The penalty is among the highest ASIC has secured for this type of case
The Federal Court has ordered Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd and Latitude Finance Australia to pay a total of $55m in fines after they were found guilty of misleading conduct and false or misleading representations.
ASIC said in a media release that this was among the highest penalties it secured for misleading conduct and false or misleading representations relating to financial products and services.
“The substantial penalties and the corrective advertising orders imposed on Harvey Norman and Latitude is a significant outcome for consumers and sends a strong warning to the market about the importance of truthful and transparent advertising”, said Sarah Court, ASIC’s chair.
Harvey Norman and Latitude had jointly launched an advertising campaign across Australia touting a 60-month interest free and no deposit payment method for goods bought at Harvey Norman stores. The ads were plastered in newspapers and broadcast on radio and television from January 2020 to August 2021.
ASIC flagged the advertisements’ omission of the requirement that consumers take out a credit card like the Latitude GO Mastercard for those purchases. The commission also noted that the ads were mum on consumers’ liability to pay monthly account service fees and establishment fees until 15 March 2021; these fees amounted to a minimum of $537.
ASIC took Harvey Norman and Latitude to Federal Court on 4 October 2022 on grounds of violating s.12DA, 12DB and 12DF of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth). On 18 October 2024, justice David Yates ruled that the companies broke the law.
Harvey Norman and Latitude filed appeals on 19 November 2024, but the Full Federal Court shot them down on 3 September 2025.
“This case is about integrity in consumer finance marketing. Consumers were entitled to know that this offer involved more than simply paying for their purchase in 60 instalments. The advertising encouraged consumers into an ongoing credit arrangement that carried additional costs and obligations”, Court said.
The Federal Court ruled that both Harvey Norman and Latitude’s compliance processes were “wholly inadequate to prevent the contravening conduct”, per ASIC’s media release. Justice Michael O’Bryan singled out Harvey Norman and described this finding as “an extraordinary state of affairs” given the companies’ scale and sophistication.
The justice said the companies “put sales and their commercial interests above the interests of consumers, and also distorted the markets in which competing goods and finance are offered”. He considered that both were equally responsible for the ads.
Harvey Norman was fined $35m while Latitude got a $20m penalty. O’Bryan increased the penalty to Harvey Norman because of statements made by its chair, which the justice said “show a disregard for the potential harm suffered by consumers from Harvey Norman’s misleading conduct”.
Both companies were also ordered to release visible corrective advertising on the home pages of their websites with immediate effect. The advertisements must remain on the sites for 90 days.
In 2024, Echo Law and Maurice Blackburn filed a class action in Federal Court against Harvey Norman, Domayne and Joyce Mayne over the supposed selling of “unnecessary and worthless” extended warranties.
