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Guide · 4 minute read

How to check a debt firm on the FCA register

The register is free, public and takes two minutes to search. Knowing what to look at once you are there is the part nobody explains.

Why authorisation matters

Debt counselling, debt adjusting and debt collection are regulated activities in the UK. A firm carrying them on generally needs Financial Conduct Authority authorisation, and dealing with an authorised firm gives you three things an unauthorised one cannot: rules the firm must follow, access to the Financial Ombudsman Service if it goes wrong, and in some cases protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

How to search

  1. Go to register.fca.org.uk and search the firm name, the trading name on the letter, or the firm reference number if you have one.
  2. Open the firm’s entry and check its status. You want “Authorised”. “No longer authorised”, “Applied to cancel” or an entry with requirements imposed on it all need explaining before you go further.
  3. Check the permissions. Authorisation is not general. A firm permitted to carry on debt collecting is not necessarily permitted to give debt counselling. If the firm is advising you on which debt solution to take, look for debt counselling.
  4. Check the trading names section. Marketing brands are usually registered here, which is how you connect a website name to the company behind it.
  5. Check the contact details against the letter, email or website you are dealing with.
Cloned firms. The most common trick is to quote a real authorised firm’s name and reference number while giving different phone numbers, email addresses and bank details. Always contact the firm using the details on the register, never the ones you were sent. If they do not match, treat it as a scam and report it to the FCA.

What the register will not tell you

Authorisation is not a recommendation. Plenty of authorised firms charge fees for something a charity would do for nothing, and the register says nothing about price, quality or whether a product suits you. It also will not tell you whether a firm is about to close.

For insolvency, note that the register is the wrong tool entirely: an IVA is supervised by a licensed insolvency practitioner, licensed through a recognised professional body such as ICAEW, the IPA or ICAS, not by the FCA. You can search the Insolvency Service’s practitioner listing instead, and complaints go through a different route.

If the firm is not on the register

Stop paying, do not send any further personal or bank details, and get free advice from one of the services below. Report the firm to the FCA on 0800 111 6768 and, if you believe you have been defrauded, to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 (Police Scotland on 101 in Scotland). Then check what you have actually got using how to find out who holds your debt plan.

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Nobody should charge you for debt advice. These services are free, confidential and independent, and none of them will sell you a product.

This page is information, not advice about your own circumstances. If money is tight, ring one of the numbers above before you act on anything you read online, here or anywhere else.