Consumer credit in Malaysia: is there a need for a single statute / Nuraini Hussein … [et al.]

The purpose of this research is to analyse the effectiveness of the Moneylenders Act 1951, Pawnbrokers Act 1972 and Hire-Purchase Act 1967 in regulating credit transactions in Malaysia and compare them with the Consumer Credit Act 2006 of the United Kingdom and also the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 of New Zealand. Analysis and comparative studies are made to make a proposition on whether there is a need for a single and codified Act to govern all types of credit transactions in Malaysia. In doing so, recent amendments that have been made to the Moneylenders Act 1951, Pawnbrokers Act 1972 and Hire-Purchase Act 1967 are taken into account to assess whether the need, if any, for a single law governing credit transactions in Malaysia is still valid. The outcome of this study shows that the laws governing credit transactions have many weaknesses which place consumers at a disadvantage position. Despite the recent amendments that have been made to these statutes, they are still unable to give adequate protections to consumers as effective as the Consumer Credit Act 2006 of the United Kingdom or the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 of New Zealand. Thus, in this research it is strongly recommended that the steps taken by the United Kingdom and New Zealand in enacting a single and codified Act to govern all types of credit transactions should be followed by Malaysia.