Latitude slapped with $4 million fine over spam breaches

Latitude Finance Australia has been hit with a massive $3.96 million penalty after an investigation revealed a staggering 2.7 million breaches of the nation's anti-spam laws. 

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) confirmed today that the financial services giant is now a "two-time offender," having failed to clean up its act following a previous million-dollar fine for similar conduct just three years ago.

Latitude provides personal finance products to customers in Australia and New Zealand, ranging from credit cards, personal loans, car loans and insurance, but is best known for offering interest-free credit cards with major retailers.

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The ACMA investigation, which spanned from March 2024 to April 2025, uncovered a systematic failure in how Latitude communicated with its customers. 

The findings revealed that the company sent more than 2.3 million marketing messages without accurate contact information, while nearly 345,000 of those messages lacked a working unsubscribe function. 

The breaches were discovered through Latitude's own mandatory compliance reporting - a requirement from a previous court-enforceable undertaking.

ACMA member Samantha Yorke expressed frustration at the company's repeated failure to follow laws.

"Latitude is now a two‑time offender and it is disappointing that it let consumers down again," Ms Yorke said.

"The spam laws have been in place for more than 20 years, and there is simply no excuse for ongoing non‑compliance, particularly after a prior enforcement action."

While the messages promoted Latitude credit card products and financial services and told recipients they could reply "STOP" to unsubscribe, many of those messages were technically incapable of being used in that way.

Under Australia's spam laws, consumers must have a functional option to unsubscribe from commercial messages, and senders are required to provide accurate contact information. 

In response to these latest failures, the ACMA has accepted new court-enforceable undertakings from Latitude. These requirements force the company to appoint an independent consultant to review its compliance and provide regular, comprehensive reporting to the regulator.

This latest $3.96 million fine is more than double the $1.55 million penalty Latitude paid in 2022, signaling the regulator's dwindling patience with corporate recidivism. 

The ACMA has warned that it will be monitoring the company very closely given its history of non-compliance. 

Over the last 18 months alone, Australian businesses have paid more than $10.6 million in spam penalties, serving as a costly reminder that the "STOP" button is not optional.

Latitude said today in an ASX announcement that it acknowledged ACMA's findings and its enforceable undertaking.

"Upon becoming aware that it had sent potentially non-compliant SMSs, Latitude reported the matter to the ACMA and immediately strengthened its spam compliance processes," Latitude said.

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