23 Section 6 inserts a new section 77A after section 77 of the 1974 Act. Section 77A will require creditors in regulated fixed-sum credit agreements to provide debtors with annual statements in the specified form, the first of which is required within one year of the day after the date on which the agreement was made.
24.If a creditor does not give the debtor an annual statement when required to do so, then he is not entitled to enforce the agreement during the period of his non-compliance and the debtor is not liable to pay any interest during this period. The debtor is also not liable to pay any default sum (see note in respect of section 18 below) that would have become payable during the period of non-compliance or would have become payable after the end of that period in connection with a breach of the agreement occurring during that period. A creditor will not be required to give the debtor an annual statement if there are no further sums payable under the agreement.
25.Section 7 inserts a new section 78(4A) after section 78(4) of the 1974 Act. Section 78(4) of the 1974 Act requires creditors to issue statements to debtors setting out specified information in respect of running account credit agreements at intervals of not more than 12 months. Regulations made by the Secretary of State under the new section 78(4A) may require creditors to include specified information about the consequence of failing to make repayments, or only making minimum repayments, in statements issued under section 78(4) of the 1974 Act. The new subsection (3) makes provision for the giving of statements under sections 77A (inserted by section 6 of the 2006 Act) and 78(4) of the 1974 Act where there is more than one debtor to whom credit is provided. If there are two or more debtors, a debtor may provide a dispensing notice to the creditor so as to mean that the creditor is not obliged to provide a statement to that debtor. However, dispensing notices will not be effective if that would mean that no debtor will receive a statement under section 77A or 78.