Sio William: Credit Reforms (Responsible Lending) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sio William: Credit Reforms (Responsible Lending) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 21 July 2010. Volume:665;Page:12588. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 I join with my colleagues tonight in recommending the Credit Reforms (Responsible Lending) Bill to this House and thanking members for their support. I simply appeal to those who are able to acknowledge that we have a problem in our communities with loan sharks. I ask members to consider the matter before they vote. 
Yesterday some of us joined Carol Beaumont and others who support her member’s bill in front of Parliament where in a symbolic gesture we attempted to use a net to catch a young man who was dressed in a shark suit. In my mind that was a very powerful symbol that highlighted what Carol Beaumont’s bill is attempting to do. It reminds me of a Samoan proverb “E mana’o i le i’a ae manumanu i le upega”. Literally speaking it means “If you want to catch fish you cannot be worried about tearing your net”. Another meaning of this proverb could be “If we want to protect our people to protect the vulnerable New Zealanders we must build a stronger safety net”. 
This bill is a small safety net in the overall scheme of things. It is a small step in efforts to prevent fringe lenders or loan sharks from charging excessive interest rates. It is a step change towards ensuring that loan sharks are more responsible when lending money especially when lending money to vulnerable people. It is a small signal to unscrupulous lenders who are in a powerful position in an extremely free environment where they can charge any amount of interest. This bill is a signal to those loan sharks about their predatory behaviour in exploiting poor people who are not financially savvy in their time of desperation. We are saying to those loan sharks that that sort of behaviour is unacceptable in our community in any city in New Zealand. Loan sharks’ unbridled exploitation of desperate people is unacceptable to the Kiwi way of life. 
The concept of interest is difficult for many Pacific people to get their heads around. From a Pacific eye the concept is better understood when the word “usury” is used in the Bible. Many who understand the term will recognise that it is promoted as evil. It is a bad thing. If we love our brother then we will not charge an arm and a leg when our brother is in need—or our sister for that matter. That is what this bill is about. People who approach loan sharks go to them as the last resort. They are unable to get loans from banks or the help they need from credit unions so they go to these loan sharks in desperation for simple things like the rent or the electricity bill that is 2 weeks overdue. The loans sharks know that they are desperate. They know that these people will struggle with repayments and that is why they add on that particular interest. The minute somebody is unable to pay that loan other costs are added on to it. 
A short example is of a man who owed $300 to the Ministry of Justice which confiscated his car. He did not have $300. He went to a loan shark to borrow that money to get his car so he could get to work. Today 3 or 4 months later he has paid the $300 but he is still paying interest to the loan shark he borrowed the money from. 
The way that loan sharks advertise and behave is really predatory. They use people who are familiar to them in a friendly manner.