ASIC has placed greater emphasis on credit providers and brokers obtaining reliable and up-to-date information about consumers' financial situations in meeting their responsible lending obligations.It also wants licensees to understand more about a borrower's requirements and objectives.The regulator yesterday released updated guidance on the responsible lending obligations in the National Consumer Credit Protection Act.The guidance includes examples of the range of inquiries and verification steps that would be appropriate for different credit types and consumer circumstances.It has more detailed guidance about how spending reductions may be considered as part of the consumer's financial situation.ASIC has provided more detailed guidance on the use of expenses benchmarks. And it places more emphasis on verifying information provided by brokers.The primary objective of the responsible lending obligations is to minimise the risk that consumers enter into an unsuitable credit product or increase the credit limit on an existing product to a level that is not sustainable.It covers home loans, reverse mortgages, residential investment loans, personal loans, credit cards, small and medium amount credit contracts and consumer leases.The rules do not cover business loans. Credit to purchase investment products like shares or managed funds is also not covered.When ASIC kicked off the process with the release of a consultation paper in February, it said it was concerned that "since the start of the responsible lending regime instances where licensees have failed to take sufficient steps in order to comply with their obligations".And it wanted to bring the guidelines up to date to take account of developments such as comprehensive credit reporting.The big issue in the consultation paper was whether to "more clearly identify the inquiries and steps that we think are important for licensees in complying with their responsible lending obligations".It its response to submissions released with the updated guidance yesterday, ASIC said: "Industry participants generally prefer that the flexibility of principles-based guidance be maintained. "However, they would appreciate more clarity through guidance  (for example, illustrative examples) to improve consistency in standards applied across industry and help licensees to:•    establish an appropriate starting point for inquiries and verification steps;•    identify circumstances when more inquiries and verification steps may need to be taken; and•    identify exceptions, where fewer inquiries and verification steps may be reasonable."