Leasing company fails to meet responsible lending obligations

Consumer leasing company Amazing Rentals will stop operating in Darwin for a minimum of 12 months and will terminate all leases entered into after October 2011, after it was found to have acted unconscionably and to have failed to comply with its responsible lending obligations.

The company, which has stores in Darwin, Toowoomba and Caboolture, has given the Australian Securities and Investments Commission an enforceable undertaking to improve its compliance.

ASIC found that most of the customers of the Darwin store received government benefits as their only source of income. Many of them were Aborigines living in remote areas and English was not the first language for many of them.

The company arranged leases for customers it knew could not afford the repayments.

ASIC found that few of the Darwin store's customers understood the contract they were signing.