Following concerns raised with the watchdog from licensees claiming that including certain credit information in the credit reports of victim-survivors of family violence (such as financial hardship information) could place those consumers at risk of further harm, ASIC has implemented a policy with increased flexibility in order to protect vulnerable consumers.
ASIC has adopted a temporary no-action position to enable large banks (“eligible licensees”) to withhold the reporting of certain credit information on consumer credit reports, in cases where disclosing the information could lead to consumer harm.
[Ed: Does this mean male perpetrators claiming to be victims will be able to ensure information about their true joint financial situation is withheld from their spouse? Will this assist perpetrators drawing down equity in a jointly owned asset without the knowledge of their victim? Will this more often assist female victims or male perpetrators who more typically make the repayments on the mortgage account while their female partner covers household expenses? Yet another example of why DV provisions must use sex specific language to ensure it is not being systematically weaponised against women by perpetrators].
Source: ASIC move to protect victims of family violence welcomed by lawyers – Lawyers Weekly