There are several laws and regulations designed to make sure that any credit deals you sign up to are fair, and any organisations you owe money to behave reasonably.

Parts of the Consumer Credit Act allow a court to rewrite any credit agreement (including a mortgage) if it thinks the agreement is an "extortionate credit bargain". This means that it:

• Has payments which are "grossly exorbitant" (too high compared with similar agreements); or
• "gross contravenes the ordinary principles of fair dealing" (for example, where you have been a victim of sharp practice).

Courts have used this law to reduce very high interest loans, especially in cases where the person signing the agreement was pressured into signing. But this is not easy to prove, and if you think you have a case, you should get expert advice from an adviser or the Trading Standards Department at your local council.

When you sign an agreement for credit, or to buy something, it should spell out all the terms and conditions of the deal. The law says that a company can’t enforce any part if a contract if it is not in plain English or if it is unfair (but this doesn’t mean a price that you think is unfair).

These regulations prevent lenders from:

• Charging much higher interest to customers who have missed payments; and
• Taking customers by surprise with unexpected or hidden small print or unclear wording in agreements

Anyone who offers credit or collects debts must have a license from the Office of Fair Trading. They won’t be able to legally enforce the terms of their credit agreements if they didn’t have a license when you signed the agreement.

Most credit agreements that Consumers sign are regulated agreements’ under the Consumer Credit Act. This means they must be in writing and also explain, among other things:

• The amount of money you are borrowing
• The interest rate; and
• How long you will be paying the debt back

Creditors who arrange credit using regulated agreements can take court action against you only if you have signed such an agreement. Creditors cannot enforce payment if they haven’t given you an agreement to sign.

A creditor may not be able to make you repay a loan if you have been put under a lot of pressure from someone you know to sign up for it. The most likely situation is if your husband or wife or partner persuaded you to sign a secured loan agreement (a mortgage for example) which was entirely for their business. But you must show that the lender didn’t explain to you how the loan worked, and that you should have got independent advice before signing.

The Limitations Act 1980 gives creditors a maximum amount of time to start legal proceedings after the last payment or written contact from the debtor. For most debts, this is six years or 12 years for mortgages. If you have not paid anything towards a debt or "acknowledged the debt" in writing (for example, by writing to the creditor about the debt) for more than six years, you should seek specialist advice before you speak to the creditor about an arrangement to pay what you owe.