PS25/3: Consumer credit regulatory returns: credit broking, debt adjusting, debt counselling and providing credit information services

Read PS25/3 (PDF)[2]

What we are changing

Following CP24/19[1], we are introducing a regulatory return which will collect data from consumer credit firms with permission to carry out any of these regulated activities:

• credit broking  
• debt adjusting  
• debt counselling  
• providing credit information services  

The new return seeks to make our expectations of firms clearer, using common industry terminology to help understanding. This will help firms complete the forms and will result in less ad hoc information requests from us.

The new return will have 5 mandatory sections for firms to complete followed by tailored questions specific to their permissions.

1. permissions
2. business model
3. marketing
4. revenue
5. staff 

Who this is for

The rules in this Policy Statement will interest firms:  

• engaged in credit broking  
• engaged in debt adjusting  
• engaged in debt counselling  
• engaged in providing credit information services  
• that advise, represent or provide software to support compliance with regulatory reporting for any of the above firms

Next steps

If your firm is affected by these changes, you need to make sure you meet the requirements of the new rules so that your reporting is in line with the changes in this PS. 

You will need to implement the changes within the timescales set out in Appendix 1 Handbook Text and highlighted in Chapter 2. 

Background

Since 2014, we have required consumer credit firms to periodically provide us with regulatory returns. These returns supply us with aggregated data for consumer credit activities. The data received is inconsistent and does not align with the harms we see in the sector, often requiring additional ad hoc data requests.  

The quality of data collected now is poor, and due to changes in the way these markets operate, the associated data needed to effectively supervise it has changed. This prompted us to initiate our multi-year review into the replacement of our consumer credit reporting (CCR) returns for regulated activities.  

We intend to review and replace further returns for firms undertaking other consumer credit activities. We expect this review will gradually replace all our existing CCR returns in the long term. However, we have made the decision to slow down the implementation of the remaining phases in order to lessen the burden on firms and allow us to consider the impact, and value, of this new return and the new consumer credit Product Sales Data returns. 

We will be publishing regular updates on our consumer credit reporting webpage[3].