Be aware the following information relates to consumer transactions that occurred before 1 January 2011.  For information relating to transactions made after 1 January 2011 please refer to the Australian Consumer Law.

A business person may try to use harassment or coercion to try and force a consumer to purchase goods or services or to obtain payment.  Harassment and coercion for either of these reasons is an offence.

Several types of behaviour are considered to be examples of undue harassment or coercion.  These examples are not an exhaustive list but merely set out some of the well known tactics that creditors and their agencies have used.

The use of certain types of documents is prohibited.  A person may not present a consumer with documents which are likely to mislead them.  This may include documents which appear to have been issued by a court or some other official organisation, but in reality are not official documents.  Commonly, such documents may be used in relation to a debt, telling the person what will happen if they do not pay the debt.  It is also and offence to serve a summons which has not been issued by a court.

If, however, the documents had been issued officially, presenting them to you would not be an offence.

A person may not use a letterhead which could deceive someone.  This includes someone who is not a solicitor or an amployee of a solicitor sending someone letters on paper which had the letterhead of a (real or non-existent) law firm.  It also applies to people who are not debt collectors sending letters on a (real or non-existent) debt collector's letterhead.

It is an offence for a person to give a consumer false information about what would happen if they did not pay a debt.  It is also an offence to give out, or even threaten to give out, information about someone's debts to people who do not have a legitimate interest in such information.  For example, a debt collector could not threaten to tell a person's workmates about their debt, unless these people had some legal interest in the financial affairs of the person.

A person may not intimidate someone into doing business with them or paying debts by impersonating bailiffs or police.  Likewise it is an offence to carry or threaten someone with dangerous weapons.

It is an offence for someone to communicate with another in an unreasonable manner in order to secure their business or money.  What is unreasonable would depend on the situation, however verbal abuse is likely to be considered unreasonable in most cases.  Over-frequent requests for payment or patronage are also likely to be considered unreasonable.

It is also illegal to harass people associated with a debtor, to try and force a debtor to do something.  For example, a debt collector may not harass a debtor's family in order to force them to pay a debt.  This type of behaviour is illegal and is also considered harassment.