ResubbmitteHelp needed if possible - Is there a difference between a regulated and an executed agreement under CCC 1974?

[nawandatwo]

Hi everyone

 

I’m wondering if anyone can help in relation to explaining in plain English the meanings of executed agreements and regulated agreements under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

I’m currently corresponding with a creditor in relation to an alleged consumer credit agreement (re. A credit card) that they are claiming it’s unecessary to provide.

 

They claim they are not legally obliged to provide me with the alleged signed credit agreement unless they seek to legally enforce the debt against me in court.

 

They go on to claim they only have to provide a true representation of the alleged agreement, and state all terms included on the alleged agreement they’ve sent were an abbreviated version of the historic terms and conditions. They have said they will send a copy of the signed agreement under seperate cover as a ‘goodwill gesture’ but 4 weeks on and I’m still waiting.

 

 

Under section 71 of CCA 1974 it states that under the regulated agreement the creditor, upon request, must provide a copy of the executed agreement (if any) and of any document referred to in it.

 

The definitions for ‘executed’ and ‘regulated’ agreements in the Act are as follows:

 

“executed agreement” means a document, signed by on on behalf of the parties, embodying the terms of a regulated agreement, or such as to have them reduced to writing;

 

"regulated agreement” means a consumer credit agreement, or consumer hire agreement, other than an exempt agreement, and “regulated” and “unregulated” can be contsrued accordingly;

 

Do these terms make sense to anyone in laymens terms?

 

Is there a difference between an executed agreement and a regulated agreement, or are they one and the same?

 

Does the Act say anywhere they have to produce a copy of the regulated agreement or just the executed agrreement (as in section 71 above)?

 

I’d appreciate any help anyone can offer on this, so I can go in with all the facts and state them clearly and fully. Given the nature of law it isn’t always black and white but I’d rather not leave room for error and get my head fully around how it works so i’m armed and ready.

 

I’m determined and have every faith I will see a result from this, so hopefully i’ll be reporting a success story soon.

 

Thanks for the advice i’ve been given to date on here – it’s been invaluable, step by step I’ll get there.

 

nawanda

[Varuna]

The agreement you sign when you first apply for credit is then the 'unexecuted' agreement and it becomes the 'executed' one when it's put into action by being signed, dated and so on by the company offering the credit. 'Regulated' here means that it's subject to the regulatory terms and so those terms will apply if there's any disagreement about whether it's valid or not. The argument used, which the CCA 1794 seems to support, is that you're entitled to a true copy of the agreement you both signed when the credit was set up. That doesn't have to be an exact facsimile copy, merely one that properly shows you what you agreed to (doesn't need signature, for instance). However, there's other arguments used by the banks to say that they can supply the currently active agreements (terms and conditions) instead and also that as you would have been sent a copy of the executed agreement when you got the card you should have kept that and the banks don't need to supply another. This seems nonsense/wrong to me but I've not been able to go through the relevant regulations fully and I can't find a definitive answer here.