Lender fined for false advertising
Online small amount lender Ferratum Australia Pty Ltd has paid an infringement notice penalty of $10,200 to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for misleading or false advertising.
The fine comes as ASIC found Ferratum advertised a 'free $100 loan’ on its website, television advertisements, automatic teller machine screens and in Google text and display advertisements between May and July this year.
ASIC stated this was misleading as transaction fees applied to the first $100 of the loan.
The regulatory good practice guide for advertising financial products and services, including credit, states that the word 'free’ should not be used where there is any charge to use a product.
“Advertisements that draw consumers in by using terms like 'free’ should not have set-up or transaction fees hidden in the fine print,” ASIC deputy chairman Peter Kell said.
Ferratum has refunded all transaction fees by clients who took the loan of $100 during the free loan promotion.
Paying the infringement notice penalty is not an admission of a breach of the ASIC Act consumer protection provisions, according to ASIC.
ASIC can hand out penalties if it has reasonable grounds to believe someone has breached certain consumer protection laws.
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