Will repealing the CCCFA be enough?

There are now 18,600 mortgages on which payments are past due. That is 28% more than August last year.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) arrears was 9.4%  – the lowest since February. Last October, Cabinet agreed to bring the BNPL industry within the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA).

Following consultation, Commerce Minister Duncan Webb said BNPL exempted loans from affordability and suitability assessments under the CCCFA as “that would be too onerous for these short-term, low-value, interest-free loans”. Instead, he said, BNPL lenders must complete comprehensive credit reporting when customers sign up or request a higher credit limit. Detailed regulations will be announced soon, while BNPL lenders have a grace period to implement changes.

Hastie Mortgages owner Campbell Hastie told the Auckland District Law Society’s Law News this as a bad move.