ACCC sues Woolworths and Coles over fake discounts

Woolies and Coles taken to court over allegations of dodgy discounts, inflation falls below 3%, and where to buy gold with your groceries. Here are five things you may have missed this week.

Consumer watchdog takes supermarket giants to court for alleged fake discounting

The ACCC has launched legal action against Woolworths and Coles for allegedly breaching Australian Consumer Law.

The consumer watchdog alleges the two supermarket chains mislead consumers about discounted prices on hundreds of products.

The ACCC's allegations relate to products sold by each of Woolworths and Coles, which had their price jacked up by at least 15% for brief periods before the price was cut to the regular level - or higher - as part of the 'Prices Dropped' (Woolies) or 'Down Down' (Coles) promotions.

As ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb puts it, the allegation is that "the discounts were, in fact, illusory".

The news came as an irate Woolworths shopper shared on social media a photo of a problematic clearance price tag on frozen chicken.

The sale price of $13 was higher than the initial price of $11.

Meanwhile, consumer CHOICE has conducted a supermarket survey, finding that shoppers can potentially cut grocery bills by over one-third by shopping at Aldi.

It found a sample basket of groceries cost $50.79 at Aldi, compared to $66.22 at Coles, $68.37 at Woolies and a hefty $78.95 at IGA.

Inflation drops to 2.7%

Inflation has finally fallen below 3%, the high point of the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA's) target range.

But it seems that in economics - as in politics - timing is everything.

On Tuesday, the RBA Board held the cash rate on hold at 4.35%, declaring that "inflation is still some way above" the midpoint of its 2-3% Goldilocks range.

Just 24 hours later, the ABS released its latest CPI data showing inflation dropped to 2.7% in August, the lowest reading since August 2021.

Michelle Marquardt, ABS head of prices statistics, says the top contributors to the drop in inflation were a 7.6% fall in the cost of fuel through August, and a 17.9% drop in energy costs thanks to federal energy rebates plus state-based rebates in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania.

Will the latest inflation data see the RBA cut rates in 2024?

Maybe not.

The RBA is looking for "inflation returning sustainably to target", something it doesn't believe will happen until 2026.

That doesn't mean you can't make a rate cut of your own.

According to Mozo, August saw variable home loan rates trimmed on a range of products offered by the Commonwealth Bank, Greater Bank, Newcastle Permanent, HSBC and MOVE Bank.

Rates have also fallen on a variety of fixed rate loans notably those with two- and three-year terms.

Kogan now selling gold bullion

Along with toiletries, pet food and breakfast cereal, Aussie consumers can now add gold bullion to their shopping list.

Online retailer Kogan has launched two new products - a half-ounce bar of gold bullion, and a one-ounce bullion bar.

How much you pay depends on the market price of gold.

As a guide, late last week a single-ounce bar was priced at $3813. By Thursday, Kogan's price had jumped to $3939.

Can investors save this way? Possibly.

At the time of writing, Gold Bullion Australia was selling a half-ounce bullion bar for $2007, while a one-ounce bar is priced at $3970. Perth Mint is selling one-ounce bars for $3977  - all slightly above Kogan's prices.

The price of gold has soared 38.5% over the past year, so eager shoppers shouldn't expect to see bullion in Kogan's online clearance section any time soon.

One in four Australians missed a bill in the last quarter

Australians may  be keeping a watchful eye on expenses, but bill shock from unexpected bills continues to catch a quarter of us off-guard.

NAB's latest data shows one in four people missed a bill last quarter, with phone and internet bills being the most common missed payments, followed by electricity, gas and water.

Surprisingly, high income earners were most likely to forget an upcoming bill.  Missed payments were highest (33%) in the $75,000-$100,000 income group and lowest (22%) in the $35,000-$50,000 group

To help its customers stay on top of bills, NAB is launching Upcoming, a new tool in its banking app, which gives a view of upcoming predicted bills for the next 30 days, based on previous outgoing bills.

Bill prediction tools already feature on a number of bank apps. CommBank, for example, offers Bill Sense.

In addition, some power and water providers offer an instalment payment plan or 'bill smoothing'. It lets households make payments fortnightly or monthly, instead of having to pay the whole amount in one go.

Vanguard cops record fine

Leading index fund manager Vanguard, has been hit with a $12.9 million penalty from the Federal Court for making misleading environmental, social and governance (ESG) claims about its Ethically Conscious Global Aggregate Bond Index Fund.

It's the highest fine ever imposed for greenwashing.

ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court says, "Approximately 74% of the securities in the fund were not researched or screened against applicable ESG criteria".

She adds that Vanguard said funds would be screened to exclude bond issuers with significant business activities in certain industries, including fossil fuels, when this was not always the case.

Vanguard has apologised to its clients for these errors, which it says were unintentional, adding that payment of the penalty will not be borne by Vanguard Australia investors.

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