As you may be aware the regulation of consumer credit will move from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the FCA on 01 April 2014.

If you have a consumer credit licence or are likely to need one you should read on as there are interim measures that MUST be followed.

There are two stages to the application process namely:

• Applying for Interim Permissions;
• Applying for Full Authorisation.

The FCA have written to adviser firms regarding ‘Interim Permission’ and are offering a 30% discount for early registration before the end November 2013.

So what is interim permission? To quote from ps13-07 issued by the FCA ‘Interim Permission’ means that firms can continue to carry out consumer credit activities before they become ‘fully authorised’ by us”. A copy can be viewed here 

The FCA go on to say that “from September consumer credit licence holders will need to register for interim permission if they wish to continue consumer credit activities after 01 April 2014”.

Following the granting of interim permissions, full authorisation with the FCA will commence from 01 April 2014 and firms will need to complete a more detailed application by a specified deadline. 

The fee for interim permission is £150 for sole traders discounted to £105 pre 30 November, while the fee for all other firms is £350 discounted to £245 for early payment.

The FCA has frequently asked questions which can be found by clicking here and following the relevant section.

You can also register to receive email updates from the FCA here