At Cash Converters, we have a responsibility to ensure that we provide lending options to our customers that help them achieve their financial goals, not cause them financial issues.
It would be easy to say that we take a responsible approach to lending because it’s the law, but it’s deeper than that. Responsible lending, and borrowing, can help people overcome barriers to financial success that many of us face.
It’s a process. First, we try to understand your needs, both when we’re designing our products and when we’re assessing your loan application. We want to make sure that our products will help you to succeed in achieving your goals, not hinder you.
Next, we ask you for some information on your situation. This can include things like your income, expenses, other loans and debts, living situation, financial history, and likely changes in the foreseeable future. We check the information you give us against things like your credit file, bank statements and our own records. We might use different documents and third parties to help verify your information. The verification process gives us confidence in our decision.
If the product is suitable for your needs and situation, we check that you can afford to repay us, in full and on time. We want to make sure you can do this without making things too difficult for you. It’s in our best interest and yours.
This process helps us to consider each individual customer’s circumstances.
This means that we may not always be able to help every customer.
If you experience financial difficulty, please reach out to us. We may have options that could reduce your financial pressure, including changes to repayment amounts or timeframes, or extensions to your loan term.
We recognise that unexpected changes happen and will work with you through periods of financial difficulty.
As the holder of an Australian Credit License, Cash Converters must comply with the responsible lending conduct obligations in Chapter 3 of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth).
The key concept is that credit licensees must not enter into a credit contract with a consumer, suggest a credit contract to a consumer or assist a consumer to apply for a credit contract if the credit contract is unsuitable for the consumer.
The responsible lending obligations involve:
