CWL Responsible Lending Policy

Overview:

Cantwait.com Ltd cares about its borrowers and has no intention of encouraging our customers to get into unmanageable debt. We have committed to ensuring all loan applications are considered with the care, diligence, and skill of a responsible lender.

Any situation where a CWL customer is experiencing financial hardship will be met with haste, compassion, and care to ensure CWL does everything in its power to assist the client and to help alleviate the burden of financial hardship.

In the event of financial hardship, CWL insists that clients get in touch immediately so the situation can be dealt with as soon as possible.

We understand that unexpected cash shortfalls pop up from time to time and that can put anyone’s budget off track, so our goal is to provide funds for these emergencies as fast as possible while encouraging healthy spending & borrowing habits.

Legal:

CWL complies with the CCCFA act and the lender responsibility principles by:

  • Exercising the care, diligence, and skill of a responsible lender.
  • Making reasonable inquiries to ensure our service will meet our borrower’s needs and objectives and to also ensure that our borrowers will be able to make their loan repayments without suffering substantial hardship.
  • CWL helps borrowers to make an informed decision by being clear about our repayment requirements and by explaining our T&Cs in a legible easy to understand manner within our loan agreement/disclosure documents.
  • CWL staff act responsibly and ethically when dealing with borrowers in all instances.
  • CWL management has ensured that our business practices are not oppressive.
  • CWL complies to meet all other legal obligations including those imposed on it by the Fair-Trading Act 1986.
  • CWL is a registered FSP. FSP Number 1965.

Reasonable Enquires.

Cantwait.com takes its responsible lending obligations seriously because of this we undertake reasonable inquiries before we lend to any client.

We use information provided by the borrower during our online application process to assist us in our lending decisions.

We collect information that you have provided to us when you complete & submit our online application forms.

Our online application process gathers a large amount of information from our borrowers. This includes information required to verify identity, suitability, and affordability.

Our application process includes an affordability study, populated with data entered by the borrower which is later confirmed by one of our loan assessors using a 90-day bank statement report which is also collected during the application process.

We may also collect other personal information about you from credit reference agencies.

From the information provided to us, we can assess a client’s financial needs plus his/her current & ongoing creditworthiness & also assess the lending risks to Cantwait.com. We only lend to clients that we believe can make their repayments without causing themselves or their families financial hardship.

How much will we lend?

The amount of money a client can borrow with Cantwait.com is based on his/her affordability and creditworthiness.

We offer clients loans from $250 – $1000 with repayment terms of up to 15 weeks, 7 fortnights, and 3 months.

Lending Criteria:

We consider all things when making our lending decisions, however, we do have a general list of criteria that must be met before finance can be approved:

  • The applicant is a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident.
  • The applicant is aged 18 years or older.
  • The applicant has an active New Zealand bank account in his/her name.
  • Applicant earns $450 in the hand after taxes and deductions each week and wages/payments are directly credited into their bank account.
  • Applicant affordability assessment demonstrates an ability to repay any approved loan without experiencing undue financial hardship.
  • Applicant can meet loan repayment schedules as well as meeting their current financial obligations.
  • The applicant is not already suffering financial hardship, bankruptcy, or SIO/NAP.
  • The applicant’s income is sufficient and stable enough to meet loan repayments, other financial commitments, and living necessities.

Unforeseen hardship:

Unforeseen hardship is classed as illness/injury/redundancy/relationship breakups (including the death of your partner) or anything that would reasonably cause you to be unable to pay your repayments.

If any of our borrowers suffer from unforeseen hardship, we will work with them to establish a mutually acceptable repayment plan for their loan.

If unforeseen events affect your financial circumstances, you must notify CWL by emailing manager@cantwait.co.nz as soon as possible or by visiting the link below:

https://www.cantwait.com/hardship-application/

If you lodge a hardship claim CWL will process this claim within 3 business days.

If the hardship claim is declined CWL will provide written reasons via email telling you why the claim has been declined.

CWL may ask for proof of any unforeseen hardship claim. This may be a redundancy letter/death certificate or medical certificate. This needs to be supplied to us within 48 hours of the request for this information.

Upon receipt of any supporting documents required to process a hardship claim, CWL may either extend the term of the contract so that the amount of each repayment is less or (at our discretion) put you onto a fixed discounted repayment amount plan.

If you default on a hardship repayment plan CWL may pursue debt repayment by normal means including but not limited to, activating the borrower’s wage deduction authority or by sending the borrower’s account to its debt collection agency to collect the debt.

For more information about reasonable “unforeseen hardships “contact your local Community Law Centre communitylaw.org.nz

The borrower cannot claim unforeseen hardship if:

You have not made a loan repayment to CWL for two months or you have missed 4 consecutive repayments.

You knew or had “reasonably foreseen” any of these events when you accepted the loan agreement contract knowing it would be unlikely that you would meet your obligations to the repayment of your debt to CWL.

If none of the above apply, & your hardship claim is reasonable & you are prepared to repay the full amount as specified on the loan contract, CWL may agree to vary the terms of your contract.