Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003, s 5 (definitions of “credit sale” and “security interest”)
”Credit sale” is the name the CCCF Act uses for what’s often called “hire purchase”. This is when you buy goods or services but pay for them later, usually by instalments. Sometimes the seller will provide the credit, but usually the lender will be a finance company that’s separate from the seller. With hire purchase, unlike a layby sale, you get to take the goods home when you sign the contract.
However, until you pay off the goods the lender will usually have the right to repossess the goods if you miss your payments. Sometimes this means that the lender has formal legal ownership of the goods (legal “title”) until they’re fully paid off. But regardless of who has legal ownership of the goods while you’re still making your payments, you’ll be protected by the rules in the CCCF Act for consumer credit contracts, and the lender will have to follow the detailed processes in the Act if they want to repossess the goods (see: “Repossession”).