Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003

Consumer credit contracts - Provisions relating to debtors under high-cost consumer credit contracts - Rules

45K: Prohibition on avoidance

You could also call this:

"No cheating to avoid the law's rules"

Illustration for Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003

You cannot enter into a scheme that is meant to avoid the rules in this part of the law. A scheme is any contract, arrangement, or act that has a certain effect. You must not use a scheme to make a transaction seem like something it is not, or to avoid following the rules in this part of the law.

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 It might be out of date or be missing some parts.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=LMS347746.

This page was last updated on 28 January 2026 — View changes

Topics:

Money and consumer rights > Consumer protectionBusiness > Industry rulesBusiness > Fair trading

45J: Default fees, or

"What are default fees and how much can you be charged?"

45L: Review of subpart, or

"The Minister checks if this law is working well after 3 years."

Part 2Consumer credit contracts
Provisions relating to debtors under high-cost consumer credit contracts: Rules

45KProhibition on avoidance

A person must not enter into a scheme if it is reasonable to conclude that a purpose of the scheme is to defeat, evade, or circumvent the operation of a provision in this subpart.
In this section, scheme means any contract, arrangement, or other act that has the effect of, or any contracts, arrangements, or other acts that together have the effect of, in any way, directly or indirectly,—
resulting in a transaction that is in substance or economic effect a high-cost consumer credit contract or related contract being, instead, a transaction to which this subpart does not apply; or
otherwise avoiding the application of a provision of this subpart.

Notes

Section 45K: inserted, on 1 May 2020, by section 25 of the Credit Contracts Legislation Amendment Act 2019 (2019 No 81).