(1)Where, under a power contained in a regulated agreement, the creditor or owner varies the agreement, the variation shall not take effect before notice of it is given to the debtor or hirer in the prescribed manner.
(2)Where an agreement (a " modifying agreement") varies or supplements an earlier agreement, the modifying agreement shall for the purposes of this Act be treated as—
(a)revoking the earlier agreement, and
(b)containing provisions reproducing the combined effect of the two agreements,
and obligations outstanding in relation to the earlier agreement shall accordingly be treated as outstanding instead in relation to the modifying agreement.
(3)If the earlier agreement is a regulated agreement but (apart from this subsection) the modifying agreement is not then, unless the modifying agreement is for running-account credit, it shall be treated as a regulated agreement.
(4)If the earlier agreement is a regulated agreement for running-account credit, and by the modifying agreement the creditor allows the credit limit to be exceeded but intends the excess to be merely temporary, Part V (except section 56) shall not apply to the modifying agreement.
(5)If—
(a)the earlier agreement is a cancellable agreement, and
(b)the modifying agreement is made within the period applicable under section 68 to the earlier agreement,
then, whether or not the modifying agreement would, apart from this subsection, be a cancellable agreement, it shall be treated as a cancellable agreement in respect of which a notice may be served under section 68 not later than the end of the period applicable under that section to the earlier agreement.
(6)Except under subsection (5), a modifying agreement shall not be treated as a cancellable agreement.
(7)This section does not apply to a non-commercial agreement.