PPI: Unfair relationships?

• Considers the case of Smith v Bank of Scotland, concerning PPI mis-selling to credit card customers.
• Covers the principles relevant to unfair relationships, as set out in Smith.
• Looks ahead to the pending Supreme Court judgment in Potter v Canada Square Operations.

The word ‘relationship’ is most commonly understood to describe the interactions, feelings and formal arrangements between two human beings. Of course, it has many other uses by way of a description between two or more things, concepts etc. A recent Supreme Court case considered the consumer credit provisions relating to unfair relationships (see Smith and another (Appellant) v Royal Bank of Scotland (Respondent) [2023] UKSC 34).

The origins of the provisions concerning unfair relationships in ss 140A to 140C in the Consumer Credit Act 1974 have their origin in a white paper in December 2003 (Cm 6040). They were introduced into the 1974 Act in place of the provisions regarding