THE Consumer Council of Fiji wants legislation that will protect the privacy of personal credit records.
This was one of its 13 recommendations in its report on the hire-purchase industry in Fiji.
"Consumer advocacy is needed which will refrain consumers from entering into hire-purchase agreements which will impact the privacy of consumers credit information," the commission said as another of its recommendations.
According to the report, hire-purchase consumers did not have a right to confidentiality of their financial information.
When consumers signed on the dotted line in a hire-purchase agreement with credit providers, the contracts required that their financial information be listed with the Data Bureau.
Most importantly, the contract agreement permits the hire purchase member company to seek financial information on consumers, from any other source, the council pointed out.
"The contracts also require consent from the consumer that his/her electronic signatures be retained and relied upon by the company for any purpose, including legal or other debt recovery proceedings," the council said.