Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003

Consumer credit contracts - Changes on grounds of unforeseen hardship

57: Application may not be made in certain circumstances

You could also call this:

"When You Can't Ask for Help with Debt Payments"

Illustration for Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003

You cannot make an application under section 55 if you are in default of your payments. This means you have not made payments on time and you have been in default for two weeks or more after getting a repossession warning notice, or you have missed four or more payments in a row. You also cannot make an application if it was clear when you signed the contract that you would struggle to meet your payments due to illness, injury, or other reasons. You can make an application if you fix the default. This means you can make an application after you have caught up on your payments. If you were in default because of something like illness or injury, you might still be able to make an application. If you are in default for two months or more, you cannot make an application under section 55. You also cannot make an application if you got a notice under section 119 of the Property Law Act 2007 or section 83G, and you have been in default for two weeks or more. You should look at section 55, section 83G, and section 119 of the Property Law Act 2007 to understand this better.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM213121.

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

Topics:

Money and consumer rights > Consumer protectionMoney and consumer rights > Banking and loansHousing and property > Buying and selling homesHousing and property > Renting

56: Changes that can be made, or

"Changing your credit contract: what you can ask for"

57A: Obligations of creditor in relation to application, or

"What the lender must do when you ask to change a credit contract"

Part 2Consumer credit contracts
Changes on grounds of unforeseen hardship

57Application may not be made in certain circumstances

A debtor may not make an application under section 55 if—
the debtor is in default of his or her obligation to make payments and, in relation to that default, the debtor—
1. has been in default for 2 weeks or more after receiving a repossession warning notice (see section 83G) or a notice under section 119 of the Property Law Act 2007; or
2. has failed to make 4 or more consecutive periodic payments by or on the due dates; or
3. has been in default for 2 months or more; or
it was reasonably foreseeable to the debtor at the time the contract was made that the debtor would be unlikely to be able to meet his or her obligations under the consumer credit contract because of the illness, the injury, the loss of employment, the end of the relationship, or the other reasonable cause.

However, subsection (1)(a) does not prevent an application being made after the debtor has remedied the default (to the extent that it can be remedied).

Notes

Section 57(1)(a): replaced, on 6 June 2015, by section 38(1) of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 33).
Section 57(1)(b): repealed, on 6 June 2015, by section 38(2) of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 33).
Section 57(2): replaced, on 6 June 2015, by section 38(3) of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 33).