Legalize / United Kingdom / Statutory-Instrument

The Consumer Credit (Agreements) Regulations 1983

Type Statutory-Instrument

Publication 1983-10-24

State In force

Department Westlaw

Source legislation.gov.uk

Reform history JSON API PDF

Made: 24th October 1983

Laid before Parliament: 3rd November 1983

Coming into Operation: 19th May 1985

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 60, 61(1)(a), 105(9), 114(1), 127(3), 182(2) and 189(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:—

Citation, commencement and interpretation

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(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Consumer Credit (Agreements) Regulations 1983 and shall come into operation on 19th May 1985.

(2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

“the Act” means the Consumer Credit Act 1974;

“advance payment” includes any deposit and in relation to a regulated consumer credit agreement includes also any part-exchange allowance in respect of any goods agreed in antecedent negotiations to be taken by the creditor in part-exchange but does not include a repayment of credit or any insurance premium or any amount entering into the total charge for credit;

“the APR” means the annual percentage rate of charge for credit determined in accordance with the total charge for credit rules and Schedule 7 to these Regulations and, in the case of modifying agreements, Regulation 7 of, and Part I of Schedule 8 to, these Regulations;

“cancellable agreement” includes an agreement which is a modifying agreement treated under section 82(5) of the Act as a cancellable agreement;

“cash price” in relation to any goods, services, land or other things means the price or charge at which the goods, services, land or other things may be purchased by, or supplied to, the debtor for cash;

“contract of shortfall insurance” means anything in writing which contains or purports to contain some promise or assurance (however worded or presented) that if a sum payable under a contract of insurance against loss of or damage to goods is less than the amount necessary to defray—any amount of credit provided to finance the purchase of those goods; andany other amount included in the total charge for that credit,to the extent that these remain unpaid at the date of the loss or damage, a sum up to but not exceeding that shortfall will be paid;

“earlier credit agreement” means an earlier agreement for the provision of credit;

“earlier hire agreement” means an earlier agreement for the bailment or the hiring of goods;

“guarantee of goods” means anything in writing which contains or purports to contain some promise or assurance (however worded or presented) that defects in goods will be made good by complete or partial replacement, or by repair, monetary compensation or otherwise;

“hire payment” means any payment to be made by the hirer in relation to any period in consideration of the bailment or hiring to him of goods under a regulated consumer hire agreement;

“lettering” includes figures and symbols;

“modified agreement” means an earlier agreement as varied or supplemented by a modifying agreement, which is treated as— revoking the earlier agreement, andcontaining provisions reproducing the combined effect of the two agreements;

“the relevant date” means—where a date is specified in or determinable under an agreement at the date of its making as that on which the debtor is entitled to require the provision of anything under the agreement, the earliest such date, orwhere no such date is specified or determinable, the date of the making of the agreement;

“total charge for credit” shall be determined in accordance with the total charge for credit rules and Schedule 7 to these Regulations and, in the case of modifying agreements, Regulation 7 of, and Part I of Schedule 8 to, these Regulations; and

“the total charge for credit rules” means rules made by the Financial Conduct Authority under article 60M of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 for the purposes of Chapter 14A of Part 2 of that Order.

(2A) References in these Regulations to contracts of insurance must be read with—

(a) section 22 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000;

(b) any relevant order under that section; and

(3) In these Regulations, any reference to a repayment is a reference to—

(a) a repayment of the whole or any part of the credit;

(b) a payment of the whole or any part of the total charge for credit; or

Form and content of regulated consumer credit agreements

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(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (9) below, documents embodying regulated consumer credit agreements (other than modifying agreements) shall contain the information set out in Column 2 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations in so far as it relates to the type of agreement referred to in Column 1.

(2) Where any information about financial and related particulars set out in paragraphs 9 to 11 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations cannot be exactly ascertained by the creditor, estimated information based on the assumptions referred to in paragraph 10 of that Schedule, where applicable, and otherwise such assumptions as the creditor may reasonably make in all the circumstances of the case and a statement of the assumptions made shall be included in documents embodying regulated consumer credit agreements.

(3) Subject to paragraph (9) below, documents embodying regulated consumer credit agreements, other than agreements of the description specified in the Schedule to the Consumer Credit (Notices of Cancellation Rights) (Exemptions) Regulations 1983 in relation to which there are no charges forming part of the total charge for credit (in this regulation referred to as “exempted agreements”), shall contain statements of the protection and remedies available to debtors under the Act, in the Form numbered in Column 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 2 to these Regulations and set out in Column 3, in so far as they relate to the type of agreement referred to in Column 2.

(4) Subject to paragraphs (5) and (9) below, the information, statements of the protection and remedies, signature and separate boxes which this regulation requires documents embodying regulated consumer credit agreements to contain, shall be set out in the order given by paragraphs (a) to (f) below under, where applicable, the headings specified below—

(a) the nature of the agreement as set out in paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations;

(b) the parties to the agreement as set out in paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations;

(c) under the heading “Key Financial Information”, the financial and related particulars set out in paragraphs 6 to 8B, 11 to 14 and 15 to 17 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations;

(d) under the heading “Other Financial Information”, the financial and related particulars set out in paragraphs 3 to 5, 9, 10, 14A and 18 to 19A of Schedule 1 to these regulations;

(e) under the heading “Key Information”—

(i) the information set out in paragraphs 20 to 24 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations; and

(ii) the statements of protection and remedies set out in Schedule 2 to these Regulations; and

(f) the signature box and, where applicable, the separate box required by paragraph (7)(b) below;

and such information, statements of protection and remedies, signature and separate boxes shall be shown together as a whole and shall not be preceded by any information apart from trade names, logos or the reference number of the agreement or interspersed with any other information or wording apart from subtotals of total amounts and cross references to the terms of the agreement.

(5) In the case of documents embodying restricted-use debtor-creditor-supplier agreements for fixed-sum credit to finance a transaction comprising the acquisition of goods, services, land or other things specified in the agreement or identified and agreed on at the time the agreement is made and relating to more than one description of goods, services, land or other things, the cash prices, and the total cash price, referred to in paragraph 4 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations may be shown in a schedule to such document together with each description of the goods, services, land or other things, provided that the total cash price and a reference to the schedule to such document are shown together with the information required by paragraph (4)(d) above.

(6) The APR referred to in paragraphs 15 to 17 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations shall in documents embodying regulated consumer credit agreements, other than exempted agreements—

(a) be denoted as “APR” or “annual percentage rate” or “annual percentage rate of the total charge for credit; and

(b) where it is subject to change, be accompanied by the word “variable”.

(7) Documents embodying regulated consumer credit agreements other than exempted agreements shall, subject to paragraph (9) below, contain a signature box in the Form numbered in Column 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 5 to these Regulations and set out in Column 3 in so far as it relates to the type of agreement referred to in Column 2 and shall—

(a) if—

(i) the documents embody a principal agreement and subsidiary agreement to which paragraph (9) below applies; or

(ii) at the time of entering into the agreement the debtor is also purchasing an optional contract of insurance which will be financed by credit advanced under that agreement,

contain a form of consent in the Form set out in Part III of Schedule 5 immediately below the signature box required by this paragraph; and

(b) if the agreement is one to which section 58(1) of the Act applies, is a cancellable agreement or is an agreement under which a person takes any article in pawn and under which the pawn-receipt is not separate from the document embodying the agreement, contain a separate box immediately above, below or adjacent to the signature box in which shall be included the appropriate statements specified in Forms 1 and 4 to 6 of Part 1, and in Part II, of Schedule 2.

(8) Paragraph (9) applies to documents embodying a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement falling within section 12(a) of the Act or a debtor-creditor agreement (in this paragraph and paragraph (9) in either case referred to as “the principal agreement”) and also embodying, or containing the option of, a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement falling within section 12(b) of the Act (in this paragraph and paragraph (9) referred to as “the subsidiary agreement”) where the subsidiary agreement is to finance a premium under one or more of—

(a) a contract of insurance to provide a sum payable in the event of the death of a debtor or a debtor suffering one or more of the following:—

(i) accident;

(ii) sickness; and

(iii) unemployment,

at any time before the credit under the principal agreement and the subsidiary agreement has been repaid, where the sum payable does not exceed the amount sufficient to defray the sums payable to the creditor in respect of that credit and of the total charge for credit and where the policy monies payable under the contract of insurance are to be used for a repayment under the principal agreement and the subsidiary agreement;

(b) a contract of shortfall insurance; and

(9) Documents to which this paragraph applies may contain instead of the headings specified in paragraph 1 of Schedules 1 or 8 to these Regulations, statements of protection and remedies available to debtors under the Act and signature boxes that would otherwise apply—

(a) a heading and signature box in so far as they relate to the principal agreement;

(b) a statement in Form 14 of Part I of Schedule 2 to these Regulations; and

(c) other statements (other than in Form 16 of Part I of Schedule 2) of the protection and remedies available to debtors under the Act in so far as they relate to the principal agreement.

(10) Documents embodying regulated consumer credit agreements shall embody any security provided in relation to the regulated agreement by the debtor.

Form and content of regulated consumer hire agreements

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(1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, documents embodying regulated consumer hire agreements (other than modifying agreements) shall contain the information set out in Column 2 of Schedule 3 to these Regulations in so far as it relates to the type of agreement referred to in Column 1.

(2) Where any information about financial and related particulars set out in paragraphs 5 and 6 of Schedule 3 to these Regulations cannot be exactly ascertained by the owner, estimated information based on such assumptions as the owner may reasonably make in all the circumstances of the case and an indication of the assumptions made shall be included in documents embodying regulated consumer hire agreements.

(3) Documents embodying regulated consumer hire agreements shall contain statements of the protection and remedies available to hirers under the Act, in the Form numbered in Column 1 of Schedule 4 to these Regulations and set out in Column 3, in so far as they relate to the type of agreement referred to in Column 2.

(4) Subject to paragraph (5) below the information, statements of the protection and remedies, signature and separate boxes which this regulation requires documents embodying regulated consumer hire agreements to contain, shall be set out in the order given by paragraphs (a) to (e) below under, where applicable, the headings specified below:—

(a) the nature of the agreement as set out in paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 to these Regulations;

(b) the parties to the agreement as set out in paragraph 2 of Schedule 3 to these Regulations;

(c) under the heading “Key Financial Information”, the financial and related particulars set out in paragraphs 3 to 8 of Schedule 3 to these Regulations;

(d) under the heading “Key Information”—

(i) the information set out in paragraphs 9 to 11 of Schedule 3 to these Regulations; and

(ii) the statements of protection and remedies set out in Schedule 4 to these Regulations; and

(e) the signature box and, where applicable, the separate box required by paragraph (6) below,

(5) In the case of documents embodying consumer hire agreements relating to more than one description of goods to be bailed or hired under the agreement, the list or other description of the goods referred to in paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to these Regulations may be shown in a schedule to such document, provided that a reference to the schedule to such document is shown together with the remaining financial and related particulars specified in paragraph (4)(c) above.

(6) Documents embodying regulated consumer hire agreements shall contain a signature box in the Form numbered in Column 1 of Part II of Schedule 5 to these Regulations and set out in Column 3, in so far as it relates to the type of agreement referred to in Column 2 and shall, if the agreement is one to which section 58(1) of the Act applies or is a cancellable agreement, contain a separate box immediately above, below or adjacent to the signature box in which shall be included the appropriate statements specified in Forms 1, 4 and 5 of Schedule 4.

(7) Documents embodying regulated consumer hire agreements shall embody any security provided in relation to the regulated agreement by the hirer.

Pawn-receipts

4

Where a pawn-receipt is given under section 114(1) of the Act, by a person who takes any article in pawn under a regulated consumer credit agreement or a modifying agreement varying or supplementing an earlier credit agreement which is, or is treated under section 82(3) of the Act as, a regulated agreement, and where the pawn-receipt is not separate from any document embodying such an agreement, it shall—

(a) contain the information set out in paragraphs 1, 2 and 20 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations, or, in the case of a modifying agreement varying or supplementing an earlier credit agreement, in paragraphs 1 , 2 and 20 of Part I of Schedule 8; and

(b) contain a notice in the Form numbered 18 in Column 1 of Part II of Schedule 2 to these Regulations and set out in Column 3.

Statutory Forms

5

(1) The wording of any Form specified in Schedule 2, 4 and 5 to these Regulations shall be reproduced in documents embodying regulated agreements without any alteration or addition, except that—

(a) the words “the creditor” or “the owner” may be replaced by the name of the creditor or owner, by the expression by which the creditor or owner is referred to in the agreement or by an appropriate pronoun, and any consequential changes to pronouns and verbs or other consequential grammatical changes may be made;

(b) the word “DEBTOR” may be replaced by “BORROWER” or “CUSTOMER” and the word “Debtor(s)” may be replaced by “Borrower(s)” or “Customer(s)”; and

(2) Any such footnote shall not be treated as part of any Form specified in the said Schedules and may be reproduced in addition to any such Form.

(3) Where any such footnote requires any words to be omitted, those words shall be omitted or deleted.

(4) Where words are shown in capital letters in any Form specified in Schedule 2, 4 or 5 to these Regulations and are reproduced in documents embodying regulated agreements, they shall be afforded more prominence (whether by capital letters, underlining, large or bold print or otherwise) than any other lettering in that Form except lettering inserted in accordance with paragraph (1)(c) above and no less prominence than that given to any other information in the document apart from the heading to the document, ... trade names, names of parties to the agreement or lettering in the document inserted in handwriting.

Signing of agreement

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