Mobiles Send Aussie Teens Bankrupt

NSW Fair Trading Minister Linda Burney has said a survey conducted by the Office of Fair Trading showed that three quarters of the teenage respondents were “not confident” about getting satisfaction from a premium mobile content provider over a high bill, and only half knew there was an external body where they could raise their concerns. Which is alarming in the context of “financial counselling services … reporting a rising rate of young people seeking to declare themselves bankrupt” as The Age reports. “They are having young people in their late teens, early 20s, suggesting they should become a bankrupt because they have racked up thousands of dollars in premium services on mobile phones,” Ms Burney said…”More and more young people are seeking financial counselling services … and without exception, every single person in the financial counselling services area, who has spoken to me, say the problem starts with a mobile phone.” Now, exact figures aren’t given and politicians are known to run to rhetoric a bit, but it only takes a few teenagers declaring bankruptcy over multi-thousand dollar phone bills to get the public up in arms and the government regulating, which nobody wants. Surely a little flag saying “hey, this person has spent $200 on mobile content, we should let them know” isn’t that hard to implement? They might have some processes in place, but in this instance a 95 or 99 percent success rate isn’t enough.

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