Ombudsman to cover Secured Loans
No one should need reminding, but if you advertise consumer credit for secured loans, whether it’s in a newspaper, on the radio or on the Internet, by law you have to have a consumer credit license.
In March this year amendments to the Consumer Credit Bill were given Royal Assent and changes in the revised Bill will affect organisations holding a Consumer Credit License.
From April 2007 the Financial Ombudsman service will cover consumer credit. To explain this, it is easier to quote from their website.
“The new legislation includes requirements on businesses with consumer credit licences (issued by the Office of Fair Trading) to have formal complaints-handling procedures. And for the first time, these businesses will also be covered on a statutory basis by the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Businesses with consumer credit licences who are also regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) - such as banks and building societies - already come under the ombudsman for most of their consumer credit activities.”
In June 2006 the Ombudsman began a consultation period with the industry and related parties. This consultation period includes introducing the complaints-handling requirements to the consumer credit sector, explains the technicalities of the ombudsman’s remit over consumer credit disputes (officially known as the ombudsman’s “consumer credit jurisdiction”) and invites feedback on key issues - such as how the ombudsman service will be funded for this work; and includes the draft rules for handling consumer credit complaints. The consultation period runs to 11 October 2006 with publication of the final rules planned for January 2007.
From December 2006 until February 2007 the Ombudsman is holding a series of sessions across the country to let the industry know what it’s all about and how the new legislation will affect businesses.
One of the things you realise when involved in the financial sector is just how many organisations you have to keep an eye on!
