Facts
- Esanda lent a consumer $15,000 to be repaid at a rate of $375 per month for 48 months
- This was secured by a mortgage over a chattel, which was a vehicle
- The consumer defaulted on the loan and the bank moved to repossess the vehicle
- The repossession team humiliated the consumer’s wife at work, and took the car by trespassing on their land and pinning him to the ground
Issue
- Was the conduct unconscionable?
Held
- Esanda was ordered to compensate the customer.
- They have no right to repossess it as they did not have the correct documentation
- It did not suspend the orders to repossess the vehicle when the physical confrontation occurred
- These two factors made the conduct unconscionable
- They are also guilty of harassing conduct for following them and turning up at the wife’s work
Full text available: http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/FCA/2003/1225.html
-- Download ACCC v Esanda [2003] FCA 1225 as PDF --

