If you’ve ever applied for a credit card, you’ve received pages of legal jargon — and likely signed them without reading a word.
I don’t blame you. The dense text in those documents doesn’t exactly make for scintillating — or easy — reading. Take this excerpt as a case in point:
The minimum payment will be the sum of (i) the amount of any interest, payment protection insurance premiums, Monthly Fee and Default Fees charged to your Account plus (ii) 1% of the remaining balance shown on your statement plus (iii) the amount of any arrears … subject to a minimum of £5 or the full balance if less than £5.
That’s straight from the terms and conditions of Santander’s sample credit card agreement. But before you go blaming the bank for making it unreadable, know that it’s not entirely Santander’s fault. Much of that convoluted language is required by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA) — a law that, for decades, has basically forced lenders to wrap everything in complex language to make it compliant.
That law is finally getting rewritten, which means financial copywriters everywhere will soon get to start writing in plain English. Let’s look at what the CCA is, how it’s changing, and what it means for the financial content you write.
What is the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA)?
The CCA is a UK law that regulates most types of consumer borrowing — loans, credit cards, and the like. The goal is to protect consumers by making sure they get clear information before they borrow money.
But — as you might have guessed from the 1974 part — this law is more than 50 years old.
That means a slick new fintech company offering an app-only virtual card, for example, is still required to present you with pages of 1970s-style jargon before taking you on as a customer.
The government is now trying to fix this anachronism. In May 2025, HM Treasury put forward a proposal to reform the CCA, pointing out that the current rules are:
- Prescriptive, confusing, and duplicative: You’re forced to say things a certain way, even if no one understands it. Then you have to repeat yourself a bunch of times, just in case.
- Inflexible: You can’t use a video, chatbot, or interactive graphic to help people understand because the rules were written when paper was the only option.
- Complex: You have to scatter the information across multiple documents and leave it up to the reader to piece it all together.
- Disproportionate: A tiny slip, like putting a sentence in the wrong spot, can land you with a big penalty, even if the customer understood everything just fine.
These issues are exactly why people skip over these agreements. Fix them, and customers will actually understand what they’re signing — which was the whole point of the CCA in the first place.
What changes will be made to the Consumer Credit Act?
The details are still being worked out, but one thing’s clear: CCA reform will change how companies talk to customers.
This change will be part of a broader shift in regulation. You might already know about Consumer Duty, a set of rules introduced in 2023 that requires firms to go beyond checking off compliance boxes and actually help customers make informed decisions.
In other words, companies can no longer shrug and say, “Well, we included the fine print, so if customers didn’t read it, that’s on them.” The new mindset is, “If customers don’t understand what they’re reading, that’s on us.”
The CCA reform follows that same spirit so people know what they’re signing up for before they click “I agree.” Here are the main proposed changes:
- More flexible rules: Right now, the CCA basically tells companies exactly what to say and how to say it. The new approach would focus less on checking whether the rules are technically followed and more on whether customers understand what’s being said.
- Easier to read and understand: Lenders will need to communicate using plainer language that real people can understand, so borrowers don’t make bad decisions based on misunderstood terms.
- More formats: Under the CCA’s current rules, text is pretty much all companies can work with. The reform would allow for explainer videos, app-based walkthroughs, interactive tools, or whatever else works to help customers better understand.
Exactly what the final reform will look like won’t be clear for some time, since the process is just getting started. So far, HM Treasury has proposed changes to certain parts of the CCA, and those proposals are now open for feedback. Once responses come in, the government will review the feedback and draft legislative amendments, and the FCA will begin writing new rules to replace old CCA requirements.
Other parts of the CCA will also need to go through the same cycle: proposal, consultation, review, legislation, and FCA rulemaking. In other words, reform is coming, but this is a multi-year, phased process that’s only just begun.
How do the new Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) regulations fit into the CCA reform?
Ah yes, Buy Now, Pay Later — that now-ubiquitous option popping up on online stores, letting you split the cost of your 2 a.m. impulse buys into “three easy instalments.”
Believe it or not, BNPL has been coasting in a regulatory grey area — until now. But the government’s finally changing that.
Traditional loans and credit cards have long been kept in check by the CCA and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). In May, the UK government took steps to officially bring BNPL under the FCA’s watch too with a new draft law. The plan is to regulate BNPL by making these lenders get authorised, check if people can actually afford what they’re buying, and explain things clearly.
BNPL and CCA reform made headlines at the same time because HM Treasury released both the CCA reform proposals and the draft BNPL regulation in one go. But BNPL is moving faster, skipping straight into the FCA’s modern, principles-based rulebook, with regulation expected to take effect by mid-2026.
The CCA-related rules will get dismantled and moved into the FCA’s purview as well, eventually putting all consumer credit — including BNPL — under one roof. But as we’ve covered, that part’s going to take a bit more time.
What does all this mean for how you write content?
Let’s get to the part that really matters: What does all this mean for you and me and all the other financial copywriters doing their best to present complex information in a way that’s easy to understand?
In short, it’s good news.
If you’ve read any of our other content, you’ll know how much we oppose unnecessarily complex, long-winded content — especially novel-length terms and conditions. These upcoming changes will finally give us more room to write in ways that people understand.
Here’s what that looks like:
- More freedom to get creative: You’ll have more flexibility to write content that connects. Fewer required jargony phrases, less clunky formatting, and more room to use visuals and interactive tools — or even come up with new ways to present information that haven’t been tried before.
- More responsibility for clarity: The flip side of that freedom is that you’re now on the hook for making sure your content gets read and understood. You won’t be able to lean on jargon and rote phrases that check boxes. Instead, you’ll have to come up with more original ways to make your content concise and customer-first.
If you’re not sure where to get started with all this, begin with the tips in our guide: How to write terms and conditions that are user-friendly, accessible and compliant.
In the meantime, keep an eye on the FCA’s reform process so you can evolve your writing and content strategies with it. And if you’ve got bright ideas about what this reform should look like, now’s the time to speak up. Public feedback on the first phase of the reform is open until 21 July.
