Centre considers bank test case

THE Free Legal Advice Centre said it would consider taking a test case against the banks on the grounds of reckless lending – but only if the conditions were right.

However, senior policy officer Paul Joyce said it would be a “big ask” to establish that a lender was liable because of economic developments that had occurred after a loan had been drawn down.

This year in South Africa a court found a bank, Asba, guilty of reckless lending after granting a pensioner a loan, despite knowing the instalments would be more than his entire monthly income.

The ruling was made under the country’s National Credit Act.