Fowles Spurling Cannon - can we save you money, or help you generate extra income?

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If you are involved in transactions for which a licence is required and do not hold one, you are committing a criminal offence, and you will not be able to enforce an agreement with a customer who defaults.

The Act applies to brokers as well as those who offer credit or lend money directly to consumers.  It also covers anyone who hires out goods, runs a credit agency, collects debts, helps with clearing debts or provides debt counselling.

You are not likely to need a licence (unless you are a credit-reference agency) if -

• you are lending amounts of credit or hiring goods at a cost which is always more than £25,000
• you only deal with limited companies
• you are just accepting credit cards or trading checks issued by someone else, and you do not introduce the borrower to them
• you are just allowing customers to pay theors bills in four or fewer instalments within a year beginning on the date of the agreement

You can apply to the Office of Fair Trading for more information and a licence .

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