Credit licence

The Consumer Credit Act 1974 covers the following types of business:

• consumer credit
• consumer hire
• debit adjusting and debt counselling
• debt collecting
• credit reference agencies
• canvassing credit off trade premises

The Office of Fair Trading has a public record of all licensed traders and all those who applied for a licence.

They can give the public details of licensed businesses, such as type of activities they cover, their authorised trading names, and main business address.

All businesses that offer credit to consumers must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Apply for consumer credit authorisation on the FCA website.

To find out more about offering credit to consumers, visit GOV.UK.