Alliance Factoring last year bought Telstra's $300 million debt book, 800,000 accounts that date back as far as six years. Now tens of thousands of Telstra customers have been unwittingly put on a credit blacklist over unpaid phone bills. Some irate Telstra customers are now suing for compensation over the credit squeeze.
A Melbourne law firm believes debt collection agency Alliance Factoring may have breached privacy laws in the way it pursued Telstra debtors. Lawyer Tony Peterson, of Anthony Peterson and Co, said he had identified clear breaches of the Privacy Act in the cases before 1999.
Mr Peterson said he could not reveal details of the breaches, but said he had reason to believe many people were affected.
"We believe many of these people could be eligible for compensation for the financial hardship the default against their credit file has caused them," Mr Peterson said. "Some may even have a defamation action against Alliance Factoring."
