Offering Finance to Your Customers: How It Works

Quick answer

You need FCA permission: your own, or someone else's.

Offering finance means letting a customer spread the cost of your job over months or years, with a loan from a finance company. In law, even just pointing a customer towards a lender is "credit broking". The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the body that polices loans and credit in the UK, only lets you do that with permission. There are two ways to get it:

Work under a finance company's permission. You become their "introducer": you point customers to them, and they hold the FCA permission, check you're suitable and handle the loan. It's the simpler of the two.
Get your own FCA permission. You apply to the FCA yourself. It means more paperwork, more cost and rules to keep to every year, so it's usually only worth it for bigger firms.

The jargon

The words you'll come across, in plain English.

Lender: the finance company that lends your customer the money.
Credit broking: introducing a customer to a lender. You don't lend anything yourself, but it still needs FCA permission.
Introducer: a business allowed to introduce customers to one finance company, under that company's permission. The FCA's full name for it is an "introducer appointed representative".
Principal: the finance company or broker you work under as an introducer. They hold the permission and are responsible for what you do.
Commission: what the lender pays you for an introduction that turns into a loan.
Cooling off period: the time after signing when the customer can still cancel the finance, commonly 14 days.
FCA register: the FCA's public list of every firm it has given permission to. Anyone can search it for free.
Consumer Duty: the FCA's rule that firms with permission must act to deliver good outcomes for their customers. It's yours to follow directly if you get your own permission (route 2).

Why offer it?

Why offer finance at all?

A big one off job (a new boiler or full system, a rewire, a kitchen, an extension or loft conversion) is a lot of money to find in one go, and some of it comes with no warning, like a boiler that's given up. Being able to say "you can spread the cost" can be the difference between winning the job and the customer ringing round for the cheapest quote.

It isn't for everyone. It adds a step to every job that uses it, and you take on rules about what you say. If most of your work is smaller repairs and call outs, you may not need it.

Who to use

Who you can go through.

You don't have to find a finance company cold. Several already help trade businesses offer finance to their customers. None of these is a recommendation: we haven't vetted them for Sprint Start customers. They're a starting point, to check yourself against the FCA register and the questions below.

Open to any trade. Kandoo and Ideal4Finance both help home improvement businesses offer finance to their customers, not tied to one trade or brand: heating, kitchens, bathrooms, driveways, extensions and more.
Through your supplier, if you have one. Some manufacturers run their own scheme for installers in their programmes, which can be the easiest start since you already deal with them. In heating, for example, Worcester Bosch (for installers in its loyalty programme; lender: Novuna Personal Finance, 14 day cooling off) and Vaillant Advance (via a partner called Hiber) both have one. Ask your own suppliers if they run something similar.

Whichever you pick, check their FCA number on the register yourself (question 1 below) and read their introducer agreement before signing: terms and commission vary and change.

Route 1: introducer

Route 1: become an introducer for a finance company.

This is the simpler route. You sign up with a finance company or broker that already has FCA permission and work under it, so they become your "principal". The FCA's name for you is an introducer appointed representative, and it limits you to two things: introducing customers to your principal, and sharing your principal's approved adverts.

What you do: tell customers finance is available, and pass them to the finance company, usually with a link or an application on your phone. You don't advise them on the loan.
What they do: the credit check, the loan, the paperwork and the customer's questions about it. The FCA makes the principal responsible for what you do as their introducer.
How long it takes: they check you first (expect ID, your business details, and often your trade registration). Your principal has to tell the FCA at least 30 days before you start, so allow a month or more.
What it costs: there's no FCA application fee for you. Finance companies charge in different ways, so ask about any set up or monthly fee, and what the lender pays you per loan.

Route 2: your own

Route 2: get your own FCA permission.

The FCA gives two kinds of permission. The simpler one, "limited permission", costs less and has fewer rules, but most trades can't use it: the FCA rules it out if you sell or offer your services while you're in the customer's home. Quoting in someone's home counts, so you'd need full permission.

The fee: it's set by the FCA and isn't refunded if you're turned down. At the time of writing, credit broking with full permission starts at £1,130 (the FCA's pricing category 3), and more if you apply for more activities.
How long: the FCA has up to 6 months to decide on a complete application, and up to 12 months if it's incomplete.
What you send: an application form, a business plan, financial forecasts and supporting documents, sent through Connect, the FCA's online application system.
After that: yearly FCA fees and reports, and you're responsible for following the rules yourself, including the Consumer Duty.

Many firms pay a compliance consultant to help with the application. If you're a one or two person business, route 1 is usually the sensible start.

Risks

What can go wrong.

Stepping over the line. As an introducer you can only introduce and share approved adverts. Start explaining rates, advising which option to pick, or negotiating terms, and you're acting outside your permission, which the FCA can act on.
You get the blame, not the lender. If the lender is slow, hard sells, or the customer has a bad experience, the customer usually blames the business that did the work, not the finance company, even though it's no longer your responsibility once you've introduced them.
You're tied to one principal. Most schemes only let you work under them while you're their appointed representative. Switching or leaving can mean re-registering, with the 30 day FCA notice period again.
Forgetting to say you're paid. If the lender pays you for the introduction, you must tell the customer, every time. It's the easiest rule to slip on.
Paying you directly in stages is not the same as a lender's finance. If the customer stops paying, that's your loss, not a lender's (see below).
Time it carefully. Most finance comes with a cooling off period (commonly 14 days). Separately, if the customer agreed the job itself in their own home, the law usually gives them 14 days to cancel the job too. Don't order materials or start work until the finance is confirmed and those periods have passed, unless the customer asks you to start sooner in writing. A cancelled agreement can leave you out of pocket.
If the price changes mid job (unexpected work found once you're in), the finance was agreed at the quoted price. Check with the lender before doing extra work on finance. A new or topped up agreement is usually needed.
Commission is taxable income. Whatever the lender pays you per introduction counts as income like any other, and goes through your normal books.
You're sharing the customer's details with the lender. That counts as sharing personal data under data protection law (UK GDPR), so tell the customer it's happening and why.

Paying you in stages

What about letting customers pay you in stages?

Letting a customer pay you in a few payments, with no interest or charges, is a different thing from finance through a lender. The law doesn't treat some of these as regulated credit, so they don't need FCA permission: for example, up to 12 payments, all within 12 months, with no interest or other charges.

The conditions are strict, the rules around them changed in July 2026, and you carry the risk if the customer stops paying. Read the exemption, or ask the FCA, before relying on it.

Your website

What your website, quotes and van can say.

In the FCA's eyes, anything that mentions finance is an advert for it, even one line on your van. The FCA says every credit broker's adverts, websites included, must be clear, fair and not misleading.

Only use wording your finance company has approved. As an introducer, you can only share the adverts they've signed off. That includes "0% finance", monthly payment examples and their logo.
Say you're a broker, not a lender. The FCA says brokers must make clear they're brokers and not lenders, and use their legal name, not just a trading name.
Be open about what you're paid. If the lender pays you for an introduction, the customer has to be told that the arrangement exists.
No pressure. Never rush a customer into signing in their own home, and never make finance sound like the only way to get the work done.

Questions to ask

Questions to ask a finance company before you sign up.

What's your FCA number? Then check it yourself on the FCA register
Will I be your introducer appointed representative, and what exactly am I allowed to say and do?
What does it cost me: any set up fee, monthly fee or fee per loan?
What do you pay me per loan, and how do I tell the customer about it?
When and how am I paid for the job itself, and by whom: the customer or the lender?
What rates and terms will my customers see, and how quickly do they get a decision?
What wording, logos and examples can I use on my website, quotes and van?
Who deals with the customer's complaints about the loan?
How do I leave, and how much notice do I give?

Sources

Where this guide comes from.

This guide explains how it works. It isn't legal or financial advice: check the details with the FCA (0300 500 0597) or your finance company before you start. Checked against these on 26/10/2026.

Finance schemes named in "Who to use" above, mentioned as examples, not recommendations:

FAQs

Frequently asked questions.

Can I just put "finance available" on my van?

Only once you're set up with a finance company or your own FCA permission, and with wording they've approved. Mentioning finance is an advert for it.

Do I need my own FCA permission to be an introducer?

No. As an introducer you work under your finance company's permission, and they're responsible for you. They tell the FCA before you start.

Can I explain the loan to the customer?

Keep to saying finance is available and passing them to the finance company. Questions about the loan itself are for the lender.

Is buy now, pay later different?

It can be. The FCA's rules for credit brokers treat some deferred payment arrangements differently, and they changed in 2026. Ask your provider which rules apply to what they offer.

Questions about your website?

We build websites for trades, finance wording and all.

Once your finance company has approved the wording, it goes on your site exactly as they gave it.

Message us on WhatsApp See the £0 Build