The High Court won’t hear an appeal by payday loan providers Cigna and BHF seeking to challenge a Full Court judgment that found they can’t dodge the obligations contained in the National Credit Code through their lending model.
Payday lenders BHF Solutions and Cigno are fighting ASIC’s bid for an injunction barring them from breaching consumer credit laws, with BHF claiming it should not be exposed to contempt.
The corporate regulator will challenge a bid by payday lenders Cigno and BHF to stay its case pending their appeal to the High Court.
Payday lenders Cigno and BHF have filed High Court challenges to a judgment which found they could not bypass lender obligations contained in the Credit Code, warning the judgment could subject buy now, pay later schemes to the Code.
ASIC has won an appeal of a judge’s decision that found Gold Coast-based payday lenders Cigno and BHF did not need a licence to issue loans to hundreds of thousands of consumers.
Collapsed NSW training company Australian Institute of Professional Education has been slugged with a $153 million penalty, the highest ever fine in a consumer law case, after the Federal Court found the school targeted vulnerable students through an “unconscionable” enrolment system.