Law Commission
NZBA welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Law Commission’s Review of the Credit (Repossession) Act 1997 (the Issues Paper). NZBA considers that the provision of consumer credit is an important area of public policy and notes that it is appropriate to evaluate the CRA as a part of the wider ongoing review of consumer credit laws.
NZBA concurs with the Law Commission’s view in paragraph 2.5 of the Issues Paper that it is desirable to ensure that any changes to the Credit (Repossession) Act 1997 (CRA) minimise the effect on lenders that are already compliant with the Act.
As highlighted at the Government’s 2011 Financial Summit, the most significant issue in the area of consumer credit is enforcement. NZBA considers that this should be the focus of regulatory change. Improving the enforcement of existing obligations has the potential to significantly improve the situation of at-risk borrowers without causing undue additional compliance costs for lenders already compliant with existing obligations
NZBA notes that its member banks have different views on some of the technical details in the CRA. Therefore, NZBA has limited this submission to a small number of core questions in the Issues Paper that are of particular interest to member banks and on which member banks have a common position.