Court declares Harvey Norman, Latitude Financial payment ads were misleading
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The news: Harvey Norman and Latitude Financial misled consumers over their advertising of interest free payments from January 2020 to August 2021, the Federal Court has declared.
The context: The court declarations issued today follow earlier judgment in October that found the companies had engaged in conduct that was misleading or deceptive, or likely to mislead or deceive.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had sought court declarations setting out the companies' wrongdoing as part of their 2022 case against Harvey Norman and Latitude Financial.
ASIC alleged the companies' advertisements promoting "no deposit", "interest free" payment methods for purchases at Harvey Norman were misleading because they did not disclose that customers could only use the interest free payment method if they applied for and used a Latitude GO Mastercard.
ASIC also alleged that the advertisements misrepresented the true cost of using the payment method because they failed to adequately disclose establishment fees and monthly account service fees.
A further hearing on any penalty to be imposed against the companies is to be scheduled after 19 May.
The companies have two weeks from today to file an application to appeal the court judgment.
What they said: Harvey Norman said in an ASX announcement that it would consider its position carefully before deciding whether to make an appeal.
The source: ASX annoucement
