Due to the changes in legislation of credit card and unsecured loan agreements pre 2007 you could be entitled to reduce your credit card payments and/or its capital. 

On many occasions you could also be able to disregard your credit card balance in full due to the high probability that the credit agreement you originally signed is flawed and completely unenforceable.

Under current consumer credit laws, when you enter into a contract with a bank or credit card company, the paperwork must contain certain prescribed details that you have clearly signed up to.

If you haven’t signed the agreement, or if the required legal elements aren’t specifically stated, then the lender will find itself in trouble if it tries to take you to court for non-payment. In other words, the contract you have with the lender may be unenforceable and, therefore, worthless.

8 out of 10 credit agreements are defective in some way although they say that only 2 out of 10 contracts would probably be deemed ‘unenforceable’ by a court of law.

Financially savvy customers who are getting fed up with excessive charges and poor service may be able to use defective credit agreements as levers to get better deals from banks.

The service offered by Debtmuncher amounts to a free check of the most common terms of the consumer credit laws that tend to be breached by lenders.

Debtmuncher is not advocating that you walk away from a credit agreement and stop paying back what you’ve borrowed. Instead our service could provide you with a way of negotiating meaningfully with your bank.

 

What it means for you

So if you’re having trouble paying back debt, you might persuade your lender to freeze the interest rate on your debt. Or you might be able to negotiate a‘full and final settlement’ where your bank agrees to accept a sizeable payment in return for writing off the remainder of the debt. Although the old laws will apply to current credit agreements, the consumer credit rules changed from April 6th 2007. From then on, with any new contract, it’ll be upto the courts to decide whether your particular credit agreement is unenforceable. Even if the contract you’ve signed contains incorrect details, a judge may feel that you knew perfectly well what you were agreeing to!

 

More about the law

The law relating to consumer credit has undergone a radical reform by virtue of the Consumer Credit Act 2006. This Act changes the way in which the Consumer Credit Act 1974 operates, and is generally being brought into force. A significant proportion of the Act’s operations have been brought into force pursuant to the Consumer Credit Act 2006 (Commencement number 2 and Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2007, and a number of important provisions have come into force on 6th April 2006.

 

Further, the Consumer Credit (Agreements) Regulations 1983, have been substantially amended by the Consumer Credit (Agreement) (Amendment) Regulations 2004, which came into force 31st May 2005 and apply to agreements entered into after 31st May 2005 (except for regulated agreements which were given to the debtor for signature before 31st May 2005 but which were not made by that date – provided that they became executed agreements not later than three months after 31st May 2005)

It is therefore apparent that the precise date of the agreement is key to determining the appropriate regulatory regime for the Checker system.

 

Exempt agreements

The following agreements are currently exempt from the Consumer Credit Act 1974:

·         Agreements with limited companies 

·     Agreements in excess of £25,000.00 limit pursuant to Section 8(2). It will be noted that this limit is to be removed, and the exemptions relating to high networth debtors/hirers and businesses set out in Section 16A and 16B will be brought into force at a future date. 

·         Exempt agreements within Section 16.

·         Small agreements within Section 17.

 

For more information and Free Independent Advice regarding unenforceable credit agreements please contact Debtmuncher Debt Solutions.

Work: 01727758 470

Mobile: 07958450124

Email: debt@debtmuncher.co.uk

Web: http://www.debtmuncher.co.uk/