Offer finance or lend directly to your customers. The FCA licence for lenders, credit brokers, retailers, motor dealers and debt firms: limited or full permission, the application, the fees and the timeline.
Selected engagements from more than 250 licences obtained since 2013, for payment, e-money, cryptoasset and consumer credit firms.
Volkswagen
Consumer CreditObtained the Royal College of Music’s FCA consumer credit licence.
Consumer CreditObtained Macmillan Cancer Support’s FCA consumer credit licence.
Our realistic timeline from submission, set against the regulator’s own published figures.
Safeguarding, operating and settlement accounts opened alongside the application, so you trade on authorisation.
A reply within three business hours and a written proposal the same day: the licence, the requirements, the cost and the timing.
The firm obtains consumer credit licences from first scoping to the FCA’s decision, including for the Royal College of Music and Macmillan Cancer Support. The work runs in four stages.
The regulator’s requirements, capital, timing, fees and the questions firms ask, from the regulator’s own publications.
A business that offers or arranges finance for consumers in the United Kingdom needs FCA authorisation for consumer credit. That covers lenders, credit brokers who introduce customers to lenders, pawnbrokers, high-cost short-term lenders, and firms that collect debts or give debt advice. The permission is either limited or full, set by what the business does as its main activity.
A dealer that sells vehicles and introduces buyers to finance needs limited permission. A business that does not sell vehicles but refers motor finance enquiries to lenders needs full permission.
A business that sells or installs products in the customer’s home, such as boilers, and offers finance needs full permission, because the sale takes place on domestic premises.
A retailer whose main business is selling goods or services, such as clothing, electrical goods or furniture, needs limited permission to offer finance to its customers.
Debt counselling, debt adjusting, debt administration and debt collecting need full permission, except debt counselling by not-for-profit bodies.
The permission follows the firm’s main activity. Limited permission carries a shorter application and a lower fee.
| Limited permission | Full permission |
|---|---|
| Consumer hire, such as tool or car hire | Credit broking where introducing customers to lenders or brokers is the main business |
| Credit broking where selling goods or non-financial services is the main business, such as car dealers and retailers introducing customers to lenders (other than domestic premises suppliers) | Credit broking where the sale takes place in the customer’s home, such as boiler and heating installation |
| Credit broking for consumer hire and hire purchase agreements | Debt administration and debt collecting |
| Lending where selling goods or non-financial services is the main business and no interest or charges apply | Commercial debt counselling and debt adjusting |
| Consumer credit lending by local authorities | Lending beyond limited permission, such as personal loans, credit cards and pawnbroking |
| Debt counselling by not-for-profit bodies | Credit information services and credit references, as provided by credit reference agencies |
| Operating an electronic lending system, such as a peer-to-peer platform |
The application is made through the FCA’s online system. It must show the firm meets the threshold conditions: adequate resources, suitable management, effective supervision and a business model that treats customers fairly.
| Application | Activities | FCA fee |
|---|---|---|
| Limited permission | Consumer hire; credit broking where selling goods or non-financial services is the main business; interest-free lending by a retailer; lending by local authorities; not-for-profit debt counselling | £560 (category 2) |
| Full permission: straightforward | Credit broking as the main business or in the customer’s home; credit information services; debt adjusting and debt counselling limited to the narrower forms | £1,130 (category 3) |
| Full permission: moderately complex | Lending and exercising the lender’s rights (other than high-cost short-term credit, home credit and bill of sale loans); consumer hire as owner; debt collecting; debt administration; operating a peer-to-peer lending platform | £5,640 (category 5) |
| Full permission: complex | Debt adjusting and debt counselling beyond the narrower forms; high-cost short-term credit, home credit and bill of sale lending; providing credit references | £11,260 (category 6) |
| Not-for-profit debt advice bodies | Debt counselling and adjusting on a not-for-profit basis | No fee |
The fee is set by the activity in the application with the highest pricing category, is paid on submission and is not refunded. It no longer depends on the firm’s projected consumer credit income. Periodic fees follow each year under the FCA’s consumer credit fee-block.
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory decision period | 6 months from a complete application; 12 months from an incomplete one | FSMA 2000, section 55V |
| Application preparation | 3 to 6 weeks | From instruction to submission |
| Our realistic timeline: limited permission | 2 to 3 months after submission | The firm’s own figure for a complete application |
| Our realistic timeline: full permission | 3 to 4 months after submission | The firm’s own figure for a complete application |
The statutory period is quoted from FSMA 2000. The realistic timeline is the firm’s own, for a complete, well-prepared application.
Authorisation starts supervision. A consumer credit firm meets the Consumer Credit sourcebook (CONC) and the Consumer Duty, reports to the FCA through its regulatory returns, handles complaints within the FCA’s time limits, keeps its financial promotions compliant and maintains the senior manager and certification arrangements it described in the application. The firm’s regulatory compliance service runs that programme as a project or on retainer.
Any business that offers or arranges credit or hire for consumers in the United Kingdom: lenders, credit brokers, pawnbrokers, high-cost short-term lenders, debt collectors, debt advisers and credit reference agencies.
Limited permission covers businesses whose main activity is selling goods or non-financial services and which offer credit only to support those sales, as well as consumer hire, local authority lending and not-for-profit debt counselling. Everything else, including lending, broking as the main business, broking in the customer’s home and most debt activities, needs full permission.
The FCA application fee is £560 for limited permission and £1,130, £5,640 or £11,260 for full permission, set by the activity with the highest pricing category. Professional fees are quoted as a fixed fee after scoping.
The FCA must decide within six months of a complete application. The firm plans for two to three months after submission for limited permission and three to four months for full permission.
Company details, a business plan, financial forecasts, how customers will be treated fairly, systems and controls, compliance arrangements, and details of the senior managers and controllers.
Yes, where selling vehicles is the main business and the dealer introduces buyers to lenders. A business that only refers motor finance enquiries needs full permission.
A regulatory advisory firm to payment, e-money and cryptoasset companies since 2013, with more than 250 licences obtained in more than 60 countries. The firm advises on authorisation, compliance, safeguarding, banking and transactions, and builds the white-label payment and card technology its clients launch on.
A written proposal on cost, timing and requirements, the same day: speak to an expert.
This guide is general information for firms considering authorisation and is reviewed against the regulator’s published requirements. It is not legal advice; requirements and fees change, and the regulator’s current publications take precedence.
The requirements, the cost and the timing for your business, in a written proposal the same day.