Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 No 52 (as at 30 August 2011), Public Act

3 Purposes
  • The purposes of this Act are—

    • (a) to protect the interests of consumers in connection with credit contracts, consumer leases, and buy-back transactions of land; and

    • (b) to provide for the disclosure of adequate information to consumers under consumer credit contracts and consumer leases—

      • (i) to enable consumers to distinguish between competing credit arrangements or competing lease arrangements; and

      • (ii) to enable consumers to become informed of the terms of consumer credit contracts or consumer leases before they become irrevocably committed to them; and

      • (iii) to enable consumers to monitor the performance of consumer credit contracts or consumer leases; and

    • (c) to provide rules about interest charges, fees, and payments in relation to consumer credit contracts; and

    • (d) to enable consumers to seek reasonable changes to consumer credit contracts on the grounds of unforeseen hardship; and

    • (e) to provide for the disclosure of adequate information to consumers under buy-back transactions of land and for the provision of independent legal advice to those consumers—

      • (i) to inform consumers of the terms, the effects, and the implications of those transactions before they become irrevocably committed to them; and

      • (ii) to enable consumers to monitor the performance of those transactions; and

    • (f) to provide rules about fees in relation to buy-back transactions of land; and

    • (g) to prevent—

      • (i) oppressive credit contracts, consumer leases, and buy-back transactions of land; and

      • (ii) oppressive conduct by creditors under credit contracts, lessors under consumer leases, and transferees under buy-back transactions of land.