Consumer Credit Act 1974

Consumer Credit Act 1974

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	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.
Citation	1974 c. 39
Introduced by	Geoffrey Howe (Commons)
Territorial extent	England & Wales Scotland Northern Ireland
Dates
Royal assent	31 July 1974
Commencement	31 July 1974, 19 May 1985
Other legislation
Amended by	Enterprise Act 2002 Consumer Credit Act 2006
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Consumer Credit Act 1974 (c. 39) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that significantly reformed the law relating to consumer credit within the United Kingdom. The act remains in force, albeit heavily amended and partially replaced.

Prior to the Consumer Credit Act, legislation covering consumer credit was slapdash and focused on particular areas rather than consumer credit as a whole, such as moneylenders and hire-purchase agreements. Following the report of the Crowther Committee in 1971 it was decided that wide-ranging reform of consumer credit law was needed, and a bill to do this was introduced to Parliament. Despite its progress through Parliament being disrupted by a general election, the bill passed quickly through the legislative process thanks to support from both the government and the opposition, coming into law on 31 July 1974.

The Act introduced new protection for consumers and new regulation for bodies trading in consumer credit and related industries. Such traders were required to have full licenses, originally issued by the Office of Fair Trading, which may be suspended or revoked in the event of irregularities. The Act also regulates what may be taken as security, limits the ways in which credit organisations can advertise and gives the County Court the ability to intercede in the case of unfair or unjust credit agreements. It also gives additional rights to the debtor, including certain limited rights to cancel concluded agreements.

The Act has seen multiple amendments, both small and large. The Consumer Credit Act 2006 (an amending act) inserted many further provisions, which sought to further strengthen protection for consumers. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 represented a more comprehensive overhaul of all financial regulation. An amending order made under that Act in 2013^[1] removed large swathes of the Consumer Credit Act. Part 1 was repealed in its entirety, with oversight transferred from the Office of Fair Trading (now abolished) to the Financial Conduct Authority. Many substantive regulations were also removed, but in many cases these were (broadly speaking) restated in the Regulated Activities Order.