This Government bill amends the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 to move regulatory responsibility for consumer credit from the Commerce Commission to the Financial Markets Authority and to alter the consequences lenders face for breaching certain disclosure requirements. It also brings consumer credit into the FMA's licensing regime.
Parliament advanced this bill under urgency (third reading) — moving it through faster than usual, with less time than normal for public submissions.
These are claims MPs made in Parliament’s debate — not verified facts.
The Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Bill changes the rules that govern consumer lending in New Zealand by amending the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003, the law banks and finance companies must follow when they lend money. Its main aim is to cut compliance costs for lenders while keeping core protections for borrowers. It rolls back the highly prescriptive responsible-lending checks tightened in 2021, which had required lenders to examine a person's everyday spending, down to takeaways and streaming subscriptions, before approving a loan. It also softens the personal liability that company directors and senior managers face for minor or technical breaches, and streamlines who supervises the regime, shifting more oversight toward the Financial Markets Authority. The changes affect anyone applying for a mortgage or personal loan, the lenders that provide credit, and the executives who run them.
This is a Government bill and forms part of a wider programme of financial-services reform. Supporters argue the earlier settings made lenders so cautious that creditworthy people were declined or subjected to intrusive questioning over trivial expenses, and that trimming the red tape restores sensible access to credit without removing genuine safeguards. Critics counter that weakening responsible-lending duties and reducing director accountability risks a return to careless or predatory lending, leaving vulnerable borrowers exposed to unaffordable debt and hardship. They note that consumer-protection rules exist precisely because past lending practices harmed low-income families, and that easing obligations for lenders should not come at borrowers' expense. Some also question the fairness of provisions that reach back to affect conduct and disputes arising before the change took effect.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.