Firms must update their documentation to exclude reference to SECCI

United KingdomScotland

In a recent development, the statutory instrument addressing the Standard European Consumer Credit Information sheet (“SECCI”) transition was laid. The Financial Services and Economic and Monetary Policy (Consequential Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (“The Regulations”) comes into force on 30 December 2020 and firms must consequently ensure any references to the SECCI in their documentation are removed by 30 May 2021.

Section 55 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 requires disclosure of specified information ‘in the prescribed manner’ before a regulated consumer credit agreement is made. If these requirements are not complied with, the credit agreement entered into is enforceable on an order of the court only. The Consumer Credit (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2010 (the 2010 Regulations) prescribe the form and the information required to be disclosed, as well as the manner of disclosure.

What has changed?

The Regulations changed references to “exit day” (31 January 2020) used in previous financial services EU exit instruments, to “IP completion day”. “IP completion day” is defined as the end of the transition period on 1 January 2021.

Regulation 49 of the Regulations triggers Regulation 14 of The Financial Services (Miscellaneous) (Amendment) (EU Exit) (No.3) Regulations 2019, dictating that references to SECCI must be removed five months after exit day, meaning that firms must remove all references to the SECCI in their documentation by 30 May 2021.

The Consumer Credit (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 describes the changes firms must make under the 2010 Regulations, as follows:

  • References made to ‘Standard European Consumer Credit Information’ must be omitted from the form, leaving only ‘Pre-contract credit information’ in the heading.
  • References to “European Consumer Credit Information” (ECCI) must be omitted from the form contained in Schedule 3 and replaced with “Pre-contract Consumer Credit Information (Overdrafts)”.
  • References made to ‘Member State’ in both SECCI and ECCI forms should be replaced with ‘the United Kingdom’.

Are more changes to consumer credit documents likely?

While an unsurprising change given the imminence of Brexit, it is interesting to note that further changes have been proposed to a number of other consumer credit documents recently, discussed in our previous article. If your firm is seeking advice on the applicability of the above changes, or those mentioned in our previous article, please reach out to us using the contact information provided.

Article co-authored by Anna Burdzy.