Hi all.

This is all new to me but I've been having a good old read around this forum and it makes very interesting reading.

My question relates to a personal loan I took out 2002 to refinance another loan and other debt. Having looked into all the criteria the agreement should cover it seems okay at first, however I've noticed that there is no "right to cancel" stated anywhere on the agreement, nor anywhere in the Ts&Cs.

I have the 2 copies of the Credit Agreement they supplied and I read somewhere that this has to be stated on "cancellable agreements", is this right?

Any advice on this would be greatly received.

Okay, I've been reading the CCA 1974 myself and under Part V Entry into Credit or Hire Agreements the following statement reads:

64. Duty to give notice of cancellation rights.

— (1) In the case of a cancellable agreement, a notice in the prescribed form indicating the right of the debtor or hirer to cancel the agreement, how and when that right is exercisable, and the name and address of a person to whom notice of cancellation may be given,—

(a) must be included in every copy given to the debtor or hirer under section 62 or 63

Sections 62 and 63 just state their duty to send a copy of the agreement.

Section 74. Exclusion of "certain agreements" from Part V. does not include this type of personal loan, the purpose of which as stated on the CCA was:

(a) £XXXX cash loan for Refinance

(b) £0.00 for repayment to us of account number

so it was really just a bog standard personal loan and no mention of repaying any debt owed to them.

Therefore (in my opinion) the loan should have been cancellable.

CCA 1974 Part V Entry into Credit or Hire Agreements:

Cancellation of certain agreements (see also below ref. section 74) within cooling-off period

67. Cancellable agreements.

A regulated agreement may be cancelled by the debtor or hirer in accordance with this Part if the antecedent negotiations included oral representations made when in the presence of the debtor or hirer by an individual acting as, or on behalf of, the negotiator, unless—

(a) the agreement is secured on land, or is a restricted-use credit agreement to finance the purchase of land or is an agreement for a bridging loan in connection with the purchase of land, or

(b) the unexecuted agreement is signed by the debtor or hirer at premises at which any of the following is carrying on any business (whether on a permanent or temporary basis)—

(i) the creditor or owner;

(ii) any party to a linked transaction (other than the debtor or hirer or a relative of his);

(iii) the negotiator in any antecedent negotiations.

As none of the above apply I would say this makes the agreement unenforceable in court as my two Customer Copies have no mention whatsoever of any right to cancel.

It looks like I've (hopefully) answered my own question but as I am totally new to all this I would appreciate an opinion from someone with experience as to whether I have a reasonable case or not, and also what outcome I could expect, i.e. debt write-off or perhaps a refund of amounts paid to date.

Continuing on from above, CCA 1974 Section 127 states

127. Enforcement orders in cases of infringement.

...

(4) The court shall not make an enforcement order under section 65(1) in the case of a cancellable agreement if—

(a) a provision of section 62 or 63 was not complied with, ... or

(b) section 64(1) was not complied with.

In this case Section 64(1) was not complied with (see previous post).

I think I've got a pretty strong case and will start drafting a letter to them.

I hope this info is of some use to others with similar loans. It looks like it applies to credit card agreements too.

Hi

I just came across your post.

Would be interested in knowing the outcome of your situation.

I am in the same position as I was never given the right to cancel within my loan agreement which was taken out in 2006.

Thanks

Many Cag users had problems with Tesco loans-and theres often a claim also for PPI.

Will move your thread.Keep us posted.

Thought cancellable only applied where there were antecedent negotiations prior to signing?

Will ask 42man to take a look here...this is quite an old one most of those seen on CAG are more recent than 2002.

Thought cancellable only applied where there were antecedent negotiations prior to signing?

Could you explain what this actually means?

Thanks

I'm afraid I don't really know the implications of NOT having the 'rights to cancel' written on the agreement, it may be that a judge would decide if this is enough to not make it enforceable.....I can't think of any high court law to support this either.....hopefully others will contribute...

Tess has added !!!

Hi all, thanks for the replies.

I wrote to them after posting here and received a fairly quick, and I have to say very polite response from RBS thanking me for bringing the matter to their attention. Apparently they had read my letter very carefully and were going to investigate the matter and reply within 10 working days... Well that was several months ago and I'm still waiting, although I've since sent a letter to remind them I'm still here.

I must admit the antecedent negotiations part is slightly vague to say the least. However to quote:

(1) In this Act 'antecedent negotiations' means any negotiations with the debtor or hirer:

(a) conducted by the creditor or owner in relation to the making of any regulated agreement, or

(b) conducted by a credit-broker in relation to goods sold or proposed to be sold by the credit-broker to the creditor before forming the subject-matter of a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement within section 12(a), or

© conducted by the supplier in relation to a transaction financed or proposed to be financed by a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement within section 12(b) or ©.

I see no mention that there has to be actual face-to-face communication (as stated on one article I read). Anyway if it were not the case why would every credit agreement (except mine) include a Right to Cancel notice? Surely this means you have (by law) the "right" to cancel and therefore a cooling off period applies. If anyone knows more and can clarify this further I'd be very grateful.

Tess has added !!!

Where ??????

Looks like I was clutching at straws after all. The bit about antecedent negotiations was the clincher and for the agreement to have to have an option to cancel there would indeed need to be some face-to-face dealings. It looks like loan companies give a right to cancel as a matter of courtesy. Oh well I suppose it was worth a bash. Nothing ventured...