Consumer Credit Act 1974, duty to tell a refused applicant that a credit reference agency was used and to give its name and address

Section 157(A1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 requires a creditor under a prospective regulated agreement, other than an excluded agreement, that decides not to proceed with it on the basis of information obtained from a credit reference agency to inform the debtor of that when informing the debtor of the decision, and to give the debtor the agency's name, address and telephone number.

Section 157(1) requires a creditor, owner or negotiator, in any other case and within the prescribed period after receiving a request in writing from the debtor or hirer, to give notice of the name and address of any credit reference agency from which it applied for information about the debtor's or hirer's financial standing during the antecedent negotiations. Subsection (1) does not apply to a request received more than 28 days after the termination of the antecedent negotiations.

A creditor is not required to disclose information under section 157 if the disclosure would create or be likely to create a serious risk that any person would be subject to violence or intimidation, or would or would be likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime, the apprehension or prosecution of offenders or the administration of justice. For the purposes of subsection (A1) an agreement is an excluded agreement if it is a consumer hire agreement or an agreement secured on land.

Section 189 defines a creditor as the person providing credit under a consumer credit agreement, or the person to whom that person's rights and duties under the agreement have passed by assignment or operation of law, and in relation to a prospective consumer credit agreement as including the prospective creditor.

Section 189 defines a regulated agreement as a consumer credit agreement which is a regulated agreement within the meaning of section 8(3), or a consumer hire agreement which is a regulated agreement within the meaning of section 15(2). A creditor, owner or negotiator that fails to comply with subsection (A1) or (1) commits an offence.

Schedule 1 to the Act lists the offence of refusing to give the name and other particulars of a credit reference agency as triable summarily, with a fine at level 4 on the standard scale. Subsection (A1) was inserted with effect from February 1, 2011 by the Consumer Credit (EU Directive) Regulations 2010. The opening words of subsection (1), 'In any other case', were inserted with effect from February 1, 2011 by the same Regulations.

Section 158 requires a credit reference agency, within the prescribed period after receiving a consumer's written request, the particulars it may reasonably require to identify the file and a fee of £2, to give the consumer a copy of the file it keeps.

Section 159 lets an individual who has been given information by a credit reference agency under Article 15(1) to (3) of the UK GDPR or under section 158, and who considers that an entry in the file is incorrect and that the individual is likely to be prejudiced if it is not corrected, give notice to the agency requiring it to remove or amend the entry. Section 161(1)(b) gives the local weights and measures authority in Great Britain a duty to enforce the Act and regulations made under it.

Section 161(1A) leaves any function of the Financial Conduct Authority in relation to enforcement of the Act unaffected.