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24 1995

CONSUMER CREDIT ACT, 1995

PART II

Advertising and Offering of Financial Accommodation

Application of Part II .

20. —(1) Subject to subsection (2), this Part applies to any advertisement, published or displayed for the purpose of a business carried on by the advertiser indicating willingness to—

(a) provide or to arrange the provision of credit,

(b) enter into a hire-purchase or consumer-hire agreement for the letting of goods by the advertiser, or

(c) arrange the letting of goods under a hire-purchase or consumer-hire agreement by another person,

to a consumer.

(2) This Part does not apply to any advertisement published or displayed by a society referred to in section 3 (2) (a).

Credit advertisements.

21. —(1) An advertisement in which a person offers to provide or arrange the provision of credit shall, if mentioning a rate of interest, contain a clear and prominent statement of the APR, using a representative example if no other means is practicable, and no other rate of interest shall be included in the advertisement.

(2) The statement of the APR included in any advertisement to which subsection (1) applies shall be afforded in the advertisement no less prominence than a statement relating to—

(a) any period over which payment is to be made,

(b) the amount of any advance payment or the fact that no advance payment is required, and

(c) the amount, number or frequency of any other payments or charges (other than the cash price of the goods or services) or of any repayments.

(3) An advertisement (other than one relating to a housing loan) shall, where the credit offered is subject to conditions involving the payment of any charges other than the repayment of capital and interest on the sum borrowed, specify those conditions.

(4) An advertisement shall, if any security is required or is required in specific circumstances in relation to the credit offered, state that such security is required.

(5) Notwithstanding section 7 of the Consumer Information Act, 1978 , it shall not be an offence for a person to provide credit at a lower rate than the rate advertised.

(6) Where an advertisement refers to the availability of credit and the credit is subject to any restrictions, those restrictions shall be clearly indicated.

Advertising of financial accommodation related to goods or services.

22. —Where an advertisement refers to the availability of a financial accommodation in relation to the acquisition of goods or the provision of a service, it shall include a statement of—

(a) the nature of the financial accommodation,

(b) the cash price of the goods or service,

(c) where applicable, the total cost of credit or the hire-purchase price,

(d) the number and amount of instalments,

(e) the duration of the intervals between instalment payments,

(f) the number of any instalments which have to be paid before delivery of the goods, and

(g) details of any deposit payable.

Advertising of consumer-hire agreements.

23. —(1) An advertisement in which a person offers to arrange the letting of goods under a consumer-hire agreement or indicates the availability of such a letting shall include a statement to the effect that the agreement is for letting, hiring or leasing only and the goods remain the property of the owner,

(i) which shall be afforded no less prominence than the sum of any amount payable by the hirer, and

(ii) in the case of a visual advertisement, shall be enclosed by a boxed boundary line.

(2) Where any figures relating to the amount payable by a hirer under a consumer-hire agreement are indicated in any advertisement to which subsection (1) applies, those figures shall be clearly displayed and shall be fully inclusive of all amounts payable, including taxes.

(3) Where any figures relating to the amount payable by a hirer under a consumer-hire agreement are indicated in any advertisement to which subsection (1) applies, and those figures indicate the amount payable for part of the agreement only, that fact shall also be clearly indicated in the advertisement.

Comparative advertising.

24. —Where an advertisement purports to compare the level of repayments or cost under one or more forms of financial accommodation, the advertisement shall contain the relevant terms of each of the forms of financial accommodation referred to in the advertisement.

Advertising of credit as being without charge.

25. —An advertisement shall not describe credit as being without interest, or any other charge, if the availability of the credit is dependent on the consumer concluding with the creditor or any other person a maintenance contract (for any goods involved) or an insurance contract or on any other condition, compliance with which would, or would be likely in the future to, involve the consumer in any cost additional to that payable if the goods were bought for cash.

Advertising of financial accommodation to comply with this Part.

26. —(1) A person shall not display or publish or cause to be displayed or published an advertisement to which this Part applies which does not comply with this Part.

(2) In any proceedings for contravening subsection (1), it shall be a defence for the accused, being a person other than the provider of credit, to show that he is a person whose business it is to publish or arrange for the publication of advertisements and that he received the advertisement in question for publication in the ordinary course of business and did not know and had no reason to suspect that its publication would constitute a contravention of subsection (1).

(3) For the purposes of this section an advertisement published by displaying it shall be treated as published on every day on which it is displayed.

Obligation on provider of financial accommodation to ensure advertisements comply with Part.

27. —(1) Where the provider of a financial accommodation, in respect of any financial accommodation provided by him through a credit intermediary, has devised any part of an advertisement or supplied, or has been requested to supply, information in relation to it, but is not the advertiser, the provider shall ensure the advertisement displayed or published complies with this Part.

(2) In any proceedings for contravening this section it shall be a defence for the accused being the provider of a financial accommodation in relation to an advertisement which does not comply with this Part to show that it was displayed or published without his consent or connivance or that he made reasonable efforts to ensure that it complied with this Part or to prevent its publication.

Regulations relating to advertising of financial accommodation.

28. —(1) The Minister may, after consultation with the Director, the Minister for Finance and the Central Bank, by regulations from time to time make such further provision as he considers necessary for the purposes of this Part, with regard to the form or content of advertisements relating to the availability or the cost or the provision of credit to consumers and in doing so may amend or modify section 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 or 25 .

(2) Where the Minister proposes to make any regulations under this section relating to housing loans he shall consult the Minister for the Environment before making any such regulations.