All Ingard brokers will come under Ingard’s network permissions and the group can now extend its network proposition to include a range of consumer credit services, including credit broking, debt counselling and debt adjusting, credit information services and lending. It also means that its brokers will not have to wait for landing slots, which in some instances are not due until Christmas 2015.
Managing director David Ewing said: “There has been a considerable amount of confusion over the last few months in relation to what brokers are permitted to do based on their permissions.
“Having now received full permissions we are able to provide some clarity to our members.
“To further enhance the service we offer our brokers and to ensure they remain compliant we recently introduced an alternative funding desk to assist brokers with secured loans, commercial and bridging.”
Earlier today Tenet announced that it too had been granted full permissions for consumer credit services - but believed it was the first.
As with Ingard, Tenet can now extend its network proposition to include a range of consumer credit services, including credit broking, debt counselling and debt adjusting, credit information services and lending.
TenetLime managing director Gemma Harle said: “Our ability to simplify the process and significantly lower the cost of authorisation underlines the benefit of belonging to a network.
“We put a lot of effort into preparing to offer this new service and anyone who thinks that varying their permissions is a straightforward procedure may be surprised.”
Responsibility for regulating the consumer credit industry transferred from the Office of Fair Trading to the Financial Conduct Authority on 1 April 2014.
There are an estimated 50,000 firms that will require FCA authorisation for consumer credit-related services, many for the first time - from debt management firms and insolvency practices, to motor dealers and pawn brokers.
