Debt Collection Laws in Australia: What Collectors Can and Cannot Do

In Australia, what a debt collector may say and do, including how often and when they can contact you, is set by the harassment and coercion bans in the Australian Consumer Law and the ASIC Act, read together with a joint ACCC and ASIC guideline that recommends specific contact hours, frequency limits and conduct rules.

Is "3 Calls a Week" Actually the Law?

The specific numbers most debt-collection articles quote, no more than 3 calls a week, no more than 10 a month, come from a single source: the Debt collection guideline for collectors and creditors, published jointly by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The formal guideline was last issued as a PDF in April 2021, and its content has since been restated, without substantive change, on the ACCC's current consumer webpage.

The guideline itself says it "does not cover the whole" of the underlying law. It is agency guidance interpreting what counts as undue harassment or coercion under the Australian Consumer Law and the ASIC Act, not a stand-alone statute with its own penalty. Contacting a debtor more often than the guideline recommends is evidence a court or regulator can weigh toward a harassment finding under section 50 of the Australian Consumer Law or section 12DJ of the ASIC Act, both covered below, rather than an offence in its own right.

Contact Hours and Frequency Limits

A few details the hours table does not capture on its own:

• Telephone: a recommended maximum of 3 contacts a week or 10 a month, counting only contact that is actually made, not unanswered attempts.
• Face-to-face: a recommended maximum of one contact a month, again only when contact is actually made.
• Third-party location inquiries, contacting someone other than the debtor to find out where the debtor is, are recommended at most once every 6 months, unless that third party has expressly agreed to further contact.
• The named public holidays where no contact is recommended are New Year's Day, Australia Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The guideline notes some states and territories may treat additional local public holidays the same way.
• Times run on the debtor's own local time in their state or territory, and the same hours apply whether the collector is contacting the debtor directly or a third party.
• "Attempted contact," an unanswered call or a voicemail, does not count toward the frequency limits, but repeatedly redialling without leaving a gap for a response can itself amount to undue harassment even though no single attempt is separately counted.

What a Collector May Contact You About

Reasonable purposes for contact include giving information about the account and the amount owed, demanding payment, accurately explaining the consequences of non-payment such as legal action or service disconnection, arranging or reviewing a repayment plan, finding out why a debtor has not responded, investigating an address change where there are grounds to believe one has happened, and inspecting or recovering something used as security, such as a financed vehicle.

A continuous back-and-forth exchange in one sitting counts as a single contact if there is no unreasonable delay and it is not used as cover for extra messaging. "Contact" itself is read broadly, covering phone, letter, email, text, in-person visits and other channels including social media, provided there is a reasonable belief the message will reach the debtor alone.

Not every contact serves a reasonable purpose. Continuing to press for payment once a debtor has clearly shown they cannot pay, with no realistic prospect of an arrangement, is not a reasonable purpose, and neither is contact whose real aim has shifted from resolving the debt to punishing or pressuring the debtor.

If You Have an Authorised Representative

Once a collector knows, or should know, that a debtor has appointed a representative, such as a financial counsellor, solicitor, guardian, carer or community worker, the guideline says the collector should generally stop contacting the debtor directly and deal only through that representative.

A verbal authorisation noted in a file is accepted. A written authorisation should ideally include the debtor's details, the account identifier, the representative's contact details, and whether the authorisation is ongoing or limited to a single matter. Collectors should not create unnecessary paperwork hurdles once adequate authority has already been provided.

Where and How a Collector May Contact You

Contact at the debtor's home by letter or phone is presumptively appropriate. If a debtor supplies an alternate reasonable location, they should be contacted there instead of at home. Workplace contact should be avoided where other options exist, and where it is used, should not disclose the nature of the call to colleagues or reception staff.

Face-to-face contact is treated as a last resort, appropriate only after reasonable attempts by other means have failed, and it generally should happen at the debtor's home during ordinary hours; workplace face-to-face contact is described as the last option of all.

On first contact, a collector should confirm they are speaking with the actual debtor before disclosing any account information, identify who they are and the purpose of the contact, and provide their own contact details. If a debtor denies being liable for the debt, denies the debt was ever incurred, or says it has already been paid, the guideline says collection activity, including credit report listing, should be suspended, and should cease altogether if liability cannot be established once challenged.

One negative finding worth stating plainly: unlike some other countries, there is no single, across the board right under Australian law to demand a debt be proven in writing before a collector may make further contact. What Australian law and guidance provide instead are the represented-debtor mechanism above and the hardship-notice mechanism covered later on this page.

Misrepresentation, Including on a Statute-Barred Debt

A collector must not say or imply legal action will or may be taken when a legal defence applies, including bankruptcy over an unsecured debt or a debt that has become statute-barred. The guideline's own wording confirms the limitation period is usually 6 years, 3 years in the Northern Territory, running from when the right of action accrued or from when the debt was last acknowledged by the debtor, for example by making a payment. Making a payment or otherwise acknowledging a debt can restart that clock. For the state-by-state periods and a deeper look at what statute-barred conduct rules mean for both debtors and collectors, see statute-barred debt in Australia.

Beyond statute-barred debt, the guideline also says a collector must not misrepresent the legal process generally: no designing demand letters to look like court documents or a solicitor's letter when they are not; no claiming recorded calls are "for training purposes only" when they may also be used as evidence; no claiming that non-payment, absent fraud, is a criminal or police matter, or implying a police referral; no claiming to hold an official capacity, such as a police officer or court official, that the collector does not hold; and no claiming a court judgment has already been entered when it has not. The guideline also says a collector should not claim that unsecured basic household items can be seized if the debtor is made bankrupt; section 116 of the Bankruptcy Act protects those items from creditors once bankruptcy applies.

Where bankruptcy or a personal insolvency agreement is genuinely part of the picture, see bankruptcy in Australia for what happens to collection once one is in place.

Australian Consumer Law Section 50: Harassment and Coercion

Section 50 of the Australian Consumer Law bans using physical force, or undue harassment or coercion, in connection with the supply of goods or services, payment for them, or the sale of an interest in land. For debt collection, this covers debt connected to goods or services, such as unpaid utility bills, trade debts and retail credit not regulated as a financial product.

The current penalty structure, read directly from the current compilation of the Act:

• Corporate: the greater of $100 million, 3 times the benefit obtained, or 30 percent of the corporation's adjusted turnover during the breach period. This figure took effect 28 March 2026, doubled from $50 million, which itself replaced an original $10 million cap in November 2022. For the fuller history and general enforcement structure of the Australian Consumer Law, see the Australian Consumer Law in Australia.
• Individual: $10,000. This is a genuinely important nuance. Section 50 sits in Part 3-1 of the Act, and the penalty table sets a different individual figure for each part of the Act it covers. Part 3-1 conduct caps the individual penalty at $10,000, well below the $2.5 million individual cap that applies to unconscionable conduct under Part 2-2, which is the figure most commonly quoted as the Australian Consumer Law's headline individual penalty. In practice, a corporation that harasses a debtor in breach of section 50 faces the same nine or ten figure exposure as an unconscionable-conduct case, but an individual staff member found personally liable for the same conduct faces a maximum of $10,000, not $2.5 million.

ASIC Act Section 12DJ: The Financial-Services Mirror

Section 12DJ of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 bans physical force, or undue harassment or coercion, connected with the supply of a financial service or payment for one. It applies where the underlying debt is a financial service, such as a credit card, a personal loan or a buy now pay later product, essentially the financial-services counterpart to section 50 for consumer-credit debt. Strict liability applies to the "financial service" element of the offence.

Unlike section 50, section 12DJ is both a civil penalty provision and a separate criminal offence:

• Criminal offence: 2,000 penalty units, $728,000 at the current unit value. Whether a body-corporate defendant faces an automatic multiplier on top of that figure was not able to be confirmed, so treat $728,000 as the stated individual figure rather than a confirmed corporate ceiling.
• Civil penalty, individual: the greater of $1,820,000 (5,000 penalty units) or 3 times the benefit derived or detriment avoided.
• Civil penalty, corporate: the greatest of $18,200,000 (50,000 penalty units), 3 times the benefit, or 10 percent of annual turnover, capped at $910,000,000 (2.5 million penalty units).

Those dollar figures use the current penalty unit value of $364, effective 1 July 2026, up from $330, a Commonwealth-wide figure set under the Crimes Act 1914 that applies across the Australian Consumer Law and the ASIC Act alike.

The Guideline's Own Penalty Figures Are Out of Date

The April 2021 guideline PDF's own enforcement section states dollar figures calculated off the $222 penalty unit that was current at the time. Since then, the underlying penalty unit value has risen to $364, and separately, the Australian Consumer Law's own maximum penalties have been legislatively raised twice, to $50 million in November 2022 and then to $100 million in March 2026. So the guideline's own numbers, including the roughly $1.11 million individual and $11.1 million corporate figures it states for ASIC Act harassment, and its Australian Consumer Law infringement-notice figures, now understate the real exposure on two separate grounds at once: an outdated per-unit dollar value, and, for the Australian Consumer Law, an outdated statutory ceiling as well.

Current infringement-notice figures, per the ACCC's penalties page, are $21,840 (60 penalty units) for a corporation, $218,400 (600 penalty units) for a listed corporation, and $4,368 (12 penalty units) for an individual, for common contraventions including unconscionable conduct and false or misleading representations.

Hardship Notices and the National Credit Code

A debtor who considers they are, or will be, unable to meet their credit contract obligations may give the credit provider a hardship notice under section 72 of the National Credit Code, orally or in writing.

• Within 21 days of receiving it, the provider may request specified further information relevant to deciding whether the debtor can meet their obligations and how the contract might be changed; the debtor must comply with that request.
• Decision-notice deadlines: 21 days after the hardship notice if no further information was requested; 28 days after an information-request notice if the debtor does not supply what was asked for; 21 days after the provider receives the requested information.
• If the parties agree to a short deferral or reduction of 90 days or less, the formal decision-notice process does not apply.
• If there is no agreement, the decision notice must state the provider's reasons and name the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) and the debtor's rights under it, a requirement written directly into section 72 itself. A provider that fails to comply faces a civil penalty of up to 5,000 penalty units, $1,820,000 at the current unit value.
• Once a change is agreed, the provider must give written notice of the new terms to the debtor and any guarantor within 30 days, under section 73. The criminal penalty for non-compliance is 50 penalty units, about $18,200.
• Section 89A adds an enforcement freeze: if a debtor gives a hardship notice before or after a default notice, the credit provider must not begin enforcement proceedings until it has given the required decision notice, and a further 14 days has passed, unless the debtor already gave a similar hardship notice in the preceding 4 months, or the provider reasonably believes goods are being disposed of or urgent action is needed to protect mortgaged goods. Breaching the freeze is a strict-liability criminal offence carrying 50 penalty units.

For hardship options outside the formal credit-contract process, including alternatives short of bankruptcy, see alternatives to bankruptcy in Australia. A hardship arrangement reached this way can also affect what later shows on a credit file, covered in credit reporting and defaults in Australia.

AFCA is free for consumers to use and is the external dispute resolution scheme for a hardship dispute with an AFCA-member credit provider; AFCA's current jurisdiction limits apply. A stand-alone debt-collection agency that is not itself a credit licensee may fall outside AFCA's jurisdiction, in which case the ACCC or ASIC complaint routes below, or the relevant state or territory consumer regulator, are the right channel instead.

How to Complain About a Debt Collector

For the Australian Consumer Law's general guarantees, penalty history and enforcement structure, see the Australian Consumer Law in Australia. If bankruptcy or a personal insolvency agreement is part of the picture, see bankruptcy in Australia. This page sits under consumer law in Australia, alongside statute-barred debt in Australia and credit reporting and defaults in Australia.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the rule that a debt collector can only call 3 times a week an actual law?

No. It is a recommendation in the ACCC and ASIC's joint debt collection guideline interpreting the harassment and coercion ban in the Australian Consumer Law and the ASIC Act. Exceeding it is evidence a regulator or court can weigh toward a harassment finding, but the number itself does not carry a separate, stand-alone penalty.

What can I do if a debt collector is harassing me?

You can complain to the ACCC for a goods or services debt, or to ASIC for a financial-service debt, and to AFCA if the collector is an AFCA member. Keep a record of dates, times and what was said, since the guideline's contact limits are evidence of what counts as undue harassment.

Can a debt collector still chase me for a statute-barred debt?

They can still contact you, but the guideline says a collector must not say or imply legal action will or may be taken once the limitation period has expired, and doing so may be misleading, deceptive or unconscionable conduct. A statute-barred debt does not disappear on its own; see our page on statute-barred debt in Australia for the state-by-state periods and what can restart the clock.

What is a hardship notice under the National Credit Code?

A hardship notice under section 72 tells a credit provider you are or will be unable to meet your credit contract obligations. It can trigger a formal information request, a written decision within set deadlines, and, under section 89A, can pause enforcement action while the notice is being considered.

What happens if a credit provider ignores my hardship notice?

Section 72 sets fixed deadlines for a decision. Failing to give a proper decision notice, including naming AFCA if the request is refused, carries a civil penalty of up to $1.82 million. You can also take an unresolved hardship dispute to AFCA.

Does a debt collector have to send proof of the debt in writing before contacting me again?

Australia does not have a single, across the board statutory right to demand written proof of a debt before further contact, unlike some other countries. What Australian law and guidance provide instead are the right to have contact go through an authorised representative once one is appointed, and the hardship-notice process.

What penalties apply to a debt collector that breaks these rules?

It depends which law applies. Under Australian Consumer Law section 50, a corporation faces the greater of $100 million, 3 times the benefit obtained or 30 percent of turnover, and an individual faces up to $10,000. Under ASIC Act section 12DJ, which covers financial-service debt, an individual faces up to $1.82 million and a corporation up to $18.2 million or more on the civil track, with a separate criminal offence carrying a $728,000 fine.