The Federal Court has ordered A&M Group Pty Ltd, which trades as Debt Negotiators, pay a penalty of $650,000 after finding that it engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and in undue harassment or coercion against debtors who had missed payments under their debt agreements.
A&M Group is a debt agreement administrator who collects payments from debtors to distribute to creditors.
ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said ‘A&M Group’s treatment of consumers who may have fallen behind on the repayments of their debt agreement was unacceptable. Threats that included that a consumer could be imprisoned or that they would contact the consumer’s family or work colleagues unless the debt was paid should never be made. ASIC was determined to take this case to court to show that this conduct was predatory and in breach of the law’.
ASIC alleged, and A&M Group admitted, that it sent text messages, emails and made telephone calls to six separate debtors where it made statements that were untrue, including that:
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