Consumer Credit Act 1974

Many people are unaware of how certain elements of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 work. One of those aspects is the cooling off period.

This is a provision in the act that helps consumers to cancel an agreement which they entered, without even paying a penalty or fine. The average time period for credit transactions is 5 days, however some lenders are more generous and give a little more time.

When you enter into an agreement with a trader, after buying the product or service you have a certain amount of time before which you can cancel the agreement without incurring any penalty, this period allowed by the act of 1974 is called the cooling off period.

The procedure is very simple. All you need to do is to send the cancellation of agreement notice to the appropriate person before the end of the cooling off period, this varies immensely and can be a minimum of 5 days and can go up to a maximum of 30 days.

If your terms and conditions or if the trader has failed to give you the time frame of the cooling off period then technically you have more time than you think. However, this again varied depending on the scenario and it is best to get some legal advice.