Consumer Credit Bill

The noble Baroness has raised an important issue. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 has the effect that where a purchase for an amount between £100 and £30,000 has been funded by a credit card, the purchaser will have the same rights in respect of a breach of contract or misrepresentation against the credit card company as he would have against the supplier himself. Amendment No. 34 would insert into Section 75 a new sub-section that would spell out explicitly in the Act that Section 75 applies to a consumer credit transaction outside of the UK, as well as within it. This question of the extra-territorial application of Section 75 is currently before the Court of Appeal in a case brought by the OFT against Lloyds TSB and others. The Government are watching the progress of the case carefully, but I hope that, in the circumstances, the noble Baroness will accept that it would be inappropriate to amend the section before having the court’s judgment on its extraterritorial application. The Government will consider what, if anything, needs to be done when the current court case reaches its end. In those circumstances, I ask the noble Baroness to withdraw the amendment.