Since publishing this page I’ve had an interesting conversation with the CEO of Leadify (Reuben Scheckter) about the ad I criticised below, and about the regulation (or lack of regulation) of lead generation.
Scheckter agreed the ad below didn’t meet their standards and said Leadify no longer provided leads for debt management businesses. Leadify want to see better, clearer regulation of lead generation, and are concerned that ASIC’s guidance on advertising pre-dates the practice of financial services buying leads. While I don’t feel comfortable about the practice of lead generation, appropriate regulation could make it easier for consumers to understand what they were consenting to, and make it harder for unethical businesses – even scammers – from hiding behind these ads.
This case study relates to this blog post which raises concerns about lead generation in financial services, including the difficulty in identifying the advertiser (for example to report misleading advertising), and requiring the individual to provide significant personal information before anything can be ascertained about the business providing the service.
It appears that Debt Correction Australia is one of the names used by Leadify, which uses other names to advertise including “Business Loans Advice”, “Commercial Loan Finder, Handy Tradie Insurance and Fund My Car. Leadify claims to have “over 93 lead generation brands”.
This is a Facebook ad from Debt Correction Australia. Debt Correction is not a registered business name and there is no indication of which business/es will provide the service. The ad is potentially misleading, as there is no time limit on accessing any Government debt management processes.
I answered a range of questions about my financial situation, before being told that I qualified. “Success”. “Congratulations”. Despite having to provide my contact details there was no indication of who would be offering the service.
I received an email from Debt Busters saying that I’m “pre-approved for debt relief ), referring to a referral from “Debt Correction. Debt Busters holds an ASIC licence to provide debt managements services.
It’s of concern that Debt Busters’ social media staff may not know the connection with Debt Correction – in fact Debt Busters may not have been aware of the name under which the ads appeared. However, they confirm that the representations in the advertisement are wrong, and this version of the ad appears to have disappeared soon after.
The Naysayer 