National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009

CHAPTER 3 - RESPONSIBLE LENDING CONDUCT  

PART 3-6A - MISCELLANEOUS RULES  

Division 6 - Proscribed referrals  

SECTION 160G   PROHIBITION ON PROSCRIBED REFERRALS  

Prohibition

160G(1)    
A licensee that carries on a business of providing credit under small amount credit contracts must not make a proscribed referral if:

(a)    the licensee is a constitutional corporation; or

(b)    the referral is made in the course of carrying on that business; or

(c)    the referral is made in the course of carrying on the business of banking, other than State banking (within the meaning of paragraph 51(xiii) of the Constitution) not extending beyond the limits of the State concerned; or

(d)    the referral is made using a service to which paragraph 51(v) of the Constitution applies.

Civil penalty: 5,000 penalty units.

What is a proscribed referral?

160G(2)    
A referral of one or more persons (the referred persons ) to another person or persons (the recipients of the referral) is a proscribed referral if, at the time when the referral is made, it is reasonable to believe that one or more of the referred persons would or might, as a direct or indirect result of the referral (including as a result of conduct that any of the recipients of the referral engages in as a result of the referral), enter into a contract or arrangement that satisfies the following conditions:

(a)    under the contract or arrangement, credit is to be, or may be, provided to the referred person;

(b)    the provision of that credit under the contract or arrangement would not be a provision of credit to which the National Credit Code applies.

Note:

For the kinds of provision of credit to which the National Credit Code does or does not apply, see sections 5 and 6 of that Code.

160G(3)    
For the purposes of subsection (2) , a recipient of a proscribed referral need not be a person who would or might be a provider of credit under a contract or arrangement of the kind mentioned in that subsection.

160G(4)    
For the purposes of subsection (2) , a referral of one or more persons to another person or persons includes (but is not limited to) the provision of information about the first-mentioned person or persons to the second-mentioned person or persons, whether or not the first-mentioned person or persons are aware of the provision of that information.

160G(5)    
To avoid doubt, it does not matter for the purposes of subsection (2) whether any person actually has, or had, the belief mentioned in that subsection.