1. General Conduct
Each member shall act responsibly and with
integrity in the day-to-day conduct of its
business. For example:
a) Conduct its business lawfully, comply with
all relevant UK legislation, regulation
and judicial decisions and trade fairly and
responsibly.
b) Conduct its business under a name, title or
style which will not confuse or mislead
clients, creditors, debtors or members of
the public, or which will not imply any
association with other organisations or
persons, which do not exist.
c) Comply with this Code of Practice and
follow any guidance notes issued by the
Board of the Association.
d) Comply with Debt Collection Guidance as
Published by the Office of Fair Trading
from time to time.
e) Where appropriate, comply with guidance
issued by OFCOM, with particular regard to
‘silent calls’.
f) Follow where appropriate any
requests conveyed to members by
the Board of the Association or the
enforcement authorities.
g) Provide adequate training for
members of its staff, bringing to their
attention the principles of this Code
and requiring them to carry out their
duties in accordance with it. Also,
ensure continuous and appropriate
training of staff in respect of current
legislation and best practice.
h) Use plain English in all communications.
i) Show on all letters, postcards and forms
the full business address, telephone
number and email address, where used.
j) In all contacts by staff or agents,
ensure that the member’s identity is
clearly disclosed.
k) Ensure by continuously examining
debt collection procedures, and those
of any third parties employed, that
they conform to the highest ethical
standards.
l) Ensure that their agents, sub-contractors
and subsidiaries comply with the
Association’s Code and Guidelines.
m) Comply with all reasonable requests
by debtors, clients or their appointed
representatives for information
concerning their agreements and
accounts.
n) Ensure the Association’s Code is available
on their own website where they have
one. They shall further ensure that a copy
of the Code is supplied promptly upon
request. Code of Practice
2. Confidentiality
Members must keep in strict confidence any
information supplied by the debtors or their chosen
third party, except where disclosure is authorised
by the debtor or others permitted or required by
law.
3. Complaints
a) Each member shall have in place adequate
processes to deal with debtors or client
complaints, this must contain the following
minimum procedure:
I. The Management level at which
complaints are handled.
II. The time frame in which complaints
are handled.
III. The remedy, if the complainant is not
satisfied.
IV. Complainants must be advised that
one of the remedies is referral of the
complaint to the Association where
appropriate.
b) Members shall deal with complaints
speedily, responsively, in a user-friendly
fashion and at an appropriate management
level.
c) Member’s complaints procedures must be
made available to the complainant or
his/her advisor on request.
d) For Consumer Credit Regulated
Complaints, Members must follow the
DISP Rules set by the Financial
Ombudsman Service.
e) If a complaint is made to the Association in
relation to dealings with a member of the
Association, the Association will deal with
the complaint in accordance with the
published complaints procedure.
4. Debt Collection & Default Guidelines
The following list of guidelines is intended as an
indication of the procedures to be adopted by
members. It is not intended as an exhaustive
directive to members.
Moreover, the effectiveness of collection
techniques and procedures depends on the
circumstances applying at the time collection is
attempted and so cannot be regulated in an
absolute manner. Nevertheless, the Association
expects compliance with the guidelines and any
member not so complying will have to give a
justifiable reason for non-compliance in the event of
a complaint being received by the Association.
Guidelines overleaf
Credit Services Association Limited, Wingrove House, Ponteland Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE5 3AJ
Tel: 0191 2865656 Fax: 0191 2860900 Email: compliance@csa-uk.com