Consumer Credit Act 1974

What it covers

The Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA) regulates almost every form of consumer borrowing in the UK — credit cards, store cards, catalogues, personal loans, hire-purchase agreements, and most other forms of regulated credit. Mortgages and most overdrafts are largely outside it. If your alleged debt is a credit card, a store card or a personal loan from a regulated UK lender, the CCA applies.

Sections 77 and 78 — the killer disclosure right

Section 77 (for fixed-sum credit) and section 78 (for running-account credit like credit cards) give you a statutory right to demand a copy of the executed credit agreement. The mechanics:

• Send a written request to the creditor.
• Enclose the £1 statutory fee as a £1 postal order.
• The creditor has 12 working days to provide a true copy.
• Failure to comply: the agreement is unenforceable while the default continues. No court action, no statutory demand, no enforcement at all.
• That enforcement bar stays in place for as long as the default continues — they cannot lift it until they actually produce a compliant copy of the executed agreement.

In practice, many debt buyers cannot produce the original executed agreement — especially on old debts that have been bought and sold multiple times. A properly served s.77/78 request is often enough to pause collection entirely.

Section 87 — the Default Notice

Before a creditor can enforce most regulated agreements (terminate them, demand the full balance, repossess goods), it must serve a Default Notice in the prescribed form under section 87. The form is set by SI 1983/1561 and is strict — defective notices are routinely found by the courts to be invalid, which can defeat enforcement entirely.

When a debt is sold — the assignment rule (s.136 LPA 1925)

When a debt is sold, the sale only gives them the right to sue if it was done properly in writing with notice to you — if not, they may have no legal right to take you to court.

The rule is section 136 of the Law of Property Act 1925, and it has three requirements: the assignment must be absolute, in writing under the hand of the assignor, and notified to you in writing. Without all three, the assignment is at best equitable — and an equitable assignee usually cannot sue in their own name.

What "unenforceable" means — and what it doesn't

An unenforceable debt is still a debt that exists in law, and you still technically owe it. What changes is the power behind it: while the default continues, they cannot use the courts to force you to pay. No court claim, no CCJ, no bailiffs — the legal machinery of enforcement is switched off.

In practice, that is often decisive. Chasing a debt costs an agency money, and a debt they cannot take to court is one many agencies eventually stop chasing and write off — which is why unenforceable debts often become practically uncollectable. But that is a common outcome, not a guarantee, and it is never the same as the debt being cancelled.

• It does not vanish from your credit file — the entry can lawfully stay there and keep affecting your score.
• If they later produce the documents, the default ends and the debt can become enforceable again.
• Keep responding to letters. Going silent never helps — replying through the statutory process is what keeps your position strong.

This distinction matters because some online "debt advice" conflates the two and recommends actions (such as stopping all payment immediately) that can damage your position if the statutory unenforceability argument later fails.

What if I want to settle anyway?

Settling is always your choice — nothing about this process stops you paying or making an offer at any point. In fact, an unenforceable debt can often be settled for much less than the headline figure, because the agency knows it cannot take you to court to collect it. If you do settle, get the terms in writing (full and final settlement) before paying anything.

When the court gets involved

A court claim form (N1) means the creditor has asked the court to order you to pay. It is not the same as a collector's letter — it starts a formal legal process with its own strict deadlines, and missing them can result in a default judgment (a CCJ) being entered against you without a hearing.

The deadline arithmetic is fixed by the Civil Procedure Rules: the claim is treated as deemed served 5 days after the date of issue printed on the form. From that deemed service date you have 14 days to respond — either by filing a defence or by filing an Acknowledgment of Service, which extends your deadline to 28 days from deemed service. Filing the Acknowledgment of Service costs nothing and simply buys you the extra time.

If a claim form or a judgment arrives, upload it. The platform reads it, works out your exact deadline from the issue date, and prepares your response documents — a defence, an Acknowledgment of Service, or an application to set aside a default judgment — for you to review, sign and file with the court yourself. You may also choose to instruct a solicitor at any point.

Read the full text

The Act itself is on the government's legislation site: Consumer Credit Act 1974 — legislation.gov.uk