Consumer finance

We have a depth of sector experience in advising a large number of consumer finance providers, which means our team truly understand your business and is uniquely placed to identify issues which may impact on it and future strategy. We work with the majority of the UK's leading consumer finance providers (including banks, building societies, motor and asset finance providers, high-cost short-term credit providers, debt purchasers and brokers) advising them on the full range of regulatory, compliance, commercial and contentious issues at a strategic portfolio level over the whole product lifecycle, from inception and product design, through in-life legal and regulatory change, through to litigation, enforcement, investigations and remediation.

Our specialist consumer finance experience is split into four key areas:

• regulated consumer credit (secured and unsecured);
• regulated mortgages;
• payment services (including savings/retail bank accounts); and
• regulated consumer products (including insurance and investments).

Experience

• Translating the implications of the Supreme Court's decision in Plevin and the impact of the FCA's rules for a number of major UK clearing banks and motor finance houses and designing their strategies for complaints and litigated cases.
• Providing strategic advice (including to board level) on payment fraud issues (including authorised and unauthorised transactions), as well as reviewing the firms’ policies and procedures.
• Drafting remediation plans and making notifications to the FCA for UK banks, building societies and debt buyers following non-compliance with the post-contractual requirements. This has included periodic statements under s.77A or s.78(4), notices of sums in arrears under s.86B or 86C, notice of default sums under s.86E and default notices under s.87 for regulated credit and consumer hire agreements (including drafting remedial notices).
• Acting for a leading consumer finance provider in the defence of a group claim brought by over a hundred individual claimants alleging the mis-selling of timeshares by Spanish suppliers.