Credit card offers in ASIC sights

Credit cards, payday lenders, high-interest mortgages and lenders operating outside the new system of credit licensing are three areas ASIC may prioritise for enforcement action, the Financial Review reported.

In an interview, ASIC senior executive, Greg Kirk, told the newspaper that some consumers already in financial distress were being offered home loans with fees of more than $20,000, and "we expect to have a big impact there."

He also queried the "large-scale and highly automated" practices of banks in generating credit card offers and offers of increased credit limits, and which lacked interaction by the lender with the target customer.