We reported in our last legal update on the urgent need to BEFORE 1st September make sure your Consumer Credit Licence is fully up to date and with all relevant categories on it.
If it is not, then when the Financial Conduct Authority take over enforcement on that date, your licence will be frozen. If you seek an Interim Licence these categories will not be included and you will be liable for Unlicensed Trading Offences. Cost of upgrade is £82.
But how much will it really cost?
For those of you with a consumer Credit Licence granted after 6th April 2008 with an ‘indeterminate’ length of time there will be a Maintenance Charge every 5 years of £208 for Sole Traders and £505 for everyone else.
For those who have a Consumer Credit Licence, even if you obtained it last month at a cost of in excess of £1000 you now have to apply for an interim licence from the FCA at a further cost of £150 for a Sole Trader and £350 for everyone else. This will enable you to continue until April 2014.
You will then have to seek authorisation to continue being licensed as the OFT ceases and the FCA take over. There is, of course, an authorisation fee (to be determined in October) and then there will be an annual charge (also determined in October). As the current gross minimum fee is £1000 and the FCA is funded by the firms it regulates it is expected that the fees will increase significantly and comparative to the FSA.
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