Credit and borrowing money
If you have a complaint about a business that provides consumer credit – such as a payday loan, or home credit business – we can help.
On this page
Handling credit complaints?
See our guidance for business on consumer credit.
Every year we receive complaints from consumers about businesses who offer credit products and services.
Consumer credit covers a wide range of credit, lending and borrowing – for example, payday loans, debt collection, home credit and catalogue shopping. We look at complaints about other types of lending and borrowing too, like mortgages.
How to complain
You should give the financial business you’re unhappy with a chance to sort things out before bringing your complaint to us.
If you haven’t complained yet, see our step-by-step guide on how to complain to a financial business.
If they don’t reply, or you’re not happy with their final response, you can contact us. Our service is free and easy-to-use.
You can start by answering a few questions online to check you are ready to send your complaint to us and make a new complaint using our online forms.
Make a new complaintTypes of complaint we see
What we look at
We’ll look at the facts and circumstances of each complaint. We’ll listen impartially to both parties when deciding what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances. We’ll take into account any relevant laws, regulations and codes of practice. And we’ll look at any supporting additional evidence, which may include reports from third parties or independent experts.
Once we’ve considered everything, we’ll set out our findings, explaining whether we think the business has treated you fairly, or not. If we think the business has treated you unfairly, we’ll set out what we think needs to be done to put things right.
How long it takes
The time it takes for us to investigate a complaint depends on what it's about, how complex it is and how quickly we can get all the information we need.
You can read more about our process on our how long it takes page.
Further help and information
If you’re worried about money and finding it difficult to know where to start, the government-backed MoneyHelper service can help you find a way forward. Whether it’s living on a squeezed income, working out how to prioritise your bills and payments, or access to free, expert debt advice, they can help you take the first step towards getting on top of things.
If you’re considering an loan or other credit products and services, use the Financial Conduct Authority’s Firm CheckerFCA's firm checkerFCA's firm checker to confirm the firm is authorised and help avoid scams. You should also check the contact details match those listed on Firm Checker to avoid scammers pretending to be a real firm.
