The National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 4) were registered on 2 August 2011.

Extension of disclosure exemption
The Regulations extend the exemption from the obligation by a credit licensee or a credit representative who provide credit assistance to provide credit disclosure documents (credit guide, credit proposal disclosure document and quote for providing credit assistance) in Regulation 28N (5) from 1 August 2011 to 1 October 2011 provided they disclose details of their EDR scheme and enter a written contract with the consumer specifying any fees payable by the consumer to the credit assistant.

See also ASIC Class Order CO 11/760 and ASIC Information Sheet 137.

Content of credit guides
The Regulations make a number of changes, effective 1 October 2011, including:

• providing further details about what must be included in credit guides of credit assistance providers, mortgage managers and product designers and credit representatives in relation to credit contracts and consumer leases;
• exempting certain information about fees, charges and commissions from being disclosed in the credit assistance provider and credit representative’s credit guide;
• outlining how information about fees, charges and commissions must be set out in the credit assistance provider’s quote and proposal disclosure document;
• outline how information about commissions must be set out in the credit assistance provider’s proposal disclosure document;
• modifying in limited circumstances the disclosure obligations in relation to trail commissions and some commissions in a credit assistance provider’s proposal disclosure document.

Amongst other things:

• Regulation 26B will require credit providers and lessors to include information about their relationship with a mortgage manager or product designer in their credit guides.
• regulation 26 will contain a definition for ‘managed contract’, ‘mortgage manager’ and ‘product designer’. These two additional definitions for managers are necessary to address, first, intermediaries who manage contracts on behalf of the lender and, second, intermediaries who, while not the lender, largely control the terms on which products are designed and altered.
• regulation 26 will also contain a definition of ‘trail commission’ and ‘volume bonus arrangement’. A trail commission is commission contingent on a consumer’s conduct after the consumer has entered into a credit contract or lease. Volume bonus arrangements cover arrangements where commission payable increases as the total volume of business increases.