Consumer Credit Bill

moved Amendment No. 17:"Page 5, line 45, at end insert ““, or" (   )   making a part payment, whenever it is applied by the credit provider first to the lowest interest bearing balances within an account.”” The noble Lord said: We are now getting into more substantive consumer protection issues. Amendment No. 17, which is a probing amendment to test how the Government see this issue, is quite straightforward. We submit that when the millions of people who owe the billions of pounds on their credit card statements make part payments, quite often it is not clear to what extent part payments are being applied to the different transactions that have taken place within those credit card statements; for example, balance transfers, cash advances or cheques issued by a credit company drawn on by individuals. The purpose of the amendment—which I appreciate is crudely drawn but is nevertheless succinct—is to flesh out whether the Government believe that there should be further legislation protecting individuals to make it clear that a credit card company ought to apply first to the lowest interest-bearing balances within an account if a part payment is being made. I beg to move.