Court elaborates on effect of business purpose declarations under Credit Code 

Date: 22 April 2025 
Court: Federal Court of Australia – New South Wales District Registry 
Judge(s): Shariff J 
Judgment date: 15 April 2025 
Catchwords: Consumer credit- whether credit provided for domestic, household or personal use, operation of statutory presumptions in s 13 of NCC- whether business purpose declarations effective-making reasonable enquiries 

Background:

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) initiated action against Max Funding Pty Limited (Max), Green County Pty Limited (Green) and Ms Ng, a director of Green and an officer of Max. Max was a website operator who advertised readily accessible small business loans and acted as an intermediary referring prospective borrowers to Green. Green operated as a credit provider. 

ASIC’s case was focused on two customers (Customer 1 and 2). ASIC alleged that several loans and credit services provided to each of these customers were within scope of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act (NCCP) and National Credit Code (Code). As such ASIC alleged that Green and Max contravened s 29 of the NCCP, by engaging in a credit activity without holding a credit licence, s 17(4) and (6) of the Code, which at a high level…