Consumer Protection in Insurance in New Zealand: An Examination of law and Practice

Abstract

A glance at a random sample of consumer credit agreements (hire purchase agreements or instruments by way of security) will show that a high proportion of them contain a payment for some sort of payment protection. What is also clear to anyone working in the field of consumer advice or protection is that there are numerous varieties of this type of agreement, and that the lack of regulation in this field has meant that a wide variety of practices are used to secure payment for repayment protection. The author examines and analyses the various methods by which the consumer's repayments on a credit agreement are ostensibly protected in the event of some unforeseen event occurring that affects the ability to repay.