Grace* says any time she hears the name Cigno, her jaw clenches. In 2022, while living on jobseeker, the then single mother took on a $250 loan with the payday lender so she could afford groceries. Three weeks later, when her first payment of $54 was direct debited, the loan had already blown out to $514.50 with fees added.
“I’d be down to my last $60 and I’d suddenly find it was gone because they’d direct debited it out of my account,” she says.
