The Australian Retail Credit Association (ARCA), today revealed an industry partnership with Kaplan Professional Australia, a leading provider of education and training, to develop and deliver credit reporting education programs for industry professionals.
Under the partnership, ARCA and Kaplan will develop online training programs on credit reporting in Australia, which will be available to both ARCA members and non-members.
The first online program will train consumer-facing client advisers, such as mortgage brokers, accountants, financial counsellors and financial planners, on the recent changes to credit reporting and consumers’ new rights and obligations. This program, based around the award-winning CreditSmart consumer education program, will also cater to call centre staff in financial services organisations.
ARCA CEO Damian Paull said, “We are excited to be engaging directly with industry professionals, many of whom are still coming to terms with how the new credit reporting system can improve their business model, and how it affects their clients.”
“We recognise credit intermediaries, such as mortgage brokers, accountants and financial planners, are often the first advisers to consumers when it comes to credit reporting-related issues. Over time, as the new positive credit reporting information begins to appear in credit reports, more consumers are likely to take a greater interest in their credit report – including their consumer rights. As an industry we felt it was necessary to address this,” Mr Paull said.
The first CreditSmart online program is expected to be available to Kaplan’s 45,000+ students, ARCA Members and other association members in the first quarter of 2015. The courses will offer industry professionals CPD points towards their ongoing professional development requirements. Kaplan Professional CEO Brian Knight said, “We are pleased to be working with ARCA to deliver quality professional education on credit reporting. We believe the courses we are developing with ARCA will provide our students with relevant, informative and educational courses at the forefront of recent industry developments in credit reporting.”
Following 2012 amendments to the Privacy Act (Cth) 1988, comprehensive credit reporting was enabled in Australia from March this year. Since early 2014, ARCA has been leading consumer education and financial literacy efforts through the CreditSmart campaign and website, which was awarded the 2014 MoneySmart Outstanding Achievement Award for its significant contribution to improving the financial literacy of Australians.
