Consultation opens on further changes to lending requirements

In August, the Government announced further amendments to the CCCFA Regulations. These changes address remaining unintended impacts of the December 2021 CCCFA changes and aim to increase ease of access to credit while maintaining a strong level of consumer protection. Taken together with the initial changes that came into effect in July, they are expected to sufficiently address the drivers of any unintended impacts of the CCCFA.

Today MBIE has released an exposure draft of the changes to the Regulations and accompanying draft guidance in the Responsible Lending Code for consultation. Interested parties are encouraged to provide feedback to ensure the workability of the changes. Consultation is open for four weeks, closing on Thursday 20 October 2022. Following this consultation, it is expected that the changes could take effect in March 2023, to give lenders time to update their systems and processes.

These latest proposals follow an investigation by MBIE, in consultation with other members of the Council of Financial Regulators. The objective of the investigation was to identify any impacts of the recent CCCFA changes that came into force on 1 December 2021, considering the scale and nature of the impacts, to assess what, if any, further actions are needed. The final report of this investigation is available on MBIE’s website.

Initial implementation review of the 2021 CCCFA changes