Bill Facilities Regulation by Consumer Credit Code

Bill Facilities Regulation by Consumer Credit Code

The UCCCMC has invited comments on the Consumer Credit (Bill Facilities) Amendment Regulation 2006 which will apply the Code to credit arising out of a bill facility unless the credit is provided by an authorised deposit-taking institution. The Explanatory Notes provide background to the Regulation.

Section 7(5) of the Code provides that:
This Code does not apply to the provision of credit arising out of a bill facility, that is, a facility under which the credit provider provides credit by accepting, drawing, discounting or endorsing a bill of exchange or promissory note. However the regulations may provide for the application of the Code to the provision of all or any credit arising out of such a facility.

The closing date for submissions has been expedited to 12 May 2006 because of concerns that the use of the bill facilities exemption for consumer credit is being exploited.

The Department of Consumer and Employment Protection in WA has noted the emergence of fringe providers operating in the WA marketplace using promissory notes. Similar examples have been noted in New South Wales using bills of exchange. In both cases these credit providers target highly vulnerable consumers including Indigenous consumers and Centrelink recipients.

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Consumer credit ecommerce amendments

The Consumer Credit and Trade Measurement Amendment Bill 2006 (pdf) was introduced into Queensland Parliament on 28 March 2006.

The objectives of the Bill in relation to credit matters are to:
• facilitate the application of the electronic transactions legislation in each State and Territory to the Consumer Credit Code;
• ensure that consumer protection is not diminished as a result of a debtor transacting in an electronic environment; and
• extend the sunset clause in relation to the mandatory comparison rate regime in the Consumer Credit Code by one year to 30 June 2007 to enable a review of that regime to be completed.

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