Commerce Commission urges lower-tier lenders to get up to speed with consumer laws

An Auckland-based finance company and its director were fined a total of $55,475 in the Auckland District Court for what was termed " deplorable business practices which took advantage of vulnerable borrowers". The company has also refunded borrowers over $39,600 and written off loan balances.

The company admitted:

• charging unreasonable fees for a payment protection plan and for insurance;
• unreasonably requiring borrowers to take out insurance;
• failing to give borrowers copies of any policy documents; and
• overcharging borrowers who paid back their loans early by not rebating insurance premiums.

Commerce Commission Competition Manager Graham Gill said "These were deplorable business practices which took advantage of vulnerable borrowers. Borrowers were charged for services they didn't need or didn't know about. The fees were just included in the loan contract when it was given to the borrowers to sign. They were not given insurance policies or given any written information about the payment protection plan or told how they could make a claim."

In the decision,¹ Judge Thorburn noted that the defendants had "utterly failed" in what had to be their minimum obligations under the law.

¹ Commerce Commission v eFeMCee Finance Limited & Anor District Court Auckland CRI-2011-004-006363, 29 September 2011

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