Section 49: Prohibition of canvassing debtor-creditor agreements off trade premises.

Consumer Credit Act 1974 · 1974 c.39

Part IV: Seeking Business

49(1)

It is an offence to canvass debtor-creditor agreements off trade premises.

49(2)

It is also an offence to solicit the entry of an individual (as debtor) into a debtor-creditor agreement during a visit carried out in response to a request made on a previous occasion, where—

(a) the request was not in writing signed by or on behalf of the person making it, and

(b) if no request for the visit had been made, the soliciting would have constituted the canvassing of a debtor-creditor agreement off trade premises.

49(3)

Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to any soliciting for an agreement enabling the debtor to overdraw on a current account of any description kept with the creditor, where—

(a) the FCA has determined that current accounts of that description kept with the creditor are excluded from subsections (1) and (2), and

(b) the debtor already keeps an account with the creditor (whether a current account or not).

49(4)

A determination under subsection (3)(a)—

(a) may be made subject to such conditions as the FCA thinks fit, and

(b) shall be made only where the FCA is of opinion that it is not against the interests of debtors.

49(5)

If soliciting is done in breach of a condition imposed under subsection (4)(a), the determination under subsection (3)(a) does not apply to it.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.