Validating credit agreements
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What is validation?
Regulated agreements made by a consumer credit or hire business whilst unlicensed cannot be enforced by the courts, similarly, for agreements for the services of a person carrying on ancillary credit business.
A validation order granted by the Office of Fair Trading makes these agreements enforceable by treating them as if they were made when the credit/hire business or ancillary credit business was licensed. This would allow the business to take steps to recover any commission, fees owed or other agreed payments, including court action.
Is validation required?
A validation order will be required if you entered into a credit or hire agreement or carried on an ancillary business when you did not hold a Consumer Credit Licence covering the relevant Category of business.
Who can apply?
You can only apply to validate agreements that were entered into with consumers if you were the:
- unlicensed consumer credit or hire business (covered by s40(2) of the CCA (external website)), or
- unlicensed provider of an ancillary credit business (covered by s148(2) of the CCA (external website)), or
- licensed consumer credit or hire business that has made agreements with consumers who were introduced by an unlicensed credit broker (covered by s149(2) of the CCA (external website)).
How can I apply?
You can apply by filling in the form (pdf 223kb) and emailing together with any attachments to ccl@oft.gsi.gov.uk or by posting to: Consumer Credit Licensing, PO Box 62691, London, EC4P 4UW.
Payment can be made by cheque, banker's draft or postal order and made out to Office of Fair Trading.
For more information on validations see:
- General Notice 82 - Forms to apply for a validation order (pdf 119kb).
How much does it cost?
The fees charged for a validation application depend on the number of agreements that you want to validate.
| Number of agreements | Fees |
| Up to 20 | £500 |
| From 21 to 200 | £1000 |
| From 101 to 200 | £1250 |
| From 201 to 300 | £1500 |
If you have more than 300 agreements to validate, we charge the above fee plus £250 per additional block (of up to 100 agreements) to a maximum of £20,000.
For more information on fees see General Notice 81 - consumer credit fees (pdf 81kb).
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