The field of consumer credit law has undergone major and fundamental change in the recent past, due in part, to the regulation of consumer credit by the Financial Conduct Authority since 1 April, 2014. Consumer Credit Law and Practice: A Guide is a comprehensive, easily accessible guide to all aspects of the laws of consumer credit, covering consumer credit and consumer hire, contract terms, credit products, security instruments, procedures, practical problems and regulatory controls.
The new fifth edition has been fundamentally revised and, in addition to being brought fully up to date with the latest case law and legislation, includes:
- New chapters on Promotions, Authorisation (including full permission, limited permission, exemptions, approved persons and appointed reps) and Avoidance of Financial Crime;Coverage of the new EU General
- Data Protection Regulation and the Consumer Rights Act 2015
- An overview of the FCA Handbook including PRIN, CONC, MCOB, SUP, GEN and CASS
- The Mortgage Credit Directive Order 2015; regulated mortgage contracts; regulated home purchase agreements; regulated home revision plans; regulated sale and rent back agreements
- Different types of credit, eg lending for borrower's business purposes; overdrafts; peer to peer lending; high cost short term lending;
- Different types of hire, eg hire for hirer's business purposes; buy-to-let;Credit unions
- New procedural section written by Graham Haxton-Bernard covering the Financial Conduct Authority (history, statutory objectives, enforcement powers); authorisation; (process, Regulatory Business Plan, threshold conditions); approved persons regime (controlled functions, fit and proper test, statement of principles, Code of Practice for Approved Persons); treating customers fairly regime (principles for businesses, six defined TCF customer outcomes, Management Information); supervision (FCA 3 pillar supervision model, FCA principles of supervisions, judgement based supervision, FCA tools of supervision); reporting (standing data, consumer credit related specific data items, product sales data, GABRIEL and reporting frequencies); complaint handling (FCA role and 5 key stages of complaint handling, Financial Ombudsman Service role and key elements of the service, ADR Directive review, DISP rules, complaints reporting).
The book also contains useful, up to date information on the credit industry, including statistical details on credit and debit cards, licences and fraud.