Stakeholder Position: Which?

Which? welcomes the Government’s revision of the 1974 Consumer Credit Act as fundamental changes are needed in the market.

Consumers are confronted with complex credit agreements and charging methods, complicated credit cards and other unsecured loan products, all with opaque and often ambiguous terms and conditions.

Which? very much welcomes the measures brought in within the Bill to tackle extortionate lending, but we are disappointed that the Government has not gone far enough yet, in tackling the mis-leading and confusing information from the credit industry.

Only when consumers have transparent information and good, fair products will there be a truly competitive market.

Which? is calling for two measures to be introduced in the Bill to achieve this:

• Credit cards having one way of allocating interest on their cards so that people can better use APRs to compare cards.
  
  
• Full sharing of customers’ full credit history between lenders to ensure responsible lending.

The lack of real progress shown both during the recent review of the Banking Code and since the Treasury Select Committee’s Report into transparency of credit cards, shows that the Government needs to lead the industry.

For more information contact Emma Bandey, Senior Public Affairs Officer, on 020 7770 7821.

 

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