Hi Galba As a long term shareholder of both CCV and FSA I am in...

Hi Galba

As a long term shareholder of both CCV and FSA I am in a position to respond.


The Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) is responsible for regulating entities like FSA who are authorised to act as administrators of debt agreements. The following paragraph from the AFSA 2013-14 annual report should allay any concerns that you might have. This regulator is doing their job very well.

COMPLAINTS AGAINST DEBT AGREEMENT ADMINISTRATORS

Of the 24 complaints made against debt agreement administrators (50 in 2012–13), 14 required investigation. The number of complaints shows a significant decrease on 2012–13 figures, and the number requiring investigation decreased proportionally (22 in 2012–13). The significant reduction in complaints received may be attributed to improved practices by practitioners in dealing with potential areas of concern at the source, which in turn prevented issues from being escalated to the regulator to guide resolution.

In 2013–14, 9 of the complaints (4 in 2012–13) were found to be justified. Justified complaints centred on issues such as:

1. information and communication—44% (50% in 2012–13)
2. creditors’ claims and dividends—22% (50% in 2012–13).

In relation to personal lending, FSA has recently started lending for car loans. From memory, they were proposing to charge a 15 per cent annual interest rate. I recently closed an unsecured line of credit with Citibank, the rate was over 20 per cent. The average credit card is over 15 per cent.