Regulation came to the Consumer Credit world back in April 2014 when the responsibilities for this lending segment moved from the Office of Fair Trading to the FCA. Anyone involved in arranging or providing finance for an individual, sole trader or partnership business consisting of three or fewer partners came under this new regime and are now required to be authorised either for full or limited permissions.
This change affected a broad section of businesses from a broad cross section of retail firms, motor and boat finance, all the way through to commercial finance brokers, affecting firms that had previously had interaction with the FCA and its requirements to protect the consumer. In year one the team managed 400 authorisations for firms, with a 100% success rate and now support those firms with ongoing compliance support.
The ability to provide credit for services or product purchase can bring great benefits to a firm and significantly increase its sales and profitability and the Consumer Credit Centre continues to manage a strong inflow of firms looking for support to take their businesses to the next level.
Members have access to extensive compliance information including GDPR, but the first step is gaining authorisation, and the team offers a stress free process . If a firm is just looking for comprehensive compliance support to ensure that their processes stand up to FCA scrutiny there is access to a comprehensive, ready-to-use compliance solution available online and helpdesk support, advice and guidance, to help firms re-engineer their businesses.
