South Australian Current Acts South Australian Current Acts43—Unlawful actions and representations
(1) A creditor, or the
agent of a creditor, must not, for the purpose of recovering a trading debt of
the creditor—
(a) make
any demand for payment without indicating the creditor's identity and the
balance owing to the creditor and, where the demand is made by the agent, the
agent's identity and authority to make the demand; or
(b)
demand payment of any amount that the creditor or agent does not honestly
believe to be due and owing to the creditor; or
(c)
persist in demanding payment from a person who has denied liability without
making reasonable inquiries to ensure that the demand is based on reasonable
grounds; or
(d) make
any personal calls or telephone calls for the purpose of demanding
payment—
(i)
on a Sunday or public holiday; or
(ii)
between the hours of 10.00 p.m. of one day and 7.00 a.m.
of the next; or
(e)
except as reasonably necessary to determine the debtor's whereabouts,
communicate with an employer, acquaintance, friend, relative or neighbour of
the debtor (not being a guarantor).
Maximum penalty: $5 000.
(2) A creditor, or the
agent of a creditor, must not, for the purpose of recovering a
trading debt—
(a)
falsely represent that criminal or other proceedings will lie for non-payment
of the debt; or
(b)
falsely pretend to be authorised in some official capacity to claim or enforce
payment; or
(c)
falsely represent that a document has some official character that it does not
have.
Maximum penalty:
In the case of a body corporate—$25 000.
In any other case—$5 000 or imprisonment for 6 months.
(3) In this
section—
"agent" includes an employee of a creditor whose main duty of employment is to
seek to recover trading debts owed to the creditor.