Thirty Two Questions and Supporting Evidence    Submission Letter to Royal Commission April-2018   Defined Terms & Documents  

Will the Royal Commission recommend that the Governor of the Reserve Bank draw upon its existing powers to replace the debt 'lure' of an Interest Free Period with a -

*        Concessional Interest Rate Period; and

*        Purchase Usage Fee,

for making each Purchase with a Credit Card 'so that each user pays' for the benefits of their Revolving Line/s of Credit?

Because the Merchant is funded within 24 hours by the Credit Card Issuer, but the Cardholder does not pay for each Purchase or Cash Advance for up to 55 days later?

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Supporting Documented Evidence re 4th Question

1.       Unconscionable Credit Card Interest Charging notes that -

 (A)      when Credit Cards were first launched in Australia in the 1970s, interest was charged only on any unpaid part of the Closing Balance after the Payment Due Date.  Over time, more and more 'cute' Credit Card Issuers began changing the 'fine print' in their Conditions of Use, until nearly all Credit Card Issuers charged interest on all Purchases from the date of each Purchase if the Credit Cardholder did not pay the entire Closing Balance by the Payment Due Date; and

 (B)      then some Credit Card Issuers started cancelling the Interest Free Period for the subsequent month or two months.

 These punitive interest cost measures were targeted for 20 years circa at Financially Uneducated And Vulnerable  Credit Cardholder with poor Financial Literacy Capacity that may experience Extreme Financial And Emotional Distress.

2.       Former Qld Premier, and now Australian Bankers Association chief executive, Anna Bligh, has been chartered with lifting the credibility of 'inter alia' Credit Card Issuers, after her predecessors, David Bell and the long running, Steven Münchenberg, facilitated bank greed involving Unconscionable Conduct.  

 ABC News article, Banks revamp code of practice in face of scandals, royal commission -

 (A).      informs that the current CEO of the ABA, Anna Bligh, announced in late Dec 2017 that the ABA had just lodged a 'Banking Code of Practice' with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for approval; and

 (B).      lists several changes that will be legally binding on all 'member banks' of the ABA which includes:

                    "Customers only paying interest on what remains on a credit card and not the full amount of purchase if a loan is being paid down."

 The fact that the ABA has made it mandatory in its recently lodged 'Banking Code of Practice' that its members charge interest on only any unpaid portion of the Closing Balance after the Payment Due Date is patent evidence that the previous long-running practice (explained above) was Unconscionable Conduct targeted at Credit Cardholder with poor Financial Literacy Capacity.

 

 

 Hence, the ABA has ruled it mandatory that its members desist (A) above.  The Writer has validated that St. George Bank has so ceased this practice because the St. George Credit Cardholder referred to in Example 1 of Labyrinth of ‘Concealed Spiders’ checked with St. George Bank.

 

 

 (B) above has to be similarly eradicated because it is a 'penalty' more generally suffered by Financially Uneducated And Vulnerable  Credit Cardholders which is unlawful, as well as being discriminatory.

 

 In Aug 2005, then chief executive of the Australian Bankers' Association, David Bell, denied the fees were penalties, and said customers could avoid them. "We always act ethically and in a law-abiding fashion," he said.  Mr. Bell said: "There are many ways of checking the state of your account - ATM balance enquiries, telephone banking, the internet, asking at your branch and bank statements."  The bankers' association has resisted calls for an inquiry into fee income.  Mr. Bell said banks' costings were commercially sensitive and "every business in Australia has the right to keep certain information private".  If David Bell and his successor, Steve Münchenberg, were not so adept about prosecuting their employer's albeit flawed case, the incumbent, CEO, Anna Bligh, would not have such an onerous job to restore public confidence.