Consumer Duty
Polestar Car Leasing is a trading style of U.K. Carline Limited. UK Carline Limited is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide credit broking services. UK Carline Ltd. is a credit broker, not a lender.
UK Carline Ltd is fully committed to a positive compliance culture and to the adherence of the Consumer Duty and Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) rules as stipulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
We aim to ensure that we consistently deliver fair outcomes to our customers and take responsibility to ensure that all colleagues working at Polestar Car Leasing are aware of the TCF outcomes and deliver a high level of customer service to our customers.
Consumer Duty
The FCA released their final guidance on Consumer Duty in July 2022 which aims to set higher and clearer standards on consumer protection across financial services.
The Duty requires companies to put the needs of the consumer first and produce communications that consumers can understand, provide fair-value products and services that meet consumer needs and provide consumer support when they need it.
The Consumer Duty is a consumer principle that requires firms to act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers.
It applies to the regulated activities and ancillary activities of all firms authorised under FSMA, the Payment Services Regulations 2017 and E-money Regulations 2011, in relation to products and services affecting prospective and actual retail customers.
Polestar Car Leasing has considered the needs, characteristics, and objectives of our customers – including those with characteristics of vulnerability, at every stage of the customer journey.
The objective of the Consumer Duty rules is to set higher and clearer standards to protect consumers in retail financial services and ensure that firms put the needs of their customers first by ensuring effective competition. We commit to providing transparent information, and sustainable services that empower consumers to make responsible choices, contributing to a better world.
Consumer Duty Rules
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules can be grouped into three parts:
- A new Consumer Principle that requires firms to act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers.
- Cross-cutting rules provide greater clarity on our expectations under the new Principle and help firms interpret the four outcomes.
- Rules relating to the four outcomes under the Consumer Duty. These represent key elements of the firm-consumer relationship which are instrumental in helping to drive good outcomes for customers.
Consumer Principle
The Consumer Principle requires firms to act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers.
These outcomes relate to:
- products and services
- price and value
- consumer understanding
- consumer support
Cross-Cutting Rules
There are ‘cross-cutting’ rules which clarify the FCA’s expectations under the newly introduced Principle and link to the four desired outcomes.
The cross-cutting rules instruct companies to:
- Act in good faith
- Avoid causing foreseeable harm
- Enable and support retail customers
The Four Outcomes
In line with existing requirements in the FCA Handbook (Treating Customers Fairly Rules for example), the FCA has introduced new rules relating to the ‘four outcomes’, which the FCA hope will result from the observance of the new Consumer Duty:
- Products and services – these rules focus on the “design, approval, marketing and ongoing management of products and services throughout their lifecycle”.
- Price and value – firms are required to carry out value assessments to ensure that customers are receiving fair value, in terms of price and overall value.
- Consumer understanding – these rules apply to all communication to ensure consumers can make informed decisions with understandable information.
- Consumer support – firms must ensure they provide support to the customer throughout their relationship and the customer journey to fulfil the Consumer Principle.
As part of our commitment to the Consumer Duty rules from the Financial Conduct Authority, we have developed our core principles:
Core Principles:
- Transparency: Ensuring clear and accurate information is provided to customers, empowering you to make informed decisions about our products and services.
- Sustainability: Incorporating eco-friendly and socially responsible practices throughout the product lifecycle, from sourcing to disposal.
- Accessibility: Making our products and services accessible to diverse customer groups while maintaining affordability and inclusivity.
- Feedback and Improvement: Actively seeking and responding to customer feedback to continually improve our offerings and consumer experience.
Our Vision
To be a pioneering business that promotes consumer duty, ensuring our products and services positively impact society and the environment
Our Mission
We commit to providing transparent information, and sustainable services that empower customers to make responsible choices, contributing to a better world.
