The main consumer rights that the Consumer Credit Act 1974 provides for British consumers:
Your right to cancel a credit agreement
You have the right to cancel a credit agreement under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, but this depends how and where the agreement was signed which affects the cooling off period. Whatconsumer.co.uk has summarised this below:
You have a 5 day cooling off period when the credit agreement is not signed at the creditor’s usual place of business:
- in your home
- at your work
- at an exhibition or conference pop-up stand
Note that the 5 days begins when you receive the cancellation form included with the second copy of your credit agreement.
You have a 14 day cooling off period when the credit agreement is signed:
- through a broker
- through an intermediary
- At distance e.g. over the phone
Note the 14 days doesn’t begin until you formally receive notification about how to cancel the contract. Additionally, the creditor may make a reasonable charge for services that you enjoyed prior to cancellation. There is more detail here in the wordpress-186172-549002.cloudwaysapps.com guide to cooling off.
Credit Cards – Section 75
Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act imposes equal liability on the creditor for breaches by the supplier. In other words, if the company you are buying from goes bust or disappears, or if the goods turn out to be faulty and you can’t get recompense from that company, the credit card company shares responsibility to refund you for the entire amount. However, it is important to remember that this is the case only for amounts between £100 and £30,000.
More recently, section 75 was also extended to cover transactions made overseas or to foreign companies. This also includes buying goods for delivery to the UK from overseas by telephone, mail order or over the internet.
There is now widespread awareness of this loophole as a means of enhanced consumer protection. As a result, credit card companies are getting increasingly reluctant to accept claims so easily. If you are having difficulty pursuing a claim against a credit card issuer, or they are telling you that you must first get a court judgement against the supplier, report it to the Financial Ombudsmen (www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk). They may even be able to award you compensation.
CCA Request – Section 77 – 79
Under these two sections of the Consumer Credit Act, it is your right to request a copy of the executed credit agreement from the creditor, along with specific and current information concerning the debt (s 77 relates to fixed-sum loan agreements, s 78 refers to running-account credit (credit cards) and s 79 to hire agreements).
With regard to loans, the specific information must include:
- The total sum to be paid, as per the agreement
- The sum still outstanding and the due dates for each installment
- The total sum payable, if different from the agreement.
The creditor has a period of 12 days working days in order to provide the agreement and the statement. If they cannot provide the information, the debt cannot be enforced until they do. If the creditor are still unable to provide the documents after one month, they commit a criminal offence.
In addition to this requirement, new regulations now require loan providers to provide statements to be sent to the consumer no later than one year after the contract was made. Failure to do this will mean repayments (and interest) can be halted until the statement is sent.
Your request must be made to the creditor (via the debt collection agency if one is involved) with the payment of £1)
Is my credit agreement legally unenforceable?
There has been a lot of publicity surrounding the ability to get out of debt by going through credit agreements with a fine toothcomb in order to spot any breaches of the regulations. In other words, looking for ways in which credit agreements may be rendered legally unenforceable. As mentioned in the previous section, the various Consumer Credit Regulations are very strict on what information must be presented, when it must be presented, and the order and manner in which it is to be shown. If any of the required information is missing, or simply not provided to you within seven days, the supplier may be in breach of these regulations. However, amendments made to the Act in 2006 closed this loophole, so now a court can still enforce a credit agreement even if the creditor has not complied. However, the creditor will still have to get a court order to do this, and may well not bother if the sum is not significant.
Accessing your Credit File
If you have been turned down for a credit agreement, you have the right, under sections 157-159 of the Act, to request that the lender provides you with details of the credit reference agency they used to access your credit file. You must do this in writing within 28 days and the lender must respond to your request within 7. There is more on this in our section on accessing your credit file.
- Consumer Credit Act Required Information
- Ending a Credit Agreement
- Defaults, Arrears and Debt Collection Agencies
- Consumer Credit Act
- Accessing your Credit File
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if 2 people in a relationship purchase an item between them the receipt being in only 1 of their names the relationship breaks down who by law owns the item
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He is in Scotland ( incase the law is different )and believes items were put on his account that he has not signed for.
he now wants to counter claim against them as he paid the bill do to the issue of them taking him to court and at the time could not afford a solicitor to fight them
How does he stand and how do we go about a counter claim if at all possible
any help greatly received
hanks
Regards
Kate
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This company has taken £5.000
pounds of my money.
For dental work, that has not been completed.
The phone lines are unobtainable.
I am a Senior Citizen, this money is my savings