National Westminster Bank plc v Story and Pallister
Court of Appeal 7 May 1999

Anthony Story and Mary Pallister had made arrangements with the bank to lend them a total of £35,000 on three separate credit facilities – a £15,000 business loan to Mr Story, and two loans, of £5,000 and £15,000, made to Mr Story and Ms Pallister jointly. The loans were to fund Mr Story’s carpentry business. The issue here was whether there was a single agreement of £35,000, meaning that the loan was exempt from the Consumer Credit Act 1974, or whether there were three separate agreements, each of no more than £15,000, the then limit for regulation under the Act.

The intentions of both sides in making the arrangements were unclear. Section 18 defines a multiple agreement as one where the agreement comprises different categories of credit. The court held that all the facilities were of the same category, being unrestricted-use credit, so the agreement was non-regulated and thus enforceable against the debtors.