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Consumer demands
1. That Avco adopt more responsible and fair sales practices, including:
- providing clear and accessible information about annual percentage rates charged;
- providing a statement of the interest rate or range of interest rates at which Avco is prepared to provide credit when it sends out a “pre-approved” loan offer;
- providing consumers with copies of loan contracts a reasonable time before they are required to sign them;
- ensuring its lending guidelines are responsible and are based on the consumer’s capacity to pay and not whether loans are secured by the consumer’s goods and home.
- ensuring that consumers understand that nature of the insurance they are purchasing, and to ensure that consumers are sold insurance which is appropriate to their needs. These procedures should include a requirement that the salesperson complete a “needs analysis”.
- providing consumers with calculations showing the comparative costs of refinancing an existing Avco contract, compared with the cost of having two loans running concurrently;
- providing consumers with calculations showing the interest payable to Avco where an existing credit contract with a third party is consolidated compared with the amount payable under that contract to the third party.
- ensuring that its conduct in collecting debts does not frighten, intimidate or harass consumers.
2. That regulatory bodies investigate the practices of Avco and in particular the selling of insurance products and the level of interest rates charged.
3. That Avco report penetration rates on the sale of insurance policies to the Ministers for Consumer Affairs.
4. That the General Insurance Claims Review Panel should be given jurisdiction to hear complaints in respect of the unfair or forced sale of consumer credit insurance policies.
5. That Avco become a member of an alternative dispute resolution scheme. |
