News

Response to Article ‘Cash-Strapped Suburb of Debt’ Frankston Standard / Hastings Leader, 14 September 2009

Responsible lending is the key to lessening financial distress, says Peninsula Community Legal Centre, an organisation that provides free legal services in Melbourne’s outer south eastern suburbs and adjoining rural areas.

Chief Executive Officer, Helen Constas, says:

“We are concerned to hear that, as a result of Dun & Bradstreet’s recent geographic consumer credit risk study, suburbs such as Frankston North are being labelled as “high risk” for loan defaults.

In any one geographical area, potential borrowers and borrowers have a multitude of varying circumstances. Appropriate lending based on assets, liabilities and capacity to re-pay are the only genuine indicators that lenders should consider in determining whether or not a loan should be offered. We hope that geography won’t become a lending criterion in the future.

As an organisation assisting disadvantaged clients with a range of legal issues, including credit and debt, we commonly see the human – as well as economic – cost of unscrupulous lending practices.”

For more information about free legal services, please contact Peninsula Community Legal Centre on (03) 9783 3600 or visit www.pclc.org.au.

END.

16 September 2009

Contact: ANDREA FLORANCE MANAGER – VOLUNTEER & EDUCATION PROGRAMS PENINSULA COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTRE INC. Tel: (03) 9783 3600 Extension 34