Debt collection, repossession of goods and process serving – your rights
What to know if you’re approached by a commercial agent to collect a debt, repossess goods or serve legal documents.
Your rights
If you are approached by a commercial agent to collect a debt, repossess goods or serve you with legal documents, you have certain protections under Australian law.
Here are some of the things a commercial agent must and must not do.
Commercial agents must:
- hold a current licence when they contact you face-to-face and show you that licence on request
- provide evidence of the debt on request
- take all reasonable steps to resolve a complaint
- protect your personal information
- only contact you in person if they need to.
Commercial agents must not:
- enter a private dwelling without consent
- use, or threaten to use, physical force or violence
- use coercive, intimidating or unconscionable conduct
- misinform, mislead or deceive
- contact you outside of reasonable hours when carrying out debt collection
- contact you by a method that you have requested them not use when carrying out debt collection
- demand or collect payment for the cost of the commercial agent activity from a person who is the subject of that activity.
What commercial agents do
Commercial agents act on behalf of a client to:
- collect debts
- repossess goods
- serve legal documents (known as ‘process serving’).
Debt collection
Debt collection is finding a person who owes money and requesting, demanding or collecting money on behalf of the person or company the money is owed to.
For example, a bank may engage a commercial agent to retrieve an outstanding payment from one of its customers.
Repossession of goods
Repossession of goods is demanding or seizing goods held by an individual, on behalf of another person or company.
For example, if a person has not made payments on a car loan, the lender may engage a commercial agent to seize the car to recover the debt.
Process serving
Process serving is delivering legal documents to a person or company who is involved in a court case.
For example, a commercial agent may serve a court summons to an individual on behalf of a client.
What to expect
If a commercial agent contacts you for a legitimate reason, you can expect to be treated in a professional manner. You should also be respectful in return.
If a commercial agent breaches the commercial agent rules, you can make a complaint to NSW Fair Trading.
Making a complaint
Anyone can make a complaint about a commercial agent or their employer. You can do this anonymously and confidentially.
When making a complaint, you should include:
- details of the issues you are experiencing
- copies of any correspondence that shows how you have tried to resolve the matter.
How Fair Trading will handle your complaint
Your complaint will be reviewed to determine the most appropriate resolution. This may include:
- providing you with information to help resolve your complaint
- recording the complaint issues to assist in future compliance programs, or
- contacting the other party to try and resolve the dispute.
You can lodge a complaint:
Online
If you cannot resolve your matter, submit your complaint by using our form.
By mail
Post your complaint form and documentation to:
NSW Fair Trading
PO Box 972
Parramatta NSW 2124
Ask a question
If you are unable to find the information you need, you can call us between 8:30am to 5pm on Monday to Friday. You can also use our form to make an enquiry.