As indicated, the UTCC Regulations apply to any term in a contract concluded between a supplier and a consumer. A supplier is defined as a person who, acting for purposes related to his or her business, supplies services. The definition does not require that the service be provided to the consumer. Thus a guarantee is covered, albeit that the bank is pro viding the service (i.e. finance) not to the consumer guarantor, but to the borrower, and that the borrower is not a consumer. Where a consumer borrower is itself providing the security, it is arguable that the security forms part of a financing package indeed there will be cross-referencing so that it must be read together with the loan contract, and both together involve a service.

‘Services’ is not defined, but clearly banking and financial services are covered. Core banking taking deposits and making loans obviously involves the provision of services. Effecting a customer’s payment orders is also a service. So, too, are financial advice, securities dealing, fund management, and so on.
The indicative list of unfair terms in the Directive, and in Schedule 3 of the Regulations, specifically refers to clauses which regularly feature in financing contracts. Indeed financial services are specifically mentioned in Schedule
Paragraph 1 (g) and (j) refers to terms which enable a supplier to termi nate a contract of indeterminate duration without reasonable notice (except when there are serious grounds for doing so), or to alter the terms of the contract unilaterally without a valid reason which is specified in the contract.
Paragraph (1) refers to a term which allows a supplier of services to increase their price without giving the consumer the corre spending right to cancel the contract if the final price is too high in rela tion to the price agreed when the contract was concluded. Then para graph 2 of the Schedule goes on to state expressly that the indicative clauses in paragraph l(g) and (j) are without hindrance to suppliers of financial services, which terminate a contract of indeterminate duration unilaterally, or which reserve the right to alter the interest rate or other charges, provided in both cases the consumer is required to be quickly notified and, in the case of unilateral alteration, the consumer is also free to dissolve the contract.