Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Bill
This bill changes the rules around consumer lending in New Zealand. The biggest change is shifting who oversees lenders — from the Commerce Commission to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). The FMA gets new powers to order lenders to stop certain behaviour or change what they are doing. People who borrow money get new rights to cancel add-on products like repayment waivers separately from their loan. Some reporting rules for lenders are removed. The changes mostly take effect from 1 July 2026.
What this affects
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The body that checks whether lenders are following consumer credit rules changes from the Commerce Commission to the Financial Markets Authority, and lenders must get a new licence to operate.
The FMA may make a stop order if it is satisfied that any of the provisions of section 9C, 9CA, 9J, or 9K or of Part 2, 3, or 3A have been, or are likely to be, breached in relation to a relevant CCCFA service
acting as a creditor under a consumer credit contract [is added as a market service requiring a licence under section 388(e)]
A person who refuses or fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with an order made by the FMA under this subpart commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $300,000
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
This bill is open for public submissions to the Finance and Expenditure Committee. Anyone can tell the committee what they think, and you don’t need to be an expert. Submissions close 22 June 2025.
Bill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.