Consumer Credit

Toby Riley-Smith and Henry Warwick, of Henderson Chambers, provide an overview of the regime under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA) and its subordinate regulations. Among other things, they consider: The scope and application of the CCA. The core requirements relating to regulated agreements. Judicial orders. Licensing. Advertising.

A practice note explaining where to find EU law content from a topic page.

A summary of the key changes to the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA), and a number of the regulations made under that Act, that took effect on 1 February 2011 as a result of the UK implementation of the Consumer Credit Directive (2008/48/EC) (CCD). Changes to the UK consumer credit regime made after 1 February 2011 are outside the scope of this note.

A transposition table that explains how the Consumer Credit Directive (2008/48/EC) (CCD) has been implemented in the UK. The table gives a brief explanation of the objectives of each of the CCD Articles and identifies the UK legal and regulatory provisions that have implemented each Article. The CCD was fully implemented in the UK on 1 February 2011.

An overview of the application of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 to loans to employees or directors made or arranged by the company in the context of an employee share scheme.

An overview of the government's plans for a single retail financial services regulator in the UK. The government has decided to transfer the OFT's consumer credit responsibility to the FCA. The transfer is expected to take effect on 1 April 2014 (the date that the OFT will cease to exist). The government believes that this will address the fundamental weakness arising from the current split in responsibility for retail financial services between the OFT and the FCA. Please note that we are in the process of updating this note to take account of the following consultation papers on the FCA's consumer credit regime, both of which were published on 6 March 2013: A joint HM Treasury and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) consultation paper, A new approach to financial regulation: transferring consumer credit regulation to the Financial Conduct Authority. An FSA consultation paper, High-level proposals for an FCA regime for consumer credit (CP13/7). For an overview of the proposals set out in these consultation papers, see Legal update, Government and FSA consult on transferring consumer credit regulation to the FCA.

An outline of the government's review of the consumer credit regime, which was carried out between July 2010 and November 2011. The review was intended to focus primarily on matters that may have needed urgent attention.

An overview of the OFT's anti-money laundering (AML) regime under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/2157) (MLRs). The regime applies to consumer credit lenders carrying on business in the UK who are not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) or supervised by HMRC as a money service business (MSB). Consumer credit lenders that fall within the OFT's regime are known as "consumer credit financial institutions" or "CCFIs". CCFIs have had to comply with AML legislation since 1994. However, until the MLRs came into force on 15 December 2007 CCFIs did not have a statutory supervisor.  The OFT's regime under the MLRs also applies to estate agents, however, they are outside the scope of this note.

An overview of the OFT's debt management guidance, and its work in this area. The debt management sector has been a high priority for the OFT over the last few years due to the significant risks to consumers from debt management businesses not complying with the required standards under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA).

An overview of the OFT's irresponsible lending guidance, and its work in this area, including its mental capacity guidance and guidance for credit broker and intermediaries.

This practice note provides an overview of some of the OFT's work on the retail banking sector in the past few years.  In particular, it outlines the OFT's test case on unauthorised bank overdraft charges, its related market study of personal current accounts (PCAs) and its recent PCA review. 

A summary of the key requirements of the regime under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA) for lenders and hirers entering into regulated agreements. This note is designed to help firms to easily identify and access the key legal and regulatory requirements in this area. The key requirements are set out in table format and the table includes links to the relevant legal and regulatory requirements.

In this note, Toby Riley-Smith of Henderson Chambers explains the pre-contract information requirements under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA) regime. These requirements are mainly set out in the Consumer Credit (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/1013) (Disclosure Regulations), which were made under section 55 of the CCA.

An overview of the regime established by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA) and subordinate legislation in relation to the regulation of consumer credit advertisements.

In this practice note, Toby Riley-Smith of Henderson Chambers provides an overview of the "unfair relationships" test under sections 140A to 140D of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA) and identifies a number of themes emerging from reported cases. For more information on the key unfair relationship cases, including links to case transcripts, OFT case summaries and related PLC Financial Services materials, see CCA unfair relationships: case tracker.

Consideration of issues that arise if an agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA) is varied or supplemented, and discusion of some of the problems that arise in documenting a modifying agreement as defined by that Act.