If you introduce customers to lenders or finance providers as part of your business, you need FCA credit-broking authorisation before you do it. You can apply yourself, use a fixed-fee project built around one clearly scoped application, or retain a full consultancy for an open-ended engagement. The right route depends on how simple your permission profile is, how much of your own time you can commit, and whether you want ongoing advisory support once you're authorised.
The three routes at a glance
| DIY application | Fixed-fee project (MEMA) | Full consultancy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it suits | Confident applicants with a straightforward, single-permission limited-broking model | Secondary credit brokers who know limited permission is the right route and want one defined project | Firms with multiple or complex permissions, group structures, or those wanting an ongoing adviser |
| What you do yourself | Everything: perimeter analysis, business plan, policies, Connect submission, FCA correspondence | You provide information and evidence; MEMA builds the application and handles FCA queries within scope | Minimal drafting; the consultancy manages the relationship end to end |
| What's included | Nothing beyond the FCA's own guidance | Permission confirmation, application build, submission and FCA query support for the defined project | Varies by firm: typically strategy, business plan, policies, interview prep and post-authorisation support |
| FCA application fee | Payable directly to the FCA | Payable directly to the FCA, separate from the fixed fee | Payable directly to the FCA, separate from any consultancy fee |
| MEMA / provider fee | None | £6,850 fixed fee, agreed up front | Typically quoted per engagement; can expand if scope grows |
| Typical preparation effort | Weeks of your own time learning the Threshold Conditions and FCA expectations | Your time is mostly spent providing information MEMA already knows how to ask for | Lower time commitment from you, but less cost certainty |
| Main risk | An incomplete or generic application falls into the FCA's 12-month clock for incomplete applications, with repeated information requests | Project is fixed-scope: activity outside the defined project (e.g. a later permission change) is a separate piece of work | Scope creep and variable total cost if requirements aren't fixed at the outset |
What limited permission actually covers
Limited permission is the lower tier of consumer-credit authorisation for firms whose credit broking is secondary to a main, non-financial-services business, such as a retailer introducing customers to a finance provider. Credit broking itself is defined in article 36A of the Regulated Activities Order 2001: it covers introducing a customer to a lender, presenting or offering a credit agreement, helping a customer prepare documents before entering one, and acting as a credit broker's agent. If your credit-related activity is your main business, or includes lending, debt collecting, debt adjusting or debt administration carried on commercially, you are in full-permission territory instead. Our full-vs-limited-permission explainer sets out that boundary in detail, including what the FCA expects as evidence either way.
The FCA's own fees and clock
Two numbers matter here, and both come straight from the FCA rather than from any adviser's quote.
The application fee. Under FEES 3 Annex 1, limited-permission credit broking (fee-block CC1) falls into the FCA's pricing Category 2, currently £560. A full-permission application falls into Category 3, 5 or 6 depending on how complex the FCA judges the permission set to be, starting at £1,130 for Category 3 (£5,640 for Category 5, £11,260 for Category 6). These are one-off application fees, separate from the annual periodic fee the FCA charges once you're authorised.
The decision clock. Section 55V of FSMA sets the legal limit on how long the FCA can take: it must determine a complete application within 6 months, and must determine an incomplete application within 12 months in any event. These are the current statutory limits; proposals for shorter periods have been discussed but are not yet law, so treat only the 6-month/12-month figures as current.
Neither figure is something any provider, including MEMA, controls. What a well-prepared application changes is how quickly your submission is treated as complete, and how many rounds of follow-up questions the case officer needs to ask.
Where MEMA's fixed-fee project fits
MEMA's limited-permission credit-broking project is a fixed fee of £6,850, covering permission confirmation, building the application with you (business plan, policies and supporting evidence), submitting it and responding to the FCA's questions within the agreed scope. The FCA's own application fee is separate and paid directly to the regulator. We don't promise a specific turnaround for the application itself, because that clock is the FCA's, not ours.
If you're not yet sure which route or permission tier applies to your business, the better starting point is MEMA's £2,500 Regulatory Perimeter Assessment: a fixed-fee, written review of your business model, activities and permissions against the FCA's regulatory perimeter, usually completed within 5 working days of us receiving complete information. It answers the "do I even need this, and which tier" question before you commit to an application route, whether that's DIY, our fixed-fee project, or a full consultancy engagement. You can also run our free perimeter self-check first.
MEMA's view
"When a DIY application stalls, it's rarely because the business is wrong for authorisation," says Ademola Omosanya, founder of MEMA Consultants. "It's usually because the application doesn't answer the questions an FCA case officer actually asks, so it sits in the queue picking up information requests. A fixed-scope project works well precisely because the scope, and the evidence the FCA expects, is already known in advance."
Related reading
For the broader "full permission or limited permission" decision, read Full vs Limited Permission: Choosing the Right FCA Authorisation Scope. If your question is whether you need any FCA permission at all, start with Do I Need FCA Authorisation? A Decision Guide for UK Businesses. For the general "should I do my own FCA authorisation application" question across all permission types, see our DIY vs Consultant comparison. For a general overview of credit-broking permissions and obligations, see Credit Broking.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does FCA credit-broking authorisation cost in total?
There are two separate costs. The FCA's own application fee depends on which fee category your activities fall into under FEES 3 Annex 1: limited-permission credit broking is Category 2 (currently £560), and a full-permission application falls into Category 3, 5 or 6 depending on how complex the FCA judges the permission set to be, starting at £1,130 for Category 3. On top of that, whoever prepares the application, whether that is you, a fixed-fee provider or a consultancy, usually charges separately. MEMA's limited-permission credit-broking project is a fixed fee of £6,850, with the FCA's fee paid directly to the FCA.
Can a secondary credit broker use limited permission instead of full authorisation?
Only where the credit broking is genuinely secondary to a main, non-financial-services business, for example a retailer introducing customers to a finance provider. Our full-vs-limited-permission explainer sets out the test in detail. If your broking activity is your main business, or you also lend, collect or administer debts, you are very likely to need full permission instead.
How long does an FCA credit-broking application take?
Under section 55V of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the FCA must determine a complete application within 6 months of receiving it, and must determine an incomplete application within 12 months of receiving it in any event. In practice, how quickly your application becomes 'complete' in the FCA's eyes depends on the quality of what you submit; weak or generic applications attract more information requests, which is where DIY attempts usually lose time.
What happens if a DIY application is incomplete or gets rejected?
An incomplete application does not fail outright, but it falls into the 12-month clock rather than the 6-month one, and the FCA can keep asking for more information throughout that period. A rejected application does not get a refund of the FCA's fee, and you will usually need to start again from scratch, including a fresh fee, if the case officer decides your business model or evidence does not meet the Threshold Conditions.
Does MEMA guarantee FCA approval?
No. No consultant or fixed-fee provider can guarantee a regulatory decision: the FCA alone decides whether a firm meets the Threshold Conditions in Schedule 6 of FSMA. What a properly prepared application can do is address the areas the FCA actually assesses, reducing the risk of delay, additional information requests or refusal.
Is MEMA's fixed fee inclusive of VAT?
MEMA is not currently VAT-registered, so no VAT is added to the £6,850 fixed fee or the £2,500 perimeter assessment.
Need help deciding?
Our consultants can assess your specific situation and recommend the right approach for your firm.
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