One of the country’s biggest private debt-collection firms was warned by regulators to “immediately cease” operating in Victoria just weeks before it struck deals to buy debt from major energy and telco companies, a Guardian Australia investigation has found.
Panthera Finance Pty Ltd, the nation’s biggest privately owned debt collector, is blacklisted from operating in Victoria due to a 2020 federal court ruling that it had unduly harassed three consumers for money they did not owe.
But Guardian Australia can reveal the blacklisted entity, Panthera Finance, has continued to make major purchases of debt despite the ban.
In some cases, it did so weeks after receiving a direct warning from the state’s regulator.
Panthera Finance has justified its business dealings by arguing that the entity it is using to collect the new debts, Panthera Finance (Vic) Pty Ltd, is a separate company not subject to the blacklisting.
Curiously, that entity shares a near-identical name with the blacklisted company, is owned by the same parent company, has the same principal place of business, staff numbers and directors, and uses a carbon copy website that appears to have been created as recently as last year. The entity only began using the name Panthera Finance (Vic) Pty Ltd in June 2022, about the same time as Panthera’s dealings with the regulator. It was called CDDS Pty Ltd for about 15 years before that.
The arrangement has raised serious concerns, including from Financial Counselling Victoria, about a “significant gap” in consumer law.
Panthera Finance (Vic) has itself been criticised for how it collects debts in Victoria, including from a 10-year-old boy with autism for money he did not owe.
The regulator’s warning
In June 2022 Consumer Affairs Victoria wrote to Panthera Finance warning it to “immediately cease” any activity that would breach the Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act (ACLFTA).
“That includes engaging in debt collection or purchasing debt for collection as a prohibited person,” the regulator wrote, according to a letter dated 2 June 2022, seen by Guardian Australia.
“I reserve the right to investigate this matter and to take enforcement action, if Panthera Finance … have engaged, or continue to engage, in conduct in contravention of the ACLFTA.”
The regulator noted it was “a criminal offence” to “knowingly purchase, or accept an assignment of, a consumer debt from a creditor for the purpose of collecting that debt”.
Within weeks of receiving the regulator’s letter, Panthera Finance struck deals to purchase old, uncollected debt from Optus and Origin, the Guardian can reveal.
Origin said it was left oblivious to any prohibition on Panthera buying its unpaid debt before the 2022 deal.
“At no point prior to this debt sale did Panthera [Finance] Pty Ltd advise us of any changes to their ability to make debt purchases in Victoria as a result of the outcomes of the 2020 federal court decision against them,” a spokesperson said.
Despite issuing the formal warning almost two years ago, Consumer Affairs Victoria is yet to take any enforcement action. The Victorian government has instead contracted a company owned by the Panthera Finance Group, ARL Collect, to chase unpaid ambulance fees from patients of Ambulance Victoria.
The regulator told Guardian Australia it was investigating Panthera Finance’s conduct and that penalties for illegally engaging in debt collection included a $230,772 fine for a body corporate.
“Debt collectors must comply with Victoria’s debt-collection consumer protection laws and we encourage anyone with concerns to contact us,” a spokesperson said this year.
“Any potential breach of these laws is serious and Consumer Affairs Victoria will investigate and take action as warranted.”
Ten-year-old targeted
This year Panthera acknowledged that the separate entity – Panthera Finance (Vic) Pty Ltd, which was not subject to the federal court proceedings – was still collecting debts in Victoria. The company says the Victorian-named entity has operated since 2007 and uses its own credit licence number, which it has had since 2011, and that Victorian consumer law “does not apply any prohibition” on it.
But the behaviour of Panthera Finance (Vic) has itself raised questions.
Phone records obtained by Guardian Australia show that entity was responsible for chasing a 10-year-old boy with autism in Ballarat this year for a debt he did not owe.
The boy’s mother bought him a phone so he could feel safe and in contact with her after bullying at his school.
The Vodafone number began receiving a string of text messages from Panthera Finance (Vic) requesting payment for an Origin debt and offering him “settlement opportunities” to resolve the matter.
The boy deleted a number of the messages before bringing others to his mother’s attention.
“The messages were addressed to a person with another first name, but that can still be very distressing to a person with a disability, let alone a child,” said the boy’s mother, who asked for anonymity.
“My son came to me, confused and concerned, asking if the messages were intended for him.
“It was frustrating to say the least. I wanted my child to feel safer having a mobile phone, not more vulnerable. He was worried that Panthera would ‘take our money’.”
The mother said she had not contacted Panthera because she feared interacting with the company and giving it any more of her family’s details.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission guidelines on debt collection state that “reasonable steps” must be taken to ensure the person being contacted is the debtor. If the identity can’t be established with “sufficient certainty”, the ACCC rules say, then “all contact with that person should cease”.
The messages prompted mother and son to disconnect the phone because of how they made him feel.
“I am appalled at [Panthera’s] inability to know the difference between a [possible] customer and a young, special-needs child who already fears the world that he lives in,” the mother said.
A spokesperson said the company would never “knowingly” contact a child.
It is understood the messages were addressed to the past owner of the phone number, which had since been recycled and given to the 10-year-old.
‘Compliance measures in place’
The spokesperson also said Panthera Finance had voluntarily contacted the Victorian regulator in May 2022 to alert it to a potential problem with the licence it needs to engage in debt collection.
“As soon as Panthera Finance Pty Limited became aware of a possible licensing requirement under the act, we voluntarily contacted the regulator on 17 May 2022,” the spokesperson said.
“We cannot comment in relation to ongoing discussions with Consumer Affairs Victoria or divulge confidential information.”
The spokesperson said Panthera Finance (Vic) Pty Ltd was a “different company” from Panthera Finance Pty Ltd.
The Victorian-named entity was “not subject” to what the spokesperson described as a “possible licensing” issue with Panthera Finance Pty Ltd.
“It has never been the subject of any regulatory action,” the spokesperson said.
He said Panthera took its legal obligations seriously, worked proactively with regulators, and “has a range of compliance measures in place to ensure continued compliance with laws”.
Panthera Finance Pty Ltd sold $24.1m worth of debt to Pioneer Credit Limited, an ASX-listed firm. The debt involved 32,775 customers accounts, mostly made up of credit card and personal loan accounts from the Commonwealth Bank, which had a face value of $367m.
Asked whether any of the debts bought during the blacklisting period were on-sold to Pioneer, the spokesperson said: “Panthera Finance Pty Ltd is aware of and operates in accordance with laws governing its activities.”
The company had also received a massive capital injection from Brookfield, the Canadian investment giant, in 2022 to help it expand and refinance its existing debts.
The spokesperson said the 2020 federal court decision did not identify “systemic” issues and that the Panthera companies had since “made significant investments in further enhancing compliance measures”.
Have you been contacted by Panthera debt collectors? Contact christopher.knaus@theguardian.com
