Steps To Avoid Getting Into Serious Debt
Payday lenders are evil. That's the important message from new initiative, Watch Your Nuts, aiming to change the attitude towards Fast Loans (Fast Loan Lenders/‘Payday lenders') and ensure the audience they target and the broader public are informed and can talk about the problem of fast lenders.
The movement highlights the worrying trend of loan advertisers preying on the vulnerable, typified in beer and gambling ads. These campaigns target an audience who can’t afford the lifestyle choices they’re making, hence the desire to secure a loan, quickly.
Research by CALC found that two in five customers who entered into a payday loan were unemployed whilst Digital Finance Analytics estimated that these same borrowers took out an average of 3.64 payday loans in 2015. A 2015 ASIC report into the industry also raised serious concerns about non-compliance. The report found weaknesses in process, documentation and record keeping, including how lenders inquire into a consumer’s objectives and needs before advancing a loan.
Watch Your Nuts, supported by the Consumer Action Law Centre and the Financial Rights Legal Centre, suggest some handy tips to cash in and avoid getting caught up in serious debt:
- Chase up your tight-arse mate/s for all that beer money they owe you
- Become a competitive eater with a crazy popular YouTube account
- Sell some of your stuff on eBay or Gumtree. (After all, the average household has $5,400 worth of unwanted stuff lying around! Who knew?)
- Buy second hand from eBay or Gumtree
- Take in a boarder, or rent out a room on AirBnB
- See if your folks can spot you for a bit. Go on, ask nicely
- Help Beryl around the corner with her gardening, or earn $$$ through AirTasker
- Borrow whatever you actually want to buy from a mate
- Shop around for cheaper gas, electricity, insurance, broadband etc. Switching might just save your nuts
- Request a bill extension from your utility provider
- Ask your employer for an advance on your wages
- Actually squirrel away your savings and save up for it
- There's nothing cute about fast loans. So do 'Anything Else', seriously, anything else, apart from getting a fast loan (aka payday loan, aka 'small' loan) before you find yourself calling the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007
