Urban Rampage: Financial advocates say no guardrails on transactions up to $1000

A coalition of financial advocates allege a remote clothing retailer with four NT outlets does no due diligence on transactions of up to $1000 for Centrelink recipients, a claim denied by the company.

Urban Rampage Tennant Creek. Picture: Facebook

A coalition of financial advocates allege a remote clothing retailer that recently had its ability to sell on credit to customers in receipt of Centrelink payments suspended does no due diligence before processing transactions of up to $1000.

The coalition, which includes the Financial Rights Legal Centre’s Mob Strong Debt Help, Anglicare NT and CatholicCare NT, claim that Urban Rampage, which has outlets at Nhulunbuy, Katherine, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek, has little to no guardrails to ensure First Nations customers who buy on credit, using Centrepay, can actually afford the goods.

Centrepay is a free budget management service offered to Centrelink recipients that allows for interest-free repayments for necessities such as basic household goods and medical fees to be deducted prior to the receipt of government benefits.

Urban Rampage Katherine. Picture: Google Street View

Last month, Urban Rampage’s parent company, Coral Coast Distributors (Cairns) Pty Ltd, had its Centrepay registration suspended by corporate regulator ASIC amid concerns the arrangement was “inherently unsuitable” for its target market, described as being “low income recipients of Centrelink benefits, residing in remote Indigenous communities”.

In a statement, the coalition of advocates alleged that Mob Strong staff had witnessed First Nations customers being encouraged to “buy large amounts of low value, high priced goods in Urban Rampage stores, to a targeted dollar amount”.

The coalition said that as a result, First Nations people were left seeking “emergency relief and engaging with financial counsellors for assistance”.

Bettina Cooper, Mob Strong Debt Help financial counsellor and strategy lead. Picture: Danielle Chloe Lynar/ 1oh1media

“Mob Strong have been informed that Urban Rampage provides First Nations customers on Centrelink payments with up to $1,000 of credit through Centrepay, and state that repayment of credit is required over five set payments.

“We observed no evidence of due diligence to check the payments were affordable for the First Nations customers being sold goods.”

Bettina Cooper, a Mob Strong financial counsellor and strategy lead, claimed that Urban Rampage was signing up customers to Centrepay plans, sometimes prior to picking out items, with customers asked to nominate an amount they would like to spend.

She revealed that Mob Strong attended a Territory Urban Rampage outlet last year and used mystery shoppers to form the basis of the allegations made by the coalition of advocates.

A customer of Urban Rampage Tennant Creek signing a petition to bring back Centrepay at the store. Picture: Facebook

An Urban Rampage spokesman denied the claims levelled at it by the coalition.

The business does not allow upselling of goods, only progressively scales up customers’ Centrepay limits, from $300 on the first transaction up to $1000 on the fifth, thereby acting as a “responsible lender,” and cancels unsustainable debts when contacted by customers, he said.

He said the coalition of advocates was acting in a “self-serving [and] media-oriented” manner to “justify jobs for NGO [non-government organisation] staffers” rather than listening to First Nations people.

Urban Rampage says more than 730 shoppers have signed a petition across its network of 10 stores calling for the return of the business’ Centrepay facilities.

“Do we not believe them? Do they not have a voice?” the spokesman said.

“Or do we take the word of salaried NGO bureaucrats and the professional social services class over the real experience of First Nations people in remote communities?”