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In June this year, CHOICE released its sunscreen testing. You may remember this, because it was absolutely everywhere. A worrying 16 out of 20 sunscreens tested failed to meet their SPF claims. That was the headline and it was a shocking one. But the real story was Ultra Violette. Of all the sunscreens we tested, Ultra Violette’s Lean Screen failed the hardest. It claimed an SPF of 50+ but returned an SPF of 4 – a result so surprising we tested it a second time at a completely different lab (that time it returned an SPF of 5). Given the buzzy, TikTok-friendly nature of the Ultra Violette brand, we expected this result would inspire intense online discourse – but I was not prepared for just how weird it got. As…
Commonwealth Bank has been caught charging excessive fees to thousands of people on low incomes who were eligible for low-fee accounts – to the tune of $270 million. It’s not the only bank that has been caught doing this, but while other major banks have committed to refund some of those customers, CommBank is refusing. The bank recently celebrated a record $10.25 billion profit for the 2025 financial year – salt in the wound for the 2.2 million customers who’ve been gouged. More than 20,000 people have already signed the petition calling on Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn to give the money back. Add your support: choice.com.au/CommBankFees.…
In June this year, CHOICE released results revealing that 16 out of 20 sunscreens we tested failed to meet their SPF claims. In that test, one product – the Ultra Violette Lean Screen SPF 50+ Mattifying Zinc Skinscreen–returned an SPF of 4. Now, after an internal investigation, Ultra Violette has confirmed it is removing the Ultra Violette Lean Screen product from shelves. “We had multiple, independent labs conduct new tests of Lean Screen,” Ultra Violette said in a statement. “This week, we received results from those tests that demonstrated significant and, candidly, atypical variability. Across eight different tests, Lean Screen has now returned SPF data of 4, 10, 21, 26, 33, 60, 61, and 64. That wasn’t good enough for us, and it isn’t good enough for you. “Given this…
A recent analysis by the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) augurs well for consumers who have invested in solar batteries. The regulator monitored battery use in 1000 NSW households and determined that payback periods – or the time it takes for the cost of the battery to be offset by energy savings – can now be as low as four years when government subsidies and the use of virtual power plants (VPP) are factored in. Payback times for households not participating in a VPP (a VPP lets users aggregate and share excess solar power) are around seven years, according to the analysis. As of mid-August, around 20,000 households had a battery installed following the launch of the federal government’s Cheaper Home Batteries rebate program on 1 July. The program offers…
Is your energy ‘saver’ plan actually saving you money? Possibly not. In August, the ACCC announced it will be investigating whether retailers are misleading customers with plan names or descriptions of plans that promote savings that are not he genuine. The announcement came in response to the first designated complaint from CHOICE (also called a super complaint), which took aim at dodgy energy pricing tactics. We particularly focused on retailers using names and descriptions that promise savings and value for their poor-value energy plans. From here, we hope that the ACCC will take strong action against the energy retailers to send a clear message that misleading consumers about savings or value is unacceptable. Many consumers told us they rely on these names and descriptions as indicators of value to inform…
Almost 170,000 people reached out for financial counselling support through the National Debt Helpline (NDH) in the last financial year, making it the service’s biggest year since 2018–19. Coordinator of the NDH, Vicki Staff, says cost-of-living pressures are hitting the community hard. “Many of life’s essentials are just more expensive than they used to be. Our financial counsellors are hearing from many people struggling to pay for their utility bills and housing,” she says. “These people are very distressed and worried about their financial future and families.” The top issues people called about in the year were housing stress (mortgage and rent), utilities, credit card debt, personal loans and ATO debt. People can seek support from confidential and professional NDH financial counsellors via the 1800 007 007 phone line or…
