On 31 July 2017 Malouf Group Enterprises (“MGE”) and Mr Malouf filed a 5 page response to ASIC’s concise statement.
What does MGE deny saying?
MGE denies engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct and (at par 15) has specifically denied saying to customers that:
a) MGE could determine whether negative listings had been correctly listed on a consumers credit file;
b) after receiving the consumer’s application, MGE would obtain the consumer’s credit report to establish whether the consumer’s credit file could be repaired;
c) before approving a consumer’s application, MGE would establish whether credit providers had failed to correctly follow relevant procedures prior to making a negative listing on a consumer’s credit file;
d) MGE would only approve a consumer’s application if it established that the credit file could be repaired;
e) MGE’s fees would only be payable if it established that negative listings could be removed; or
f) after accepting a consumer, MGE itself would act on behalf of the consumer in dealing with third parties to remove incorrect negative listings from the credit file.
So what DID MGE do for their $1,095 fee?
MGE has agreed (at par.8) that the services they provided consisted of MGE providing the consumer with
• a copy of the consumer’s credit report; and
• written instruction about, among other things, how to seek to repair their credit file.
MGE, it seems, was not required itself to act on behalf of the consumer in dealing with third parties.
MGE says that its customers knew what MGE would and would not do for them and so were not misled or deceived.
