‘Credit agreement’ is defined in Article 60B of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 (RAO) as ‘an agreement between an individual or relevant recipient of credit (‘A’) and any other person (‘B’) under which B provides A with credit of any amount’

There are six activities that fall within credit broking. These are:
1. effecting an introduction of an individual who wishes to enter into a credit agreement to another person, with a view to that person entering as lender into a credit agreement by way of business;
2. effecting an introduction of an individual who wishes to enter into a consumer hire agreement to another person, with a view to that person entering as owner into a consumer hire
agreement by way of business (except where the exemption relating to the supply of essential services would apply to the consumer hire agreement, see PERG 2.7.19 G);
3. effecting an introduction of an individual who wishes to enter into a credit agreement or a consumer hire agreement to a person who carries on an activity in (1) or (2) by way of business;
4. presenting or offering an agreement which would (if entered into) be a credit agreement;
5. Assisting an individual by undertaking preparatory work with a view of that person entering into a regulated credit agreement;
6. Entering into a regulated credit agreement on behalf of a lender.

The simple answer is no. The FCA perform an assessment on the suitability of your business plan and the individuals responsible for overseeing the business. In the event the FCA are not satisfied that the proposed plans are aligned with their statutory and operational objectives, the application may be refused. With that being said, we are proud to have a 100% success rate with applications we have supported for FCA authorisation and will advise you if you may have trouble meeting FCA expectations.

The NACFB application support process can take between 1 and 3 months dependent on several factors. These include the types of regulatory permissions you hope to apply for, the complexity of your business model and the readiness of your business to comply with the FCAs regulatory framework.  Once your application is ready to be submitted, the FCA have 6 months to consider a complete application and 12 months to consider an incomplete application. We typically see decisions made within 6 months, but this cannot be guaranteed due to factors outside of our control.

We will provide support to non-members where we believe this is aligned to the NACFB’s mission. The cost for Non-members is a £8,000 +VAT for support with credit broking and debt related permissions. The costs for other permissions will be agreed between us following our consultation process.

If you have any questions on exemptions and exclusions, please get in touch. Alternatively, you can find further information can be found in the Perimeter Guidance manual under PERG 2.7 and 2.8.

We are unable to provide refunds unless exceptional circumstances apply.

The support service provided assumes the management of the applicant firm is sufficiently experienced and competent in financial services and the specific activities they seek to be authorised to perform. In the event you are lacking experience of competency, please speak to us, as we may have other options available to assist you.

Our service is designed to provide guidance and support only. The applicant firm will need to set aside time to complete key documents, such as the regulatory business plan and key policies and the various application forms. Several areas will need to be discussed and considered internally, such as the application of senior management functions within your management team and ownership of specific responsibilities. Much will depend on the size of your business and complexity of your activities and we discuss this is more detail during our consultation with you.