A simple, one-of-a-kind Consumer Bill of Rights in Alberta has been released to the public in order to properly educate consumers into becoming more confident.

 The Consumer Bill of Rights is a two-page document that holds information on protections found in the Consumer Protection Act in an easily understood way in order to protect and inform Albertan consumers.

“We know that educated consumers are confident consumers. The Consumer Bill of Rights will help educate people making purchases in Alberta. It’s another example of how our government is standing up for everyday Albertans. From cracking down on payday lending to banning door-to-door energy sales and ticket bots, we’ve spent four years beefing up consumer protection in Alberta. This new Consumer Bill of Rights is a step forward that ties together much of our recent work on this file," says Brian Malkinson, Minister of Service Alberta.

Information in the Consumer Bill of Rights includes consumer protection laws, information on payday lending, information on door-to-door sales, and more.

"Albertans often turn to payday loans, pawn loans and rent-to-own schemes to deal with emergency expenses or to bridge a gap when their income isn’t enough to cover the rising costs of living. Many of our program participants struggle with high-cost debt. When we reviewed their pawn loan and rent-to-own contracts, we were shocked to see them being charged annual interest rates well over 100%. Alberta consumers are better-protected thanks to the steps taken by the Government of Alberta to lower the interest rates on payday loans and to license and regulate all high-cost lenders," says Jeff Loomis, executive director of Momentum.

You can view the Consumer Bill of Rights here.

 

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