Insolvency Act 1985

189 Obtaining credit

(1) The bankrupt shall be guilty of an offence if—

(a) either alone or jointly with another person, he obtains credit to the extent of the prescribed amount or more without giving the person from whom he obtains it the relevant information about his status ; or

(b) he engages (whether directly or indirectly) in any business under a name other than that in which he was adjudged bankrupt without disclosing to all persons with whom he enters into any business transaction the name in which he was so adjudged.

(2) The reference in subsection (1) above to the bankrupt obtaining credit includes a reference to—

(a) a case where goods are bailed to him under a hire purchase agreement or agreed to be sold to him under a conditional sale agreement; and

(b) a case where he is paid in advance (whether in money or otherwise) for the supply of goods or services.

(3) A person whose estate has been sequestrated in Scotland or who has been adjudged bankrupt in Northern Ireland shall be guilty of an offence if, before his discharge, he does anything in England and Wales which would be an offence under subsection (1) above if he were an undischarged bankrupt and the sequestration of his estate or the adjudication in Northern Ireland were an adjudication under this Part.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1)(a) above the relevant information about the status of the person in question is the information that he is an undischarged bankrupt or, as the case may be, that his estate has been sequestrated in Scotland and that he has not been discharged.