When confronted by the allegation of having offered her reckless credit, MQ Finance disagreed and said that the consumer not having given them all the needed and accurate information.
They defended the math they had done and stood by their decision. When the matter went before the National Consumer Tribunal (NCT) they leaned on a complete defence in terms of NCA Section 81(4), effectively blaming the consumer for lying.
The hearing eventually revealed that they were, in fact, the ones who ignored the provided information and even though they could work out she would not have enough to keep up repayments they still granted her the credit.
The NCT then ruled that they should have checked her salary slips (which she did not have yet) and should not have ignored her being married COP. They ruled that the credit provider had not taken reasonable steps to verify information and the credit was granted recklessly.
As a result, they ordered the return of the vehicle and that the credit agreement was cancelled.
They also issued MQ Finance a R100 000 fine to remind them to check the facts properly in the future.