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Hi, I am checking some M&S agreements for an elderly relative - one is a charge card, the second a personal loan and the third a personal reserve.
All of the agreements are application forms - the only one that contains the prescribed terms is the personal loan from 2000. It has the APR on it, but not the actual rate of interest, which I've been told is the prescribed term, not the APR.
For the other two, although the t&c's are attached and apparently form part of the same document, these are illegible for the main part, really not good copies at all. I have also noticed that again, the one for the personal reserve (from 1998) states the APR, but not the rate of interest.
Not sure about the chargecard one, that is from 1994, do these tend to be enforceable from this period does anyone know?
I will try to scan them in when I have a spare minute, but the t&cs are going to be difficult for anyone to read anyway and the printed text on the applications is not that clear either.
These are the agreements, be grateful for any opinions, the accompanying t&cs (will post up when I have a sec) seem to be the originals, but whether they are part of the same document, I don't know.
the loan is probably ok imo. There MIGHT be, as you observe, an issue about the rate of interest. The 1983 regs say there should be "A term stating the rate of any interest on the credit to be provided under the agreement." for fixed sum and running credit agreements. So you might argue that - its being argued re cash advances in Egg agreements for instance, but that is partly supported by their being a rate of interest and APR for purchases, but only APR for cash. Not impossible, but might be difficult imo.
The Personal Reserve is too indistinct to say. Certainly what you put up isnt enforceable as there is just nothing there but the usual bureaucratic stuff - name/ address/ occupation etc. I dont see a single prescribed term. However, the second page that is there has a statement about "this is an agreement under the consumer credit act 1974" - so they might be there, further down? Then, though there could be an argument as to whether the two pages are part of the same document. So depends on what you have got and whether they look part of the same document
The chargecard application is just a pile of nonsense. First of all its an application form - so arguably its void under s59. Secondly there is no sign of a prescribed term - though they might come back with something, alleging that they were on the other side of this form (so why not fess up to this now rather than much later?). But that takes us through s65 to s127(3) Also, did your relative ever get a properly executed agreement - ie signed by her and someone from M&S. If not then its arguably unenforceable under s127 (4). Best of all, though, did they ever transfer her to &more from the chargecard, because they cant just do that without a signed agreement from your relative - I would bet that they dont have this.
Pity about the loan, but the card looks very difficult for them.
Hi Seriously fed up, I did think the loan would be enforceable and advised the person concerned to carry on paying that one, although at a reduced amount as she has been paying more than she can really afford. Re: the other two, there were t&c's with them, but as you say the cards seem to be a bit less clear cut and they might have a difficult time enforcing those. I will post up the t&c's so that the whole 'agreement' is there for scrutiny and would appreciate your comments on them.
One thing though, the t&c's are not very clear, and even with the actual documents in front of me, are hard to read, so legibility might be an issue, something else perhaps to use against m&s.
yes if illegible then tooo bad for them eh? Hard to say online - is it your scanner or their's that's the problem (or just my eyes )
Did they move your relative to &more though? If the Chargecard was opened before 2003, then they might well have tried to do this. And if they did then they are in very big problems - have a look here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...-papers-m.html - its Scotland but the considerations would be just the same.
M&s Help Needed
, which I've been told is the prescribed term, not the APR.
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