Posts Tagged ‘Consumer Credit Act 1974’
The Consumer Credit Act 1974
The Consumer Credit Act 1974
Credit Cards and Unsecured Loan Write Off – How does it work?
What is the Consumer Credit act 1974?
The official long title is: “An Act to establish for the protection of consumers a new system, administered by the Director General of Fair Trading, of licensing and other control of traders concerned with the provision of credit, or the supply of goods on hire or hire-purchase, and their transactions, in place of the present enactments regulating moneylenders, pawnbrokers and hire-purchase traders and their transactions; and for related matters”
The Consumer Credit Act of 1974 was brought about to protect UK Consumers, however, the terms that allowed the consumer protection were not clear and therefore for years the Credit Industry was allowed free reign with little resistance or challenge from consumers.
These unclear terms of protection have now been changed as a result of the Consumer Credit Act of 2007. This makes it clear to all parties that Consumers can challenge a Credit Agreement if they believe it to be unfair. If proven to be unfair and unenforceable then they may be able to have theire credit card or personal loan taken out before April 2007 written off.
Our specialist financial compensation claims solicitors can check, audit or review your agreements and confirm if they are unfair or indeed unenforceable. If you believe you may have taken up an “Unfair Credit Agreement” they can handle the whole process for you including if necessary taking your Lender all the way to Court.
Our team of solicitors combine their knowledge and experience in finance with their Legal Panel’s expert legal advice to ‘Audit’ your credit agreement.
They can check that your agreement complies with the prescribed terms defined in the Consumer Credit Act of 1974. The Consumer Credit Act 1974 exists to protect the rights of lenders and borrowers who are in contract with each other.
Millions of credit agreements, ranging from credit cards to loans may be in breach of the Act and may be deemed to be unenforceable. Where a borrower’s agreement is declared ‘unenforceable’ he/she would not be required to make any future repayments and may have the debt legally written off.
What can I claim?
Irrespective of whom your credit card or unsecured loan provider is, so long as the balance is over £1,000 we could help. Once signed up our specialist team will obtain and ‘Audit’ your agreements and they will then guide you through the rest of the process.
No matter how many credit cards, store cards or loans you have they could help with them all. If your case meets the qualifying criteria the balance of your credit or unsecured loan could be written off in full.
In Debt Solutions invites you to visit Challenge Your Agreements under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 to find out if your agreements qualify.
Robert Mitchell Vs Bank Of Scotland
Robert Mitchell Vs Bank Of Scotland
Robert Mitchell, a self employed, sixty year old from Wetherby in Yorkshire recently challenged the enforceability of his Credit Card debt with Bank of Scotland, in Leeds County Court
His Legal representative used a Legal argument prepared by Queens Council (a very senior Barrister). Mr Mitchell’s case centred around his claim that when he took out his Credit Card, through his local Halifax branch, his application form did not contain all of the terms & conditions applicable to the Credit Agreement and that he was not provided with any other form of Credit Agreement
Prior to the Court hearing, Bank of Scotland argued in their defence that when Mr Mitchell originally took out his Credit Card, he was provided with a separate document containing the terms & conditions of the Credit Agreement. However, Mr Mitchell could not recall receiving this document and Bank of Scotland were unable to prove that he had received it, because their terms & conditions booklet did not contain a section allowing him to sign to confirm receipt
Mr Mitchell’s Legal representative argued that under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, a Credit Agreement is only binding or enforceable if it is a single document that contains all of the prescribed terms (terms & conditions of the Credit Agreement) and has been signed by both Borrower and Lender, in keeping with section 61(a) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974
Judge Langan QC, decided in Leeds County Court that Mr Mitchell’s Credit Card Agreement with Bank of Scotland was Legally Unenforceable and then ordered that all costs should be paid in full by Bank of Scotland to Mr Mitchell, which included the costs of his Legal representative and his Barrister
Mr Mitchell, following the Trial, commented that he was delighted with the outcome but disappointed that he needed to take this issue to Court and stated: “I hit problems because the bank kept increasing my credit limit and in the end I was struggling to simply pay the interest” and “The bank didn’t seem to listen to me. I kept making the same arguments, but it took court action before finally the Bank of Scotland were made to concede that they had no case”
Following his verdict, Judge Langan QC commented that he believes that the Bank of Scotland did not fight the case because it feared highlighting failings in their Credit Card lending system that may open the floodgates to numerous further claims