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Seven money lenders and retailers have been named by marae advocates for allegedly helping poor South Auckland families to incur heavy debts.
Te Puea Memorial Marae chairman Hurimoana Dennis has named the South Auckland lenders and retail outlets whom he says are most commonly owed money by homeless families coming to the marae for help.
They include KiwiOwn, Cash Converters, UBuy, Red Rat Clothing, G-Mana/Kiwi Auto Finance, Fair Value and Lelei Finance.
The businesses have denied any wrongdoing, saying they lend and sell responsibly.
But Dennis said debt was a problem with each of the 30 homeless families that Te Puea had helped over the past year.
New measures to control businesses offering loans have been recommended by Commerce Minister Kris Fa’afoi, in an MBIE discussion paper reviewing the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act.
The recommendations include increased licensing for money lenders, and introducing “more prescriptive” requirements for affordability assessments.
Fa’afoi said it was becoming clear the 2015 amendments to consumer finance laws didn’t go far enough, and it was now time to “finish the job” to protect the most vulnerable.
He said ethical lenders and agencies such as the Salvation Army tried to help people, (but) the laws needed to have the right settings to stop people getting into terrible situations in the first place.
“Ensuring the credit settings are right, so that people can borrow appropriately when they need to but are not dragged into a long-term debt spiral is another way we will ensure all New Zealanders benefit in a strong and inclusive economy.”
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