Amendments to the new consumer credit legislation came into force on Friday, but Treasury did not issue the regulations in time for some of the changes to take effect.The Consumer Credit Legislation Amendment (Enhancements) Act 2012 introduces changes to the hardship provisions in the National Consumer Credit Protection Act. It also changes the rules covering reverse mortgages, salary deductions and interest-rate caps on small, short-term loans.Treasury wrote to stakeholders on Friday, saying regulations giving effect to the new hardship provisions were not ready. It has introduced some transitional arrangements.One of the new requirements is that lenders and lessors must give notice when they agree to change a credit contract because of hardship. Under the transitional arrangements, they will be exempt from that requirement until March 2014.Under the new hardship rules, the concept of a hardship application has been replaced by a hardship notice. If debtors can't meet their obligations under a credit contract they may give notice of their inability to meet these obligations. A hardship notice can be given orally or in writing.Once a lender has received a hardship notice, it has 21 days in which to issue an information notice seeking further information from the borrower. The borrower has 21 days in which to respond.The lender then has 21 days in which to issue a decision notice. Failure to issue a notice to the borrower within the required time, outlining the lender's decision whether or not to change the terms of the loan contract, can attract a civil penalty of up to A$1.7 million.A lender cannot start enforcement proceedings before responding to the hardship notice, and 14 days must have passed since the issue of the response. Borrowers have the right to appeal the decision to an ombudsman.Treasury also said last week that there were no regulations covering the new reverse mortgage rules (which are mostly additional responsible lending provisions). Treasury said it was "considering" deferring the commencement of the obligations until May 1 of this year.Last month, Treasury decided to defer the inclusion of small business lending in the National Consumer Credit Protection Act. In December, Treasury issued a draft bill for consultation - the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Credit Reform Phase 2) Bill 2012. The draft bill introduced reforms covering credit provided for investment purposes, some forms of private lending, consumer leases, and credit provided to small businesses.In a letter to stakeholders, a senior Treasury adviser said: "Consultations so far on the reforms… indicate that there is a need to further examine a number of key issues. "The release of the exposure draft has raised consideration of whether the benefits could be delivered in a more targeted and effective way, through the development of a different model from that in the phase 2 bill. As a result, any reforms to small business finance will be deferred."