Your rights under the Consumer Credit Act

The Consumer Credit Act 1974 is the main law protecting people who borrow money in the UK. It sets out what a lender must tell you before you sign, gives you a copy of your agreement, allows you 14 days to change your mind, and makes your credit card provider as responsible as the shop when something goes wrong with a purchase over £100. It also limits what you owe if a card is stolen and sets rules a lender must follow before it can take action against you for falling behind.

The Act's definition of credit is deliberately wide: "credit" includes a cash loan and any other form of financial accommodation¹. In practice it covers the borrowing most people have: credit cards, personal loans, overdrafts, store cards, high-cost credit loans and hire purchase². The Act is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 28 September 2026, though further changes may be brought in at a future date, and the government has announced plans to repeal much of it (see the section on reform below).

Which borrowing the Consumer Credit Act covers

The Act applies to "regulated" credit agreements, which is most borrowing by individuals for personal purposes. The Bank of England, which tracks the market, defines consumer credit as borrowing by UK individuals to finance current spending on goods and services, excluding Student Loans Company loans⁸. It splits that into two components: credit card lending, and "other" lending, which is mainly overdrafts and other loans and advances⁸.

The Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) research on the Act lists the products it covers: credit cards, loans, overdrafts, store cards, high-cost credit loans and hire purchase². So a personal loan from a bank, a store card at a retailer, an arranged overdraft, a hire purchase agreement on a car and a payday-style high-cost loan all fall within the Act's scope, provided the agreement is a regulated one and the lender is authorised.

The Act also reaches beyond lending itself. Its protections extend to people being advised about their debts: FCA guidance defines debt counselling as giving advice to a borrower under a credit agreement or a hirer under a consumer hire agreement⁹. That matters because the Act's rules on information, statements and enforcement sit behind the whole consumer credit market, not just one product type.

If you are unsure whether your agreement is regulated, the agreement itself should say. You can also check whether the lender appears on the FCA Register, since only authorised firms can enter regulated agreements. The pages on how personal borrowing works and types of loan set out the main forms of borrowing and where each one sits.

Where the Act does not apply

Several categories of borrowing sit outside the Act, and knowing which can change what you can claim.

The Act itself states that it does not regulate a consumer credit agreement where the creditor is a local authority or a building society, or a body specified in an order made by the Secretary of State¹. Exemption orders made under the Act list further categories: the Act "shall not regulate" certain agreements¹⁰, including certain agreements secured on land where the creditor is a specified body, building society or authorised institution¹¹, and certain agreements made in connection with trade outside the UK or with US armed forces personnel¹¹.

Some of the Act's own sections carve out exceptions. Part V of the Act, which contains many of the borrower protections, does not apply to a non-commercial agreement, or to a debtor-creditor agreement enabling the debtor to overdraw on a current account¹². Sections introduced by the Consumer Credit Act 2006, including the rules on requesting information, do not apply to a non-commercial agreement or to a small agreement¹³. A government review of the Act also notes that the Consumer Rights Act 2015 does not apply to business customers, so business lending covered by the Consumer Credit Act is excluded from that Act's scope, and that the FCA's creditworthiness rules do not apply to consumer hire⁵.

Independent debt guidance adds practical examples: the Act may not cover all credit union or buy now pay later debts, it does not apply to companies providing gas, electricity, water or phone services, and it does not cover councils¹⁴. Buy now pay later in particular has historically operated outside the Act's core regime; the page on buy now pay later explains how it works and where you stand.

Before you sign: pre-contract information and your copy of the agreement

You are not supposed to sign a credit agreement blind. The Act requires that a pre-contract credit information (PCCI) document, with prescribed content and in a prescribed form, is provided to you before you complete your application². It covers the key details of the credit product you are about to take out, which you must agree to in order to be accepted².

Which? explains that this information must be contained in a document headed "Pre-Contract Information" and provided separately from the agreement itself¹⁵. For deferred payment credit agreements, including buy now pay later style products, FCA rules require that before making the agreement the firm gives the customer the key product information and gives or makes available the additional product information¹⁶. The European framework behind much of this, Directive 2008/48/EC, requires the creditor, and where applicable the credit intermediary, to provide the Standard European Consumer Credit Information form in good time before the consumer is bound, on paper or another durable medium¹⁷. Even pawn agreements have a disclosure rule: the creditor must inform the debtor of the right to receive pre-contract credit information free of charge on request, unless the debtor is a new customer³.

In practice, this means a clear summary of the cost, term and key terms is provided before the agreement is completed. The pre-contract document and the agreement should tell the same story, and comparing them shows whether the terms have changed. If a firm cannot show it gave the required information, that can form the basis of a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The page on loan APR explained helps with reading the cost figures these documents contain.

Changing your mind: the 14-day right to withdraw

If a regulated credit agreement is signed and then regretted, the Act gives a withdrawal right. The debtor must give oral or written notice of the withdrawal to the creditor before the end of 14 days from the day after the relevant day¹⁸. The Consumer Credit (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2010 spell it out: the debtor has the right to withdraw from the credit agreement before the end of 14 days beginning with the day after the day on which the agreement is made⁴. The regulations state the consumer has the right to withdraw within 14 days, without giving any reason, and must repay the amount borrowed plus the interest accrued between drawing down the credit and repaying it¹⁹.

Which? describes this as a 14-day cooling-off period in which to change your mind and cancel¹⁵. Two points matter in practice. First, withdrawing from the credit agreement does not automatically end the purchase: the regulations note there is no right to return goods under a linked credit agreement unless the supplier is willing¹⁹. You still owe what you borrowed, and you must repay it promptly with the accrued interest. Second, the clock starts the day after the agreement is made, so a delay in posting or emailing notice can cost you the right.

The full guide to the 14-day right to withdraw covers the detail, including how the rules differ for goods bought on finance.

Section 75: purchases over £100 and up to £30,000

Section 75 is the Act's best-known protection. It makes the card provider as responsible as the trader for a breach of contract or a misrepresentation²¹. Welsh trading standards guidance puts the range plainly: if you paid using your credit card and the goods or services cost more than £100 but less than £30,000, you have rights under the Consumer Credit Act²². The same rule is repeated in consumer guidance for bogus goods or services paid for by credit card in that price range²³.

The protection applies to the whole purchase, not just the part put on the card. Where an item costs more than £100 but less than £30,000 and was paid for partly with a credit card and partly in cash, the card provider is liable for the full cost of the item²². The trader does not have to be the one paid directly: section 75 also covers finance arranged by the trader, so point-of-sale credit for a sofa or a car qualifies²².

Where the cost exceeds £30,000 and is less than £60,260, and the finance was arranged specifically to buy the goods, service or digital content, a related right under section 75A may apply instead²². Section 75A lets a debtor under a linked credit agreement who has a claim against the supplier pursue that claim against the creditor where certain conditions are met²⁵. Note that section 75A does not apply to an agreement secured on land²⁶.

There are limits. Section 75 does not apply to charge cards or debit cards²¹. The Financial Ombudsman Service adds a further wrinkle for electronic money: section 75 might not apply if you used a credit card to put funds into a standard e-money account and then used that account to buy something²⁷. The ombudsman also confirms that people who bought goods or services using credit may be able to complain about their quality under section 75²⁸.

The dedicated pages on Section 75 on loans, car finance and point-of-sale credit and credit cards cover how to make a claim.

Paying off early cuts the interest you owe

If you settle a loan early, you do not pay all the interest that would have accrued over the full term. Which? explains that instead, the total amount of interest that would have been payable is reduced by a statutory "rebate"¹⁵. In other words, the Act requires the lender to strip out the interest that relates to the period you will no longer be borrowing for.

The detailed arithmetic is set by the Consumer Credit (Early Settlement) Regulations 2004. One provision in those regulations does not apply where a hire-purchase or conditional sale agreement is terminated by the debtor under section 99 of the Act, which reflects the separate termination route for car finance²⁹. For most fixed-sum loans, the practical effect is simple: ask for a settlement figure, and the figure should already reflect the rebate.

This right is one reason overpaying or settling early can save real money, though it is worth checking whether any early settlement charge applies under your agreement's own terms. The pages on paying off a loan early and settlement figures and how a car finance settlement figure is worked out explain the process.

Statements and copies of your agreement you are entitled to

You do not have to lose your paperwork to find out what you owe. Under sections 77, 78 and 79 of the Act, you can ask for a copy of your credit agreement and a statement of account for £1¹⁴. Section 77 itself requires the creditor, on written request from the debtor, to give the debtor a copy of the executed agreement (if any) and of any other document referred to in it, together with a statement signed by or on behalf of the creditor³⁰.

The copy the lender provides has to be a "true copy". Independent guidance sets out what that means: it must contain all the terms and conditions from your original agreement, information about any changes made to the agreement, and your name and address at the time you took out the agreement. It does not have to include a signature box, a signature, or the date of signature¹⁴. The statement of account should be signed by the creditor and tell you how much you have paid (if you borrowed a fixed amount), how much you still owe, and what you still have to pay and when¹⁴.

To use this right, you must still owe money on the account, and the creditor must not have already taken court action¹⁴. The Act also protects consumers who deal with credit brokers and similar agencies: section 158 requires an agency to give the consumer a statement in the prescribed form of the consumer's rights under section 159, and if the agency does not keep a file relating to the consumer it must give notice of that fact, though it need not return any money paid³¹.

If you fall behind: default notices and court action

The Act does not let a lender jump straight to enforcement when you miss payments. Section 87 provides that service of a default notice, in accordance with section 88, is necessary before the creditor or owner can become entitled, by reason of a breach of a regulated agreement, to terminate the agreement, demand earlier payment of any sum, recover possession of any goods or land, treat a right conferred on the debtor or hirer as terminated, restricted or deferred, or enforce any security³².

In plain terms, the default notice is the formal warning shot. It must give you a set period to fix the breach before the lender can take the steps it lists. If you receive one, it is a signal to act: the page on what to do if you can't repay a loan sets out the options, including free debt advice, and complaining about a lender covers where a complaint is warranted.

It is worth being clear about what a request for a copy of your agreement does and does not achieve. If a creditor does not comply with such a request, guidance lists what it may still lawfully do: add interest and charges in line with your terms and conditions and ask you to pay what you owe, send you a default notice, pass your information to a credit reference agency or a debt collector, sell your debt, or take your case to court without getting a judgment¹⁴. A missing copy is not, by itself, a way to have a debt written off, though a lender that cannot produce an enforceable agreement may face restrictions on enforcement, and the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at how it has handled your account.

Handing back goods on hire purchase or conditional sale

If you bought goods on hire purchase or conditional sale, such as a car on HP, the Act gives you two distinct routes out of the agreement.

The first is voluntary termination. Part VII of the Act provides that at any time before the final payment falls due, the debtor may terminate a regulated hire-purchase or regulated conditional sale agreement by giving notice to any person entitled or authorised to receive the sums payable³³. This is the basis of the right to hand back a financed car once you have paid half of the total payable, subject to the agreement's own conditions. The page on voluntary termination explains how it works in practice.

The second protection limits repossession. The Act states that the creditor is not entitled to recover possession of the goods from the debtor except on an order of the court where the debtor has paid one-third or more of the total price of the goods and the property in the goods remains with the creditor¹². So once you are a third of the way through, the lender cannot simply take the goods back without a court order.

Withdrawal interacts with ownership in a specific way. Where credit has been provided under a conditional sale, hire-purchase or credit-sale agreement and the sum payable is paid in full, title to the goods passes to the debtor on the same terms as would have applied had the debtor not withdrawn from the agreement³⁴. The pages on hire purchase and conditional sale cover these agreements in full.

Lost or stolen cards: limits on what you pay

The Act caps what you can be made to pay if someone else uses your card. Section 84 deals with misuse of credit tokens: the debtor is liable to the extent of £35, or the credit limit if lower, for loss to the creditor arising from use of the credit token by other persons while it is not in the possession of an authorised person⁶. FCA policy statements put a limit of £50 liability for unauthorised transactions made before the card issuer is notified where the card has been lost or stolen³⁵.

Section 83 goes further for misuse generally: the debtor under a regulated consumer credit agreement is not liable to the creditor for any loss arising from use of the credit facility by another person not acting, or to be treated as acting, as the debtor's agent⁷. That section does not apply to a non-commercial agreement, or to any loss in so far as it arises from misuse of an instrument to which section 4 of the Cheques Act 1957 applies⁷.

The practical rules are therefore: report a lost or stolen card as soon as you can, because your liability for use before notification is capped rather than zero, and you are not liable at all for misuse by someone who was never your agent once the Act's protections bite. Card providers' own terms, and the FCA's rules on unauthorised transactions, often reduce your liability further than the Act requires. The page on scams and fraud covers what to do if your card details are stolen rather than the card itself.

Credit broker fees: a refund of all but £5

Credit brokers, firms that find loans for you rather than lend themselves, are covered by the Act too. Under section 155 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, customers are entitled to a refund of all but £5 of a credit broking fee if they have not taken out a loan found by the broker within six months³⁶. The credit broker is allowed to keep £5 of any fee if the customer has not taken out a loan³⁶.

The Financial Ombudsman Service, which handles complaints about credit broking, lists the common complaints it sees: people unhappy about being charged a fee for finding a loan, sometimes charged a fee even without getting a loan, fees not refunded when no loan was taken out or offered, and people misled or not correctly informed about the loan's terms or cost³⁶. Its consumer guidance is direct: there are rules about how much a credit broker can charge if a customer does not take out the loan, so even if you have already paid a fee, the broker should only keep a small amount of it³⁷.

If a broker refuses to refund what you are owed, you can complain first to the broker and then to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The pages on direct lenders and loan brokers, credit broker fees and whether an upfront fee is a scam cover this market in detail.

Is the Consumer Credit Act being replaced?

Partly, and slowly. In May 2026 the government announced it would repeal much of the law governing consumer credit³⁸. The House of Commons Library briefing records the criticism behind the reform: the Act has been described as prescriptive, confusing and duplicative, requiring credit providers to communicate with customers in technical language which they may not understand³⁸.

The Act remains in force for now. The official legislation record states it is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 28 September 2026, and that there are changes that may be brought into force at a future date³⁹. Related consumer law is also in transition: the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations' provisions on rights of redress will be replaced by similar ones in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, but those provisions are not yet in force²².

For a borrower, nothing in this page should be treated as already repealed. The rights described here, from pre-contract information to section 75, apply today. Any reform would need to preserve equivalent protections, and the FCA's own research into consumer understanding of credit documents was conducted as recently as September 2025². The page on financial regulation in the UK tracks how changes like these affect consumers.

Where to get help

If something has gone wrong with a loan, card or finance agreement, help is available free.

• Financial Ombudsman Service: the free, independent service that decides complaints about lenders, card providers and credit brokers. It can look at section 75 claims, broker fee disputes and how a lender has treated you²⁷.
• Debt advice charities: Business Debtline's guidance on credit agreements and getting information is an example of the free, independent help available on requesting agreement copies and what a lender may still do¹⁴. The debt section lists the main free debt advice services.
• Trading standards: in Wales, trading standards services publish consumer guidance on the Consumer Credit Act, section 75 and remedies and redress²¹. In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, local trading standards services and Citizens Advice provide equivalent help.
• MoneyHelper: the government-backed money guidance service, for general questions about borrowing and your rights.

If you are struggling with repayments rather than disputing a right, the pages on what to do if you can't repay a loan and complaining about a lender set out the practical steps, and loan sharks and illegal money lending covers borrowing outside the regulated market altogether.