CONC 8.10 Conduct of business: providing credit information services
Application
This section applies to:
- (1)
a firm with respect to providing credit information services in relation to information relevant to the financial standing of an individual;
- (2)
a firm with respect to the activities set out in article 36H(3)(e) to (h) of the Regulated Activities Order (Operating an electronic system in relation to lending) in relation to a borrower under a P2P agreement.
Conduct
The Principles apply to a firm with respect to providing credit information services. A firm providing such services should, for example, set out clearly in any communication to a customer the extent of the service it is able to offer.
[Note: paragraph 3.46 of DMG]
A firm must not:
- (1)
claim to be able to remove negative but accurate information from a customer's credit file, including entries concerning adverse credit information and court judgments; or
[Note: paragraph 3.47ai of DMG]
- (2)
mislead a customer about the length of time that negative information is held on the customer's credit file or any official register; or
[Note: paragraph 3.47aii of DMG]
- (3)
claim that a new credit file can be created, such as by the customer changing address.
[Note: paragraph 3.47aiii of DMG]
It is likely to be a contravention of the Principles, for example Principles 6 and Principle 7, where a firm:
- (1)
claims in a communication to a customer to be able to remove negative but accurate entries from a customer's credit file, but where the customer enquires about this service the customer is offered instead the firm's service as a lender or a credit broker; or
- (2)
fails to inform a customer that a credit reference agency will not respond to the firm taking steps in relation to the customer's credit file and will only send the customer's credit file to the customer.
[Note: paragraphs 3.47cd of DMG]