Limited laws not being enforced

The Consumer Action Law Centre's CEO Gerard Brody said pawnbroking was too lightly regulated.   

"We're particularly concerned about people like Kirsten who are on low incomes or Centrelink benefits who often pawn jewellery, which is relatively low in monetary value but high in sentimental value, and they're continually making interest payments and extending the loans," he said.
Kirsten's story, in Turning Points
In the fourth episode of Turning Points, three Melbourne women recovering from life-changing events have each found themselves trapped by their circumstances.

The pawnbroking industry comes under state regulation, where Mr Brody said there was not the political will to introduce tighter legislation.

"It doesn't affect the majority of the population, so there isn't that much interest — it's actually those who are most marginalised and aren't able to speak up for themselves that get caught up in these debt cycles," he said.

The few federal laws that are in place to regulate the industry require legal representation in a court or tribunal to be enforced.

"One [of the regulatory laws] is about whether the transaction was unjust — that could include things like whether the amount was unaffordable or whether it's likely the person would repay the full amount," Mr Brody said.

"It sounds like a good rule but it's not well-enforced or easily enforced, unlike payday lenders where you can go off to your credit ombudsman to make a complaint."

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said pawnbroking may be investigated in the coming months as part of a review of 2013 small credit reforms.

In a statement, Cash Converters said Kirsten should discuss her situation with her store manager.

"Like a bank or any other lender, we want our customers to be able to access credit to get on with their lives. Stores and staff are very diligent when it comes to their customers, they get to know the customer and will consider their payment history before lending money," a spokesperson said.

"Pawnbroking — which is worldwide and hundreds if not thousands of years old — is one of the ways we encourage financial inclusion."

longweekend58 wrote on Jul 23^rd, 2015 at 5:31pm:


ZackAhhLee!!

Spot-on!   



You trade an item for cash....if you want the item back you need to pay the price you traded it in for plus an agreed upon interest. If you don't want to pay that sum because it's too much......simples......don't.

They keep your goods, & can freely resell it after a usually agreed upon period of time (ex...90 days).

Usually, the amount they will pay you for any item is way lower than it's worth, so if you need cash, & don't like their offer, sell it on Gumtree or eBay.

In any recourse, nobody is forcing anyone to do anything, nobody it taking advantage of anyone.

If they charged 20% interest per week, & somehow tried to force you to pay it back after a year, then you must have put your signature on a document you didn't care to read, but wouldn't it then be considered usurious, which is illegal?

The term Loan Shark comes to mind, along with broken legs & baseball bats.

In the USA they have Usury Laws:

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In the end the saying goes,  -- P.T. Barnum