Credit ratings can cause bank abuse and be incorrect as the GFC revealed. We might ask “why is Equifax which was reportedly fined $3.5m for deceptive and unconscionable conduct allowed to continue trading after charging consumers illegally for their own credit record?”.
Surely the federal and state governments should not be making small fortunes in fines by allowing dishonest behaviour in the finance industry as it has for years. Instead it should be cancelling the licences to operate so that the dishonest operators are removed from the industry. The fines are chicken feed compared to the profits they are dishonestly making out of consumers. Borrowers ultimately pay people like Equifax, because the credit agencies charge lenders and the lenders include those costs in the charge to borrowers.
Given the dishonest behaviour by governments and the finance industry, the best thing borrowers can do is reduce their reliance on debt which mortgages their future, that few can know in advance.
Borrowers being hassled by banks can obtain assistance from financial counsellors who receive funding from the government and at least one bank or from one of the many independent loan consultants like GBAC that reckons borrowers may earn in debt write downs about 10 times what they invest in having GBAC take on the bank for them. That is a 1,000% return on investment. It is hard to get that from farming.
Review and analyse the debt situation that has existed since the debt was first taken out