You can look at this from another perspective, which is the benefit of allowing a scam like this to continue vs. regulating it out of existence. The only upsides of allowing this to continue is the company perpetuating it making money and a smug lemmitor getting to feel superior to the poors and disabled people, so it’s obvious that it shouldn’t be allowed to exist.
It’s amazing how many hexbears can’t have a simple discussion without getting personal.
I agree this BS needs to stop. I disagree on HOW it should be stopped. The market (and people out to make a quick buck) will always move faster than the govt can respond. Especially when the victims involved here have shown absolute zero financial literacy. Rather than treating the symptoms, I believe there should be more focus on education.
Not really much of a discussion to be had. You just keep alleging facts without evidence. I don’t think many people consider “Uh huh!” and “Nuh uh!” to be a form of discussion.
Wasn’t referring to you here, you’ll notice we had a reasonable conversation, even if we disagreed. You were the lone exception though.
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Then please demonstrate how easy it is for the consumer to check their total payments by posting a screenshot from that website that alerts the consumer to the possibility of paying 4x the cost of the device as the total cost of transaction.
If you’re signing a contract with no idea how much you’re going to be on the hook for, no amount of govt protection will keep you solvent.
The government could very much keep them solvent by, for example, mandating that consumer credit contracts must show tables of total payments including all fees and interest over time. Does the credit contract in question display such information? Onus is on you to provide proof if you’re alleging that it does.
At no point did I allege that, so no.
Doubt. They’ll find some other money trap to fall into in a week unless they’re taught to actually be smarter about their finances.
”Poor people are poor because of their inferior nature” Fuck off.
You could do with some lessons in reading comprehension.
“Poor people are poor because they’ve never had the chance to learn how to manage money, and I suggest teaching them.”
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”The market” will do this anyway so we shouldn’t do anything
I certainly feel smarter in comparison to you. I’ve been advocating education the entire thread, and you’re claiming that I just want the status quo.
You have been consistently been alleging that the woman in question could have easily checked the total cost of her payments, which you have just declined to provide proof for. I will take this as a concession from you on this point and move on.
This is an unfalsifiable counterfactual and I will dismiss it without further comment.
Yes? When faced with a ‘deal’ where you know the regular installment payment and the length of said debt, how difficult is it to figure out how much you need to pay by the end of it? Especially when everybody has a calculator in their pockets at every waking moment. If the answer is ‘too difficult’, I’m taking that as more reason for the education approach.