online consumer credit resource
This section of our website includes a collection of online documents, reference materials and links – giving more background to our work handling consumer credit complaints (which we have covered since April 2007).
This section may be of particular interest to:
- advice workers (such as debt and money advisers) and
- businesses with a standard consumer-credit licence (automatically covered by law by the ombudsman).
our quick guide to ...
the ombudsman and smaller businesses [PDF version opens in new window]
this brief guide is aimed at businesses we cover – including thsoe with a consumer-credit licence – that don't generally have much contact with us, because they only rarely receive complaints
consumer credit complaints – case studies
- in issue 68 of ombudsman news we published an update on disputes involving consumer-credit businesses – a year after they came under the ombudsman service for the first time
- in issue 75 of ombudsman news we published some more case studies – about debt collection, debt management, point-of-sale loans and financial hardship
- in issue 81 of ombudsman news we published a selection of case studies involving complaints about debt-collecting businesses.
our technical notes on ...
debt collecting
this note covers complaints where a third-party debt-collection agency (ie one that is separate and distinct from the original lender) has been employed to recover a debt
goods and services bought with credit
this note covers complaints where consumer protection laws make the provider of credit liable in certain circumstances for some problems with goods or services obtained using credit
consumer-credit businesses – update from the ombudsman
- in issue 82 of ombudsman news (December 2009/January 2010), Jane Hingston, lead ombudsman for banking and credit, discusses key complaints-handling issues for businesses with a consumer-credit licence
- in issue 60 of ombudsman news (March/April 2007) – following the widening of our remit to include consumer credit businesses – we set out the types of consumer-credit complaints we can consider, the preparations we made in advance of our new remit, and the resources available for businesses
information for businesses covered by the ombudsman service
quick and easy access to the most frequently-asked questions (FAQs) from small businesses – about all aspects of our process and procedures
the official complaints-handling rules for consumer-credit businesses
the Consumer Credit Act 2006
providing the statutory framework under which consumer-credit activities are carried out and regulated in the UK
our 2006 consultation paper on extending our remit to cover consumer credit
published in June 2006 – explaining the technicalities of the ombudsman's remit over consumer-credit disputes, inviting feedback on issues such as our funding for this work, and asking for comments on the draft rules for handling consumer-credit complaints (amending the rules contained in the "DISP" section of the FSA's Handbook)
our 2006 feedback statement on proposals to extend our remit to consumer credit [PDF version opens in new window]
summarising the responses we received to the consultation on the proposed rules for the consumer credit jurisdiction
details of the series of roadshows that we ran for consumer credit businesses in the run-up to April 2007, when the consumer credit jurisdiction came into effect