Section 3 — Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003: Purposes

3 Purposes The purposes of this Act are— (a) to protect the interests of consumers in connection with credit contracts, consumer leases, and buy-back transactions of land; and (b) to provide for the disclosure of adequate information to consumers under consumer credit contracts and consumer leases— (i) to enable consumers to distinguish between competing credit arrangements or competing lease arrangements; and (ii) to enable consumers to become informed of the terms of consumer credit contracts or consumer leases before they become irrevocably committed to them; and (iii) to enable consumers to monitor the performance of consumer credit contracts or consumer leases; and (c) to provide rules about interest charges, fees, and payments in relation to consumer credit contracts; and (d) to enable consumers to seek reasonable changes to consumer credit contracts on the grounds of unforeseen hardship; and (e) to provide for the disclosure of adequate information to consumers under buy-back transactions of land and for the provision- of independent legal advice to those consumers— (i) to inform consumers of the terms, the effects, and the implications of those transactions before they become irrevocably committed to them; and (ii) to enable consumers to monitor the performance of those transactions; and (f) to provide rules about fees in relation to buy-back transactions of land; and (g) to prevent— (i) oppressive credit contracts, consumer leases, and buy-back transactions of land; and (ii) oppressive conduct by creditors under credit contracts, lessors under consumer leases, and transferees under buy-back transactions of land.