Complaints Procedure
Rural Finance Ltd and David Hughes Rural Business Solutions Ltd are committed to providing high quality service. We
acknowledge that it may not be perfect for every individual, so we have set up the following
complaints procedure.
For complaints relating to Motor Finance Discretionary Commission Arrangements, please go to
the heading Motor Finance Discretionary Commission Arrangements Complaints to find
important information regarding your complaint.
Get in contact with us:
Telephone Number: 01978660360
Email: compliance@rural-finance.co.uk
Post: 5 Wilkinson Court, Wilkinson Business Park, Wrexham, LL13 9AE
Clarification
As Rural Finance is a regulated Credit Broker we work alongside dealerships, manufacturers, and
Finance Companies so we will need to assess who the complaint is in relation to.
If the complaint is in relation to the goods purchased, dealership, manufacturer, or Finance
Company we will not hesitate in taking your complaint to the provider with your authorisation.
If the complaint is regarding the service, we have provided we will adhere to this complaint
procedure.
Eligible Complaints
Eligible complainants are those who have a potential claim against a firm based whereby it believes
they have suffered a financial loss due to poor advice or service that are:
a) Private Individuals
b) Companies within the EU definition of a microenterprise
c) Charities with an income of under £1,000,000
d) Trustees of a trust with assets of under £1,000,000
The Financial Conduct Authority complaints rules apply to complaints: Made by, or on behalf of, an
eligible complainant.
a) Relating to regulated activity.
b) Involving an allegation that the complainant has suffered, or may suffer, financial loss,
material distress or material inconvenience.
c) Not resolved by close of business on the day following receipt.
Complaints Process
Our Customer Service team will log your complaint and refer it to our Complaints team. The
Complaints team will acknowledge it in writing. Rural Finance Ltd will look to investigate the
complaint compliantly, diligently, and impartially, obtaining additional information where
necessary.
Rural Finance will look to assess fairly, consistently, and promptly:
a) The subject matter of the complaint
b) Whether the complaint shall be upheld
c) What remedial action or redress may be appropriate
We will always look to keep you updated throughout the compliant. The complaint must be dealt
with within 8 weeks.
If there are mitigating circumstances holding up the complaint, we MUST respond to you informing
you of what is holding the complaint up.
Rural Finance will then look to issue you with a Final Response letter, within the Final Response
letter we will inform you of the decision and our findings regarding your complaint. We will also
supply you with The Financial Ombudsman’s leaflet and contact details in case you require further
advice or are unhappy with the handling of your complaint.
Complaints resolved by close of the third business day.
If we have resolved your complaint to your satisfaction within 3 business days, this complaint can
be actioned differently.
This complaint will be processed, and information sent to you to comply with the Summary
Resolution Communication guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority. This will be in the form
of written communication where:
a) refers to the fact that you have made a complaint and informs you that we now consider
the complaint to have been resolved to your satisfaction.
b) We will tell you that if you subsequently decide that you are dissatisfied with the resolution
of the complaint you may be able to refer the complaint back to us for further
consideration or alternatively refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
c) We will indicate whether we consent to waive the relevant time limits, where we have
discretion in such matters.
d) Provide the website address of the Financial Ombudsman Service and guidance of where
you can find the information on their website; and
e) A Financial Ombudsman Service leaflet, detailing their services and contact details.
The Financial Ombudsman Service
The Financial Ombudsman Service is a free and impartial service that settles complaints between
consumers and businesses that provide financial services.
You must contact the Financial Ombudsman within six months of our Final Response letter.
Address - Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR
Helpline - 0800 023 4567
Email - complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Website - www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Where a complaint is referred to the Financial Ombudsman, Rural Finance will cooperate fully and
comply fully with any settlement requests or rulings.
Motor Finance Discretionary Commission Arrangements Complaints
FCA Review
On 11 January 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that they are going to
undertake a review in the Motor finance market. This is due to the high number of complaints
about Discretionary Commission Arrangements (DCA).
While they carry out this review, the FCA has confirmed they are pausing the 8-week time limit to
respond to DCA complaints. For complaints relating to DCA received between 17 November 2023
and 25 September 2024, the Final Response requirement has been paused for 37 weeks. This
means that we are unable to send a Final Response Letter for complaints relating to DCA until after
25 September 2024, at the earliest.
The FCAs review is being carried out on agreements that started before 28 January 2021. If your
Motor Finance agreement was taken out before 28 January 2021, there may have been a DCA in
place. The FCA banned all Motor finance DCA on the 28 January 2021. Therefore, if your Motor
Finance agreement was taken out after this date, your agreement will not be included within the
DCA complaints procedure as this type of commission arrangement was already banned.
You can find further information about the reason for the pause and for how this may affect you on
the FCA website: https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/car-finance-complaints.
Next Steps
You will still receive a written acknowledgement within 5 working days confirming receipt of your
complaint. However, you will not receive a Final Response Letter until after the pause has been
lifted by the FCA.
We will keep you informed of the status of your complaint.
DCA Complaint Resolution
Once the FCA have confirmed that the pause has ended, when you receive your Final Response
Letter will depend on when we received your complaint. For example, if we received your
complaint between 11 January 2024 and 25 September 2024, we would have 8 weeks from the
pause being lifted to send your Final Response Letter. However, if we received your complaint on
the 03 January 2024, before the FCA’s announcement on 11 January 2024, your complaint was then
paused, we would have the remaining 7 weeks to provide you with a Final Response after the pause
is lifted.
Please note that for any relevant motor finance DCA complaint where the Final Response Letter is
received between 12 July 2023 and 20 November 2024, you can refer your complaint to the
Financial Ombudsman Service within 15 months instead of 6 months.
Contact
If you think you might have been affected or if you have any queries regarding DCA complaints,
please contact us at compliance@rural-finance.co.uk or call us on 01978660360.