Clause 2 - Removal of financial limits etc.
Consumer Credit Bill
Public Bill Committees, 23 June 2005, 8:55 am
Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)
The clause removes the current financial limit for regulation under the 1974 Act. The financial limit defines those consumer credit and consumer hire agreements that are currently protected under the Act. At present only agreements providing credit or requiring hire payments up to the £25,000 limit are protected. The initial limit of £5,000, which was a considerable sum in 1974, was raised to £15,000 in 1985, and the current £25,000 limit was introduced in 1998. For many consumers £25,000 is no longer a substantial amount of borrowing. The average debt consolidation loan now exceeds that sum. Clauses 1 and 2 remove the financial limit that applies to consumer credit and hire agreements.