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Fred Philpott on why consumer credit law faces its biggest overhaul in 50 years
Changes to consumer credit legislation are set to produce the greatest upheaval in this area of law for more than 50 years.
In July 1974, the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA 1974) received royal assent and transformed the legal framework for consumer credit. Now, much of that framework is to be dismantled.
Before CCA 1974, consumer credit law was piecemeal. Yet it affects almost everyone in the UK. We may borrow money through a loan, hire-purchase agreement, mortgage or credit card; work for a business that provides credit; advise such a business; or encounter CCA 1974 in a corporate transaction involving one.
Few people have no connection with consumer credit. A credit card, for example, gives access to a line of credit through a regulated consumer credit agreement.
CCA 1974 emerged from the Crowther Committee’s 1971 report (Cmnd 4596). It was drafted by Francis Bennion, one of the leading parliamentary counsel of the last century. The Act consolidated the law relating to moneylenders, pawnbrokers and hire-purchase.
