Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Credit (Administration) Act 1984 - SECT 13

Powers of the Director in relation to proceedings on behalf of consumers

13. Powers of the Director in relation to proceedings on behalf of consumers



(1) The Director may, subject to this section, institute or continue
proceedings on behalf of, or defend proceedings brought against, a person or
persons in respect of any consumer credit matter.

(2) The Director must not, under subsection (1), institute or continue or
defend proceedings unless the Director is satisfied-

   (a)  that the person or persons have a good cause of action or a good
        defence to an action relating to the consumer credit matter; and

   (b)  that the person or each of the persons is a debtor, mortgagor or
        guarantor, or a lessee under a consumer lease, within the meaning of
        the Consumer Credit (Victoria) Code; and

   (c)  that it is in the public interest to institute, continue or defend
        proceedings on behalf of the person or persons.

(3) The Director must not, under subsection (1), institute, continue or defend
proceedings on behalf of a person or persons unless-

   (a)  the person has or the persons have given consent in writing; or

   (b)  in the case of group proceedings or representative proceedings, the
        representative party has given consent.

(4) After consent has been given under subsection (3), the Director may
institute or continue proceedings or defend proceedings on behalf of a person
or persons even if the person or any of the persons revokes the consent.

(5) In this section-

consumer credit matter means any matter in respect of which proceedings may be
brought under the Consumer Credit (Victoria) Code or Division 5 of Part 4A of
the Consumer Credit (Victoria) Act 1995; proceedings includes group
proceedings and representative proceedings.