CashnGo fined $2.5m for secret account monitoring and unfair contract terms

CashnGo admitted to 658,000 contraventions during debt collection.

Venture 5 Group Pty Ltd, trading as CashnGo, has been fined $2.5m (A$3.5m) for unfair contract terms in over 47,000 standard form small amount credit contracts, said the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

CashnGo admitted to including unfair contract terms in its small account credit contracts and failed to provide legally compliant default notices to thousands of consumers, ASIC said.

CashnGo admitted to 190,546 small amount credit contracts with unfair contract terms; and 658,000 contraventions when they applied or relied on the terms when conducting debt collection processes.

CashnGo also failed to provide default notices compliant with the National Credit Code on 67,545 occasions, affecting over 53,000 consumers, according to ASIC.

According to ASIC, CashnGo admitted that, after a consumer missed a repayment, its default term and authority terms allowed its automated systems to monitor a consumer’s bank account balance.

CashnGo also admitted that its automated systems will repeatedly attempt to make withdrawals to cover the missed payment as soon as funds become available without prior notice of the timing, frequency, or amount of the intended unscheduled withdrawal.

It also admitted to undertaking this practice of unscheduled withdrawals without giving consumers the ability to opt out, ASIC said.

“By monitoring consumers’ accounts and withdrawing consumers’ funds without notice shortly after they were deposited, CashnGo denied consumers control over their own finances, which is unacceptable conduct,” said Sarah Court, chair of ASIC.

The penalty is to be paid in installments within two years.

(US$1 = A$1.40, as of 2 September 2026)