The Federal Court ordered Sunshine Loans Pty Ltd to pay $5.5 million in civil penalties for charging fees prohibited under Australia’s National Credit Code.

The penalty follows contracts containing a $35 amendment fee that the court found could not lawfully be imposed. Between July 2016 and November 2020, the lender entered into 670,609 small amount credit contracts providing for the fee.

The fee was charged 12,693 times, and the company accepted payment on 8,376 occasions. The court also ordered Sunshine Loans to pay ASIC’s legal costs.

Why it matters

  • The penalty makes a concrete enforcement outcome in a consumer-credit case involving prohibited fees.
  • The contract and payment counts illustrate the scale of the court’s findings.