National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009

A licensee must not enter into, or offer to enter into, a small amount credit contract with a consumer who will be the debtor under the contract if the repayments that would be required under the contract would not meet the requirements prescribed by the regulations.

For example, the regulations may provide that the amount of a repayment must not exceed a specified percentage of the consumer’s income.

A person commits an offence if:

the person is subject to a requirement under subsection (1); and

the person engages in conduct; and

the conduct contravenes the requirement.

If a licensee enters into a small amount credit contract in contravention of subsection (1), then:

the consumer is not liable (and is taken never to have been liable) to pay a fee or charge of a kind mentioned in paragraph 31A(1)(a), (b), (c) or (d) of the National Credit Code under that small amount credit contract (whether or not the liability is imposed consistently with the National Credit Code); and

the consumer may recover as a debt due to the consumer any amounts paid by the consumer that, in accordance with paragraph (a) of this subsection, the consumer is not liable to pay (or is taken never to have been liable to pay).