How to ask a creditor to prove a debt

“Prove it” is not a legal term, and there is no single form that makes a creditor prove everything. What you do have are two practical tools. For regulated credit, such as loans, credit cards, store cards and catalogue accounts, the Consumer Credit Act 1974 gives you a legal right to a copy of your agreement and a statement. For any debt, you can dispute the amount or ask for the information a firm holds about you.

Neither is a way to make a debt vanish. Used properly, they let you check that the debt is yours, that the amount is right, and who you should be dealing with, before you agree to pay anything.

What can you ask for under the Consumer Credit Act?

Three sections of the Act give you the right to information, depending on the type of agreement.

For each one:

• The fee is £1. It has been £1 since 1998.
• The creditor has 12 working days from receiving your written request to comply.
• Your request must be in writing.
• It must be the creditor, meaning whoever owns the debt now. If the debt has been sold, the new owner becomes the creditor and must deal with the request. A collection agency acting for the owner should pass it on.
• You cannot keep asking. The creditor does not have to reply to a request made less than one month after it complied with a previous one for the same agreement.

Section 77 does not apply to buy now pay later (deferred payment credit) agreements that became regulated in 2026. None of these rights apply where nothing is owed, or to non-commercial agreements such as a loan from a friend.

What does the creditor have to send?

A copy of the agreement and a statement. The copy does not have to be a photocopy of the page you signed. National Debtline says it “does not have to include a signature box, signature or the date of signature” from the original. What matters is that it shows the terms of the agreement you made.

Creditors often send a copy of the current terms and conditions with a statement, or a reconstructed version of the agreement. If what you receive looks incomplete, is for a different account, or does not match your records, a free debt adviser can check it for you.

What happens if the creditor does not reply in time?

The Act says that while the creditor has failed to comply, it “is not entitled, while the default continues, to enforce the agreement”. In practice that means it should not take you to court or enforce the debt until it has sent what you asked for.

It does not mean:

• the debt is written off. It still exists. Once the creditor complies, even late, it can enforce the agreement again.
• interest and letters stop. National Debtline says a creditor can still send you a default notice, pass information to credit reference agencies, and add interest and charges while the request is outstanding.
• the creditor has committed a crime. Some old template letters say a creditor commits an offence if it has not replied within a month. That offence was repealed in 2008.

What does “unenforceable” mean, and what does it not mean?

This is where a lot of online advice goes wrong. There are two quite different things.

Temporarily unenforceable. The creditor has not yet replied to your request. As soon as it does, it can go to court again. This is the usual situation.

Unenforceable because of a defect in the agreement. The Act has rules about how agreements must be made and what they must contain. If an agreement was not properly made, the creditor may need a court’s permission to enforce it, and in some cases may not be able to enforce it at all. The rules changed on 6 April 2007, so the date of your agreement matters. These cases are technical, and rare: National Debtline says “unenforceable credit agreements are rare” and most agreements meet the legal requirements.

Even an agreement that a court could never enforce is not a debt you no longer owe. The creditor can still ask you to pay, and the account can still show on your credit file.

What if the debt is not regulated credit?

Many debts are not credit agreements, so the Consumer Credit Act request does not apply. These include council tax, rent, energy and water bills, tax owed to HMRC, benefit overpayments and parking charges. For these you can:

• write and dispute the debt. Say what you think is wrong, for example that the debt is not yours or the amount is wrong, and ask for a breakdown. Where the debt comes from regulated credit, FCA rules say a firm must suspend recovery while it investigates a dispute on valid grounds, and that it is for the firm, not you, to establish that you are the right person and the amount is right (CONC 7.14).
• make a subject access request under data protection law, asking for the personal information the organisation holds about you, such as account records and notes. The ICO says organisations normally have one month to reply and usually cannot charge.

If the debt is old, check first whether it may be too old to be taken to court: see statute-barred debt.

If you use our checker, we may pass your details to a licensed insolvency practitioner or debt adviser.

Template: request for a copy of your credit agreement

Copy this, fill in the parts in square brackets, and delete the section line that does not apply. Send it by post with proof of postage, with the £1 fee, and keep a copy.

Common mistakes

• Stopping payments while you wait, when the debt is clearly yours. Interest and charges can still build up. If you cannot afford payments, that is a separate problem to solve.
• Paying a firm to send the request. It costs £1 and a stamp to do it yourself.
• Sending the request to a collector that does not own the debt without asking it to pass the request on.
• Offering a payment in the same letter. Keep the request and any offer separate, especially for an old debt.
• Ignoring court papers because a request is outstanding. Always respond by the deadline: see what to do about a Money Claim Online claim form.

What to do next

1. Check your paperwork to see who owns the debt now and whether it is regulated credit. Our debt problems hub covers the other letters you may be getting.
2. Send the request above with the £1 fee, or a dispute letter or subject access request for other debts.
3. Put a date 12 working days after delivery in your diary, and keep copies of everything.
4. If the documents do not add up, or you have several debts, get free, impartial help from MoneyHelper, StepChange, Citizens Advice or National Debtline: see where to get free debt advice. Once you know what you owe, debt solutions compared sets out your options, including settling a debt for less. For the rules collectors must follow, see dealing with debt collectors.