This article explains Continuous Payment Authority (CPA) – the recurring card-collection method commonly used by short-term lenders in the UK – and your legal right to cancel it. It is general information, not financial advice.
What a Continuous Payment Authority actually is
When you take out a short-term loan or cash advance, you’re often asked to give the lender your debit or credit card details so they can automatically collect your repayment on the due date. That authority to keep taking payments from your card – potentially more than once, and for varying amounts – is a Continuous Payment Authority. It’s different from a Direct Debit: a Direct Debit is collected from your bank account under the Bacs Direct Debit Guarantee, which gives you a specific statutory right to an immediate refund if a payment is taken in error. A CPA is a card-based instruction with no equivalent named guarantee scheme, but that does not mean you have no rights over it – you have a clear, separate legal right to cancel a CPA at any time.
You cancel it – not the lender
This is the point that causes the most confusion, and historically the most complaints: cancelling a CPA is your decision, made through your own bank or card provider, and your bank must act on your instruction once you give it – it is not required to check with the lender first or get the lender’s agreement. Regulators and the Financial Ombudsman Service have been clear on this after years of cases where banks wrongly told customers they needed the retailer or lender’s permission to stop the payments. If your bank tells you it can’t cancel a CPA without the lender’s consent, that’s incorrect, and you can insist, put it in writing, or escalate a complaint.
How to cancel a CPA in practice
- Contact your bank or card provider directly – by phone, in the banking app, or in branch – and ask them specifically to cancel the Continuous Payment Authority or recurring card payment for the named lender;
- Get a reference number or written confirmation that it’s been actioned, and the date it takes effect;
- Separately notify the lender that you’ve cancelled the CPA and want to discuss an alternative repayment arrangement – cancelling the CPA stops the automatic taking of money, but it does not cancel the underlying debt, which you still legally owe;
- Check your next statement to confirm no further attempts have gone through, and query immediately with your bank if one has.
Why people cancel a CPA
The most common reason is affordability: if a lender’s collection attempt on the due date would leave you without enough money for essentials like rent, food or other bills, or would push you into an unplanned overdraft and trigger further charges, you’re entitled to stop that automatic collection and arrange a repayment plan you can actually manage instead. This is a legitimate use of the right – it isn’t a way to avoid a genuine debt, but it is a way to take back control over when and how much comes out of your account.
Rules on how lenders can use CPA
Alongside your right to cancel, FCA rules place limits on how lenders using CPA can behave. Firms are generally expected not to make excessive repeated attempts to collect via CPA once an attempt has failed, and are not supposed to take a lesser, partial amount from your card without your specific agreement if the full payment doesn’t go through – taking whatever happens to be available, rather than a fixed instalment you’ve agreed to, has historically caused unexpected shortfalls and bank charges for borrowers. If a lender is making repeated attempts, or taking amounts you didn’t authorise, that’s a matter you can complain about directly to the lender and, if unresolved, to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
If you’re struggling to repay, cancelling the CPA is a start, not a solution
Stopping automatic collection buys you breathing space to work out a realistic plan, but the debt itself doesn’t disappear, and interest or charges may continue to apply depending on your agreement and whether you’re within any regulatory caps. If you’re struggling more broadly, free and independent debt advice – from a charity such as StepChange, National Debtline or Citizens Advice – can help you look at the whole picture rather than just this one loan.
Checking what’s actually been set up on your account
If you’re not sure whether a CPA is currently active on your card for a specific lender, your bank’s app or online banking will usually let you view active recurring card payments or merchant authorisations tied to your card – check there first, rather than relying on memory of what you agreed to when you took the loan out. This is also worth doing periodically if you’ve taken out short-term credit in the past and want to confirm nothing is still set up to collect after the debt itself has been repaid or settled.
What a new card doesn’t automatically fix
Some people assume that getting a new debit or credit card – for example after reporting one lost or stolen – automatically cancels any CPA linked to the old card details. This isn’t reliably true: some card networks and banks carry certain recurring payment authorities across to a replacement card automatically, precisely so that legitimate subscriptions don’t get disrupted by a routine card reissue. If you’re specifically trying to stop a lender’s CPA, don’t rely on a new card number alone – contact your bank directly and ask them to cancel the specific authority, and confirm it’s actually been stopped rather than assuming a new card number has done the job.
Sources
- Financial Conduct Authority, Consumer Credit sourcebook (CONC) guidance on continuous payment authorities – fca.org.uk
- MoneyHelper, cancelling a continuous payment authority – moneyhelper.org.uk
- Financial Ombudsman Service – financial-ombudsman.org.uk
- StepChange Debt Charity – stepchange.org