Urban Rampage: NT clothing retailer rails against ASIC as ban on Centrepay credit continues

The Darwin lawyer representing an NT clothing retailer that had its credit provision facility suspended, amid concerns its remote clients can’t afford it, claims his “mum and dad” client has been treated unfairly.

Urban Rampage Tennant Creek. Picture: Facebook

Northern Territory clothing retailer Urban Rampage, which services remote, predominantly Indigenous clientele, is railing against corporate regulator ASIC after a ban on the business providing credit to customers was continued on an interim basis.

Coral Coast Distributors (Cairns) Pty Ltd, which operates ten Urban Rampage outlets at locations including Gove, Tennant Creek, Katherine and Alice Springs, first suspended the company’s Centrepay registration on February 29.

At the conclusion of a hearing on March 15, the ban was continued until ASIC makes a decision “in due course” as to whether it will convert the interim order into a permanent one or restore Urban Rampage’s credit facilities, which are delivered via Centrepay.

Centrepay allows customers to pay for goods and services from registered businesses with the debt to be repaid via regular deductions from Centrelink payments.

In a statement on Tuesday, Urban Rampage railed against the ongoing ASIC action, saying it had not failed a Centrepay audit since its registration in 2016.

“Centrepay helps to level the playing field by offering a form of credit that is fair and accessible,” it said.

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

“It does not prey on the financially vulnerable; instead, it provides a no-interest, flexible payment option that is sensitive to the financial ebbs and flows characteristic of life in remote areas.

“By unilaterally halting a service that has proven to provide a manageable form of credit, it potentially sets these communities back, cutting off the flow of goods and stifling the economic empowerment of individuals.”

According to the company, as at March 15, 773 Urban Rampage customers had signed a petition urging a return of Centrepay facilities, and 83 had formally complained.

A Tennant Creek customer, cited in Urban Rampage’s statement, said the suspension was “very unfair for the people like us who are living in a remote area where there is very limited access.”

Ward Keller principal Leon Loganathan, who is representing the company, said ASIC’s action against his client was “paternalistic and offensive to the vast majority of First Nations customers who have had no problems and rely on this service”.

“Click and pay for whites, and no credit for black fellas is how ASIC’s … order is being viewed by First Nations people in remote communities,” he said.

“It’s a disaster.”

Leon Loganathan, partner at Ward Keller. Picture: Supplied

Mr Loganathan said his client, a “mum and dad business” had been swept up by 2021 amendments to the Corporations Act that were “really aimed at the big end of town [and is some of the] most complex legislation you have ever set your eyes on”.

The amendment held that providers of financial products, such as Centrepay, must file a Target Market Determination (TMD) that lists how the “likely objectives, financial situation, and needs [of the customer] are met by the financial product on offer”.

ASIC alleges Urban Rampage’s TMD was deficient, featuring an absence of information as to how the “financial capacity of consumers is to be determined”.

“We are concerned such arrangements are causing vulnerable consumers serious financial harm,” ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said.