Small Amount Credit Review Recommends Tighter Controls

The final report of the Review of Small Amount Credit Contracts (SACCs) has been released. A range of recommendations tighten regulation of short term small loans and consumer leases. Of note is the need to disclose the actual APR of the transaction, be it a small amount credit contract or consumer lease. In the latter case, the cost of the relevant household good must be disclosed.

The review panel provided the Final Report to the Government on 3 March 2016.

The review was silent on mandating better collection of transaction data so  the true volume of loans could be recorded. As highlighted in the report accurate data is an issue.

Small Amount Credit Contracts (SACCs)

Recommendation 1 – Affordability – Extend the protected earnings amount regulation to cover SACCs provided to all consumers.
Reduce the cap on the total amount of all SACC repayments (including under the proposed SACC) from 20 per cent of the consumer’s gross income to 10 per cent of the consumer’s net (that is, after tax) income. Subject to these changes being accepted, retain the existing 20 per cent establishment fee and 4 per cent monthly fee maximums.
Recommendation 2 – Suitability – Remove the rebuttable presumption that a loan is presumed to be unsuitable if either the consumer is in default under another SACC, or in the 90-day period before the assessment, the consumer has had two or more other SACCs.
This recommendation is made on the condition that it is implemented together with Recommendation 1.
Recommendation 3 – Short term credit contracts – Maintain the existing ban on credit contracts with terms less than 15 days.
Recommendation 4 – Direct debit fees – Direct debit fees should be incorporated into the existing SACC fee cap.
Recommendation 5 – Equal repayments and sanction – In order to meet the definition of a SACC, the credit contract must have equal repayments over the life of the loan (noting that there may need to be limited exceptions to this rule). Where a contract does not meet this requirement the credit provider cannot charge more than an annual precent rate (APR) of 48 per cent.
Recommendation 6 – SACC database – A national database of SACCs should not be introduced at this stage. The major banks should be encouraged to participate in the comprehensive credit reporting regime at the earliest date.
Recommendation 7 – Early repayment –  No 4 per cent monthly fee can be charged for a month after the SACC is discharged by its early repayment. If a consumer repays a SACC early, the credit provider under the SACC cannot charge the monthly fee in respect of any outstanding months of the original term of the SACC after the consumer has repaid the outstanding balance and those amounts should be deducted from the outstanding balance at the time it is paid.
Recommendation 8 – Unsolicited offers – SACC providers should be prevented from making unsolicited SACC offers to current or previous consumers.
Recommendation 9 – Referrals to other SACC providers – SACC providers should not receive a payment or any other benefit for a referral made to another SACC provider.
Recommendation 10 – Default fees – SACC providers should only be permitted to charge a default fee that represents their actual costs arising from a consumer defaulting on a SACC up to a maximum of $10 per week. The existing limitation of the amount recoverable in the event of default to twice the adjusted credit amount should be retained.

Consumer Leases

Recommendation 11 – Cap on cost to consumers – A cap on the total amount of the payments to be made under a consumer lease of household goods should be introduced. The cap should be a multiple of the Base Price of the goods, determined by adding 4 per cent of the Base Price for each whole month of the lease term to the amount of the Base Price. For a lease with a term of greater than 48 months, the term should be deemed to be 48 months for the purposes of the calculation of the cap.
Recommendation 12 – Base Price of goods – The Base Price for new goods should be the recommended retail price or the price agreed in store, where this price is below the recommended retail price. Further work should be done to define the Base Price for second hand goods.
Recommendation 13 – Add-on services and features – The cost (if any) of add-on services and features, apart from delivery, should be included in the cap. A separate one-off delivery fee should be permitted. That fee should be limited to the reasonable costs of delivery of the leased good which appropriately account for any cost savings if there is a bulk delivery of goods to an area.
Recommendation 14 – Consumer leases to which the cap applies – The cap should apply to all leases of household goods including electronic goods.
Further consultation should take place on whether the cap should apply to consumer leases of motor vehicles.
Recommendation 15 –Affordability – A protected earnings amount requirement be introduced for leases of household goods, whereby lessors cannot require consumers to pay more than 10 per cent of their net income in rental payments under consumer leases of household goods, so that the total amount of all rental payments (including under the proposed lease) cannot exceed 10 per cent of their net income in each payment period.
Recommendation 16 – Centrepay implementation – The Department of Human Services consider making the caps in Recommendations 11 and 15 mandatory as soon as practicable for lessors who utilise or seek to utilise the Centrepay system.
Recommendation 17 – Early termination fees – The maximum amount that a lessor can charge on termination of a consumer lease should be imposed by way of a formula or principles that provide an appropriate and reasonable estimate of the lessors’ losses from early repayment.
Recommendation 18 – Ban on the unsolicited marketing of consumer leases – There should be a prohibition on the unsolicited selling of consumer leases of household goods, addressing current unfair practices used to market these goods.

Combined recommendations

Recommendation 19 – Bank statements – Retain the obligation for SACC providers to obtain and consider 90 days of bank statements before providing a SACC, and introduce an equivalent obligation for lessors of household goods. Introduce a prohibition on using information obtained from bank statements for purposes other than compliance with responsible lending obligations. ASIC should continue its discussions with software providers, banking institutions and SACC providers with a view to ensuring that ePayment Code protections are retained where consumers provide their bank account log-in details in order for a SACC provider to comply with their obligation to obtain 90 days of bank statements, for responsible lending purposes.
Recommendation 20 – Documenting suitability assessments – Introduce a requirement that SACC providers and lessors under a consumer lease are required at the time the assessment is made to document in writing their assessment that a proposed contract or lease is suitable.
Recommendation 21 – Warning statements – Introduce a requirement for lessors under consumer leases of household goods to provide consumers with a warning statement, designed to assist consumers to make better decisions as to whether to enter into a consumer lease, including by informing consumers of the availability of alternatives to these leases. In relation to both the proposed warning statement for consumer leases of household goods and the current warning statement in respect of SACCs, provide ASIC with the power to modify the requirements for the statement (including the content and when the warning statement has to be provided) to maximise the impact on consumers.
Recommendation 22 – Disclosure – Introduce a requirement that SACC providers and lessors under a consumer lease of household goods be required to disclose the cost of their products as an APR. Introduce a requirement that lessors under a consumer lease of household goods be required to disclose the Base Price of the goods being leased, and the difference between the Base Price and the total payments under the lease.

The Government is also consulting on whether the recommendations relating to consumer leases should apply to all regulated consumer leases (including motor vehicles) rather than only leases of household goods, and how second hand goods should be treated.

Author: Martin North

Martin North is the Principal of Digital Finance Analytics