Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003

Consumer credit contracts - Fees - Unreasonable fees

42: Establishment fees

You could also call this:

"What makes an establishment fee fair or unfair?"

Illustration for Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003

When you are looking at establishment fees, the court checks if they are unreasonable. The court thinks about if the fee covers the creditor's costs for your credit application. This includes things like processing your application and documenting your contract. The court also considers if the fee is similar to the creditor's average costs for similar contracts. You can think of it like the court is comparing the fee to what the creditor normally pays. This helps the court decide if the establishment fee is fair or not. The court looks at the creditor's costs for things like considering your application and giving you credit. This information helps the court make a decision about the establishment fee. The court wants to make sure the fee is not too high.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM212790.

This page was last updated on 1 January 2026 — View changes

Topics:

Money and consumer rights > Consumer protection

41A: Records and reviews about how fees calculated, or

"Keeping records of how credit fees are calculated and making sure they are fair"

43: Prepayment fees, or

"Paying off a loan early: what you need to know about extra fees"

Part 2Consumer credit contracts
Fees: Unreasonable fees

42Establishment fees

In determining whether an establishment fee is unreasonable, the court must have regard to—
whether the amount of the fee is equal to or less than the creditor's reasonable costs in connection with the application for credit, processing and considering that application, documenting the consumer credit contract, and advancing the credit; or
whether the amount of the fee is equal to or less than the creditor's average reasonable costs of the matters referred to in paragraph (a) for the appropriate class of consumer credit contract.