Despite urgent attempts to fix the Credit Contracts Act, banks say they are constrained in providing assistance such as emergency overdraft extensions to customers 

Bank customers will have greater difficulty borrowing money when they need it most, despite work by the Government and finance sector to tidy up the new Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act.

Dan Huggins, who leads the 160-year-old BNZ, says the Government has made no move to free up banks to provide emergency loans or overdraft extensions.

He believes the new law could more effectively target predatory high-interest lenders, rather than its sweeping coverage of all borrowers. The Government has moved to adjust the settings on the new law, after concerns that banks were required to ask intrusive questions such as how much borrowers had spent at KFC in the previous three months.

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