ToonenaAustralia , CCPR/C/50/D/488/1992, UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), 4 April 1994.

Submission by the National Financial Services Federation to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services on the Consumer Credit and Corporations Legislation Amendment (Enhancements) Bill 2011, page 10.

Submission by Cash Stop Financial Services Pty Ltd on the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Enhancements) Bill 2011 Exposure Draft, page 3.

Submission by Money3 Corporation Limited on the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Enhancements) Bill 2011 Exposure Draft, page 3.

The Code (and the UCCC before it) regulates credit provided to natural persons for personal, domestic and household purposes. From 1 July 2010, the Code also regulates credit provided to natural persons for investment in residential investment property.

The Micah Law Centre is a not-for-profit outreach law firm in Victoria, established to provide advice and advocacy for disadvantaged individuals and groups.

Micah Report, page 12.

Consumer advocates consistently identify individual case studies that demonstrate this dynamic in operation, from situations where retailers were actively misled about the nature of the contract they were entering into two examples of consumers being unaware that they would have to keep making payments once the contract had expired if they wanted to retain possession of the goods.

The requirement is in subsection 17(3) of the Code.

For example, a small number of dealers inflate the value of cars to make the cost of finance seem low.

The interest rate would be higher where the consumer also has to pay an additional amount to buy the goods at the end of the contract.

See Unconscionable Conduct and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Consumers Research Report, by Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network Ltd.

See ASIC Info Sheet 108 How much does a credit licence cost?

National Consumer Credit Protection (Fees) Regulations 2010, Schedule 1, item 1.1.

See http://www.cosl.com.au/Member-Fees; http://www.fos.org.au/centric/home_page/members/apply_for_membership.jsp.

The Code (and the UCCC before it) regulates credit provided to natural persons for personal, domestic and household purposes. From 1 July 2010, the Code also regulates credit provided to natural persons for investment in residential investment property.

Section 72 of the Code.

Section 74 of the Code.

Section 71 of the Code.

Such as the Australian Bankers' Association Code of Banking Practice, the Mutual Banking Code of Practice and the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia Code of Practice.

Reserve Bank of Australia, Financial Aggregates, March 2010.

www.vedaadvantage.com/news-and-media/article.dot?id=509973; www.couriermail.com.au/money/banking/families-gripped-by-financial-hardship/story-e6freqox-1225767439923; http://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2010/sp-ag-300310.html.

FOS 2008-09 Annual Review.

COSL Annual Report 2009.

Financial Stability Report, March 2011 Reserve Bank of Australia.

Banking and Finance Bulletin 53, Customers in financial difficulty - Code of Banking Practice and UCCC Obligations (March 2007).

In 1962 the Molomby Committee recommended that consumers be given a statutory right to seek changes on the basis of hardship for secured debts. Such rights have been included in various hire-purchases and credit Acts since then.

http://ministers.treasury.gov.au/.

Section 94 of the Code.

Many credit providers will lend up to 95 per cent of the value of a residential property when secured by a first mortgage.

http://www.housing.nsw.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/C56898FB-D99E-4013-835A-B88188793AA7/0/Sales_Metro_PcodeSSD_2009q4.pdf.

http://www.reiv.com.au/.

Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Income and Housing 2007-08 and 5609.0 Housing Finance, Australia Tables 9a and 12, August 2010.

Note: contracts for credit for investment other than in residential properties are currently not regulated by the Credit Act. The need to regulate other loans for investment purposes is being considered separately during Phase 2.

Section 88 of the Code.

COSL, Position Statement Issue 2: Financial Hardship, May 2010; FOS, The Financial Ombudsman Circular Newsletter, Edition 3, Update 1, August 2010.

Berry, Dalton & Nelson, Mortgage Default in Australia : Nature , Causes and Social and Economic Impacts , March 2010, p.4 AHURI Final Report No. 145. Melbourne: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, RMIT Research Centre.

Section 178 of the Credit Act.

Consumers who suffer loss in relation to a credit contract because of the conduct of a broker will usually not have any recourse against lenders in these circumstances, as lenders will generally not be responsible or accountable for the conduct of these third parties.

The disclosure of fees charged by persons providing credit assistance is now regulated by Chapter 3 of the Credit Act, with these fees needing to be disclosed both in a quote and a proposal document.

The requirements to disclose commissions from lenders are specifically addressed in the Credit Act.

Harrison, Paul and Massi, Marta 2008, Congratulations, you're pre-approved!: an analysis of credit limit upselling letters Consumer Action Law Centre, Melbourne.

The responsible lending obligations in Chapter 3 do not address this risk directly.

Press Release 05-36: ASIC acts against misleading and deceptive advertising, 24 February 2005.

ASIC has identified this risk previously with providers using the term 'reverse mortgages' to promote lines of credit.

These factors are discussed in more detail in the RIS prepared in relation to the regulation of equity release products.

Consumer Action Legal Centre and Deakin University, 'Shutting the Gates: An analysis of the psychology of in-home sales of educational software', March 2010.

University of Sussex for Office of Fair Trading, 'Psychology of buying and selling in the home, Annexure F of the doorstop selling report', May 2004.

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 4.

ACCC News Release, ' Door to door sellers must clean up act after ACCC action against Craftmatic' , 19 June 2009 (reporting the results of court action by the ACCC against Craftmatic Australia Pty Ltd (Craftmatic), in which Craftmatic admitted that its in-home sales process had subjected senior citizens to unfair tactics and pressure to buy a bed, which could cost up to $15,000).

Office of Fair Trading, 9.

National Competition Policy Review: Fair Trading Act 1987 and the NSW Door - to - Door Sales Act 1967 , p. 49 http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/pdfs/About_us/ftadtdreport.pdf.

FCRC (2009) Still an Unfair Deal ? Reassessing the impacts of energy reform and deregulation on low income and vulnerable consumers , see http://www.fcrc.org.au/files/YIDOUVF93M/FCRC_Still_an_Unfair_Deal_-_FINAL_REPORT.pdf. While the study is based on the selling of services other than credit it is still relevant because of the analogies between the two services (in that both involve regular payments over time).

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 92.

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 92.

Page 12.

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 100.

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 34.

Office of Fair Trading, 19.

Office of Fair Trading, 19.

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 43 (take from actual sales script).

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 117.

Office of Fair Trading, 20, Consumer Action Legal Centre, 41.

This heuristic exists in every know society that has been investigated. A Gouldner, ' The norm of reciprocity : a preliminary statement' , American Psychology Review 1960, 25 in Consumer Action Legal Centre, 45.

Office of Fair Trading, 16 - 17.

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 46.

Cialdini (2001, 29) reports the 'incredible success of a company called Amway, whose door-to-door sellers had an 'unbelievable increase in sales' when they left a free collection of Amway products... in the consumer's home'. Office of Fair Trading, 17.

Office of Fair Trading, 59.

R Cialdini, ' Influence : Science and Practice' (1st Ed) 1985 in Consumer Action Legal Centre 36, 65.

Office of Fair Trading, 22 -23.

Office of Fair Trading, Page 22- 23.

For example, Craftmatic would offer reluctant or hesitant consumers a number of discounts that were described as being 'special discounts' only available to limited consumers and only available that day. In reality, the discounts were offered to every consumer who resisted the sales process. ACCC News Release, ' Door to door sellers must clean up act after ACCC action against Craftmatic' , 19 June 2009.

Example of sales script 'In each area we take no more than 100 enrolments. Just like a school, once we reach our 100 quote, we close enrolments and move to the next area'. Consumer Action Legal Centre, 65.

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 37.

R Raghunathan and M Pham, ' All negative moods are not equal : motivational influences of anxiety and sadness in decision making' , Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 1999, 79 in Consumer Action Legal Centre, 68.

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 110.

Consumer Affairs Victoria, Consumer Alert, ' Salespeople playing dirty tricks with clean water' , 13/02/2003 and Brisbane Times, ' Qld " cancer water " company fined' , 04/05/2009.

Consumer alerts have been issued by every State and Territory fair trading authority with the exception of one in relation to educational software products. It was reported in WA Hansard that in the 12 months to 20 September 2007 the WA Department of Consumer and Employment Protection received 26 complaints about 5 separate maths-tutoring software companies (WA Hansard, Assembly, 20 September 2007, 5492 - 5493).

Dolinski, Nawrat, and Rudak, Dialogue involvement as a social influence technique , Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2001, 27 in Consumer Action Legal Centre, 44.

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 44 (actual sales script).

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 108 ( from interview).

S Chaiken, ' The Heuristic model of persuasion' , Papers from the 5th Ontario Symposium on Personality and Social Psychology, 1984, 3 - 39 in in Consumer Action Legal Centre, 35 see also S Milgram, ' Obedience to Authority . An experimental view' 1974, 26 in Office of Fair Trading, 9.

Office of Fair Trading, 27.

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 52, note also Consumer Affairs Victoria, Consumer Alert 'Sales tactics to seniors', 11/10/2010 'one tactic used to create the impression that the salesperson is associated with a health or welfare organisation is to offer the older consumers free, in-home health appraisals'.

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 58.

Consumer Affairs Victoria, Consumer Alert, ' New tactics by water filter salespeople' 03/08/2010.

Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network, 'Unconscionable Conduct and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Consumers', 2010, 19.

ACCC v Keshow [2005] FCA 558 at 85.

The lack of documentation meant that these contracts, while functionally similar to credit contracts, were not regulated as credit under the UCCC.

ACCC v Keshow [2005] FCA 558 at 108.

Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network, 7 -8.

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 93.

Consumer Affairs Victoria, Consumer Alert, New tactics by water filter salespeople , 03/08/2010.

Consumer Action Legal Centre, 93.

Australian Finance Direct Limited v Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria [2007] HCA 57

National Legal Aid, Response to Green Paper on National Credit Reform, 44 - 45.

Consumer Affairs Victoria, Consumer Alert, ' Parents warned about aggressive sales techniques' , 03/02/2008.

SEQUAL Media Release 28 May 2010. Australia's reverse mortgage market reaches $2.7 billion at 31 December 2009.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has reported that by 2056 Australia's population is projected to increase to around 23 per cent - 25 per cent being 65 years or older. In 2007 Australia's senor population consisted of 13 per cent being 65 years or older.

ASIC Report 59. Equity Release Products. November 2005. See also ASIC Report 109: 'All we have is this house' Consumer experiences with reverse mortgages. November 2007 (ASIC's second report). Also, a statutory protection against negative equity was included in the draft National Finance Brokers Bill 2007 and would have applied across all State and Territory jurisdictions.

ASIC report 59, Equity Release Products report, November 2005. These events occurred before the industry was bought under regulation from the Financial Services Authority or self-regulation by the UK equity release body SHIP.

SEQUAL Delliotte survey June 2009.

SEQUAL-RFI Reverse mortgage Survey 'It's on the house: A consumer study into the attitudes and perceptions of Australians aged over 60 years'.

SEQUAL-RFI Reverse mortgage Survey 'It's on the house: A consumer study into the attitudes and perceptions of Australians aged over 60 years'.

The only professional body which requires its members to have SEQUAL accreditation before providing services to reverse mortgage applicants is the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia.

However, the Law Council of Australia, SEQUAL and some law societies are progressing plans to implement specific reverse mortgage training, education and guidance materials aimed at improving the quality of legal advice to consumers.

Section 88 of the National Credit Code requires a lender to give the borrower a default notice before commencing enforcement proceedings.

For example, if a 65 year old borrower with a property valued at $500,000 takes out a reverse mortgage at an LVR of 15 per cent, at an interest rate of 8 per cent, their total debt at age 85 would be approximately $370,000 (exclusive of ongoing charges). The same borrower, with an interest rate at an additional, 5 per cent, would have a total debt at 85 years old of approximately $410,000 (a difference of $40,000).

The Consumer Credit ( South Australia ) ( Pay Day Lending ) Amendment Bill 2009 was introduced into the South Australian Legislative Council in February 2009 to implement a 48 per cent interest rate cap, inclusive of fees and charges. The Bill was put on hold in light of the National credit reform package and related Phase Two work on interest rate caps.

The presence of a substantial fixed fee or charge would be unique to Victoria given that the cap in that State only applies to interest charges and not fees, and therefore fees will be higher while the interest rate may be lower than would be the case in other jurisdictions.

Consumer Affairs Victoria, 'Small Amount Lending Inquiry 2008', Report to Tony Robinson MP, 2008, p. 5.

http://www.nfsf.org.au/about-microlending-pay-day-advances.htm.

It also is consistent with the approaches taken by academics G. Marston and L. Shevellar in their report discussed below.

This risk was identified in the submission to the Green Paper by the Financiers Association of Australia, p. 21.

Director of Consumer Affairs v City Finance Loans (Credit) [2005] VCAT 1989, 27.

Consumer Affairs Victoria, 'The Report of the Consumer Credit Review', Supplementary Information, 2006, p. 336.

Neil Ashton for Consumer Action Legal Centre (CALC), in a Draft Payday Lending Literature Review, states that the research underpinning these papers was commissioned by Cash Converters, although this has not been disclosed in the paper. CALC states that '... after investigation, an email inquiry to Policis was answered by report author Anna Ellison who confirmed that the report was prepared by Policis in 2008 (see email from Anna Ellison to Consumer Action Law Centre, 21 May 2008). Although Policis would not reveal for whom the report was commissioned, an email from 18 May 2008 from Glenn Donaldson of Cash Converters revealed that the report had been commissioned by Cash Converters', p. 19.

G Marston and L Shevellar, University of Queensland, 'The Experience of Using Fringe Lenders in Queensland: A Pilot Study' 2010, p. 9.

Marston and Shevellar, p. 9.

Wilson, p. 57.

Wilson, p. 59.

Marston and Shevellar, p. 6.

Marston and Shevellar, p. 5.

CALC noted that because the study was undertaken online, some of the most vulnerable may have been excluded, and therefore there may have been some distortion in results. Gillam, p. 54.

Gillam, p. 53.

Policis, 'The Dynamics of Low Income Credit Use', undated, p. 29.

Cash Stop Financial Services, 'Response to the National Credit Reform Green Paper', 2010, p. 10.

National Legal Aid, 'Green Paper on National Credit Reform, NLA Response', 2010, p.23.

Cash Converters 2010, p. 7.

Cash Converters 2010, p. 6.

Published by Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne.

Income is required to meet the cost of housing. Note that the level varies according to family type and circumstances (for example, according to the number of children or employment status).

Wilson, p. 57.

In America a consumer often borrows by receiving an amount to be repaid either by cash, or, should this not occur, by the lender presenting a post-dated cheque. Borrowers are therefore required to have a cheque account, and, as many lower income households in the USA do not have checking accounts this prevents them from obtaining payday loans (and results in them using alternative sources of finance, such as pawnbrokers).See E Lawrence and G Ellihausen, 'A Comparative Analysis of Payday Loan Customers', Contemporary Economic Policy, Vol 26, No. 2, 2008, p. 305.

The survey includes a random sample of approximately 4400 families, and is widely used by government and economic research centres.

A. Logan and C. Weller for Centre for American Progress, 'Who Borrows From Payday Lenders? An Analysis of Newly Available Data', 2009, p. 7.

Logan and Weller, p. 8-9.

Logan and Weller, p. 6.

Smiles Turner is registered on the WA register of lobbyists on behalf of Cash Stop.

Min-it Software produces in-house software specifically for payday and micro-lenders.

Min-it Software and Financiers Association of Australia, 'Submission, Green Paper, National Credit Reform, 2010, p. 11. Additional factors are being new to a country or area, disenchantment with mainstream lenders, and locality.

Cash Converters, 2010, Appendix Two.

Marston and Shevellar, p. 6.

Gillam, pp. 64 and 231.

Gillam, p. 59.

Wilson, p. 36.

Policis, p. 8.

Cash Converters, 'Position Paper, Response to the Federal Government's Green Paper on Financial Services and Credit Reform, 2008', p. 10.

Cash Stop Financial Services, p. 11.

South Australian Centre for Economic Studies, 2010, p. 38.

South Australian Centre for Economic Studies, 2010, p. 33 - 34.

South Australian Legislative Council Reading Speech, Consumer Credit (South Australia) (Payday Lending) Amendment Bill, 8 April 2009, p. 1936

P. Jones, 'Access to Credit on a Low Income: A study into how people on low incomes in Liverpool access and use consumer credit', p. 9.

R. Berthoud and E. Kempson, 'Credit and Debt: The PSI Report', Policy Studies Institute: London. 1992, quoted in Wilson, p. 36.

Logan and Weller, p. 11.

Gillam, pp. 73-4.

Gillam, p. 221.

Submission to the Green Paper by the Financiers Association of Australia, p. 11.

Policis, p. 25.

Sampford, 13.

Gillam, p. 65.

Gillam, p. 66.

Office of Fair Trading Britain, 'Review of High Cost Credit, Final Report', 2010, p. 29. See also Consumer Focus, 9: 'Some consumers are positively choosing this form of credit as a result of deficiencies in the mainstream: They see payday loan fees as clearer ... they feel more able to 'control' their debt ... and other forms of finance are often not considered or seen as an option because they were not available to these consumers or negative associations, such as the potential for longer-term debt'.

Competition Commission Britain, Home Credit Market Inquiry, Provisional Findings Report at 7.17.

M. Flannery and L Samolyk, 'Payday Lending: Do the Costs Justify the Price?', Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Working Paper No. 2005-09 in Ashton, p.10.

Drysdale and Keest, p. 630-1.

Thinkwell Research, for the Canadian Payday Loan Association 'Payday Loan Customer Study: Final Report', 2010, p. 9.

Gillam, p.72.

Wilson, p. 75.

Gillam, p. 26.

Note that some datasets will hide repeat borrowing because a consumer can take out a new loan rather than 'rolling over' an old loan, may use multiple lenders for multiple loans or a new lender to pay out a loan from an existing lender.

Gillam, p. 264.

Wilson, p. 65.

Gillam, p. 69. As previously mentioned in relation to the CALC survey, concerns have been expressed the results were skewed by the online format of the survey (ensuring that responses only come from people with internet access and capabilities).

Policis, p. 41.

Marston and Shevellar, p. 6.

J. Caskey, for Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, 'Payday Lending: New Research and the Big Question', Working Paper NO. 10-32, 2010, p. 4.

J Caskey, p. 5.

M. Flannery and K. Samolyk, 'Payday Lending: Do the Costs Justify the Price?', Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Working Paper No. 2005-09, p. 2.

Flannery and Samolyk, p. 5.

Skiba and Tobacman, p. 23.

Market Intelligence Strategy Centre (MISC) Australia for Consumer Affairs Victoria, 'Consumer Credit Report', 2006, p. 51.

MISC, p. 51.

Cash Converters, 'Response to the Commonwealth Government Green Paper on Consumer Credit Reform - Phase 2', 2010, p. 5.

National Financial Service Federation, 'Submission to Financial Services and Credit Reform Green Paper', 2008, p. 2.

Z. Gillam and Consumer Action Law Centre, 'Payday Loans, Helping Hand or Quicksand', 2010, p. 10.

Gillam, p. 11.

Gillam, p. 90.

D. Wilson for Consumer Law Centre Victoria, 'Payday Lending in Victoria - A research report', 2002, p. 29.

Gillam, p.124.

P. Skiba and J. Tobacman, 'Do Payday Loans Cause Bankruptcy', 2009, p. 2.

Consumer Focus, 'Keeping the Plates Spinning: Perceptions of Payday Loans in Britain', 2010, p. 12.

Cash Convertors 2010, p. 3.

Cash Converters 2010, p. 5.

Cash Converters 2010, p. 5.

Cash Converters International Limited, Financial Report Half-Year End December 31 2010.

The Cash Store Australia, p. 6.

http://www.cityfinance.com.au/franchise-news.

Money 3, 'Report to AGM' 2010, http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20101112/pdf/31tvmpnvw0bbt6.pdf.

National Credit Code, Section 17 requires that a credit contract must specify the annual percentage rate (APR) that is used to calculate the interest payable under that contract. As it is the rate that is required to be disclosed it is most often the rate that is used to compare costs of different loan products. It has limitations in the context of short term loans, with industry participants arguing that it has the potential to be misleading. Other methods of calculating charges include calculating the total charge as a percentage of the amount lent, or simply providing the cost in dollar terms. The analysis of costs uses a mixture of these approaches (largely because it is reliant on the calculation methodologies used in the research that it references).

Data extracted from Howell, p. 41- 48.

Gillam, p. 286.

MISC, p. 75. Note that these figures relate to loans provided by 'subsidiary micro-credit providers' and include 'micro-credit products and services that are provided by non-mainstream for profit lenders. This includes payday lenders, payday loans; loans against goods, unsecured personal loans, short-term loans, small consumer loans and title loans'.

Cash Converters 2010, p. 10.

The larger retail outlets are not marketed to low-income consumers to the same extent, with the major operations offering consumers a choice between credit contracts and leases.

See Unconscionable Conduct and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Consumers Research Report, by Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network Ltd.

Gillam, p. 264.

Julia Farr Association, 2010, Submission to the Social Inclusion Board.

Australian Consumer Survey, June 2011, pp. 11 and 26.

Assumptions: daily compounding interest, payment via direct debit. When a loan is paid late, it is paid 30 days late, one direct debit default occurs, one loan reschedule occurs. Default interest is calculated on the principle amount.

Default interest rate is calculated on the amount borrowed, not the fees upon default. The interest is compounded daily.

Connolly, C., Georgouras, M., Hems, L. and Wolfson, L., Measuring Financial Exclusion in Australia, Centre for Social Impact - University of NSW, 2011, for the National Australia Bank, pp. 8 and 27.

Australian Social Inclusion Board, Social Inclusion in Australia How Australia is faring, January 2010, p. 1.

Ibid.

Reference Group on Welfare Reform, Participation Support for a More Equitable Society, Final Report, FaCS, Canberra, 2000.

Stringer, A., CRC Justice Support, Women Inside in Debt, the Prison and Debt Project, Broadway, Sydney, 2000, 10. The project used a combination of research techniques, including a survey by questionnaire of 121 prisoners and 4 follow up interviews, plus focus groups and unstructured interviews with key stakeholders.

Western Australian Council of Social Service Inc, ER Factsheet #5.

Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Community Development Finance Institutions (CDIs) Scoping Study, Chapter 1: The Nature of Financial Exclusion, 2009.

Fast Access Finance, 'Response to National Credit Reform Green Paper' 2010, p. 14.

Min-it Software, p. 17.

Cash Converters, 2010, p.10.

NAB Loans Pilot, Foreword. Note that there are likely to be cost differences for a major ADI lender conducting a specialist pilot program with sophisticated record keeping and lending protocols and smaller or single person lending businesses conducted from suburban shop fronts.

Note that not all applicants were successful in accessing the loans.

NAB, p. 12.

NAB, p. 4.

NAB, p. 13.

NAB, p. 13.

$22.07 unweighted.

Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Services Ontario 'The Cost of Providing Payday Loans in Ontario' 2009, p. 2.

Cash Converters 2010, p. 16.

Department of Trade and Industry, Reform of the Law on Consumer Credit, 1973, quoted in Office of Fair Trading, 'Report of the Review on High Cost Credit' Annexe B - Price Controls, 2010, p. 28.

Min-it Software, p. 17.

iff/ZEW (2010): Study on interest rate restrictions in the EU, Final Report for the EU Commission DG Internal Market and Services , Project No. ETD/2009/IM/H3/87, Brussels/Hamburg/Mannheim, XIII.

Howell, p. 86.

M Whittaker, 'South Africa's National Credit Act: A Possible Model for the Proper Role of Interest Rate Ceilings for Microfinance', 28 NW. J. INT'L L. & BUS. 561, p. 573.

National Legal Aid Submission.

Joint Media Release, Prime Minister and Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, ' Financial measures to support struggling Australians', 15 October 2009.

TNS Social Research, 2010, Breaking the Cycles of Disadvantage, p. 50.

European Commission, 'Consultation Document on the EU Study on Interest Rate Restrictions in the EU', Brussels, 25 January 2011.

Department of Defense, 'Report to Congress on Predatory Lending Practices Directed at Members of the Armed Forces and Their Dependents', 2006, p. 9.

Office of Fair Trading, High Cost Consumer Credit (Emerging Evidence from the Review), 2009 16 - 17.

Office of Fair Trading, Press Release, http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/credit/review-high-cost-consumer-credit/.

Office of Fair Trading, Annexe B, p. 45 - 46 summarises the concerns that were provided to them in submission. They included that the research does not fulfil the basic tenets of social research such as the need to contribute to knowledge in a reliable, and transparent way; the report contains methodological and analytical problems and makes statements and conclusions that are not supported by the data provided; provides inadequate sourcing of evidence; fails to define key terms used in the surveys; makes unjustified assumptions; fails to utilise relevant data from the countries it purported to assess (for instance public collected statistical information); comes to erroneous conclusions about cause and effect (for instance it fails to recognise that the lack of credit product diversity in Germany is due to German banks monopoly on cash credit rather than interest rate caps). See also U Heifner, IFF 'Comments on the DTI Study The effect of interest rate controls in other countries - Germany, France and US, Hamburg 2004'.

www.independent.co.uk/money/loans-credit/simon-read-the-battle-to-beat-legal-loan-sharks-hits-westminster-2126538.html.

http://www.moneyhelp.org.au/Housing-costs/Energy-and-water-bills.html accessed 10/02/2011.

http://www.energy.wa.gov.au/2/3265/64/financial_hardship_assistance.pm accessed 10/02/2011.

http://www.acat.act.gov.au/category.php?id=3.

http://www.industry.nsw.gov.au/energy/customers/questions-electricity-gas-prices accessed 10/02/2011.