Bingham Motor Co Ltd

Policy statement

Bingham Motor Co Ltd will act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers. Fair treatment must be embedded in product selection, promotions, sales, credit broking, commission arrangements, after-sales support and complaints handling. Compliance with a process is not enough: the firm must be able to show, through proportionate evidence, that customers receive good outcomes and that foreseeable harm is identified and addressed.

This policy updates the firm's 2021 TCF policy for the FCA Consumer Duty. It retains the six TCF consumer outcomes as useful indicators of fair treatment, while making Principle 12, the three cross-cutting rules and the four Consumer Duty outcomes the primary framework wherever the Duty applies.

1 Purpose and scope

This policy explains the standards and controls that apply when the firm communicates with, markets to, sells to, arranges finance for, or supports retail customers and prospective retail customers. It applies across the whole customer journey, including digital and face-to-face interactions, and to existing and closed products where the Consumer Duty applies.

The policy is designed for the firm's role as a motor retailer and consumer credit broker. It does not expand the firm's regulatory permissions or turn information into regulated advice. Staff must act only within their authority, competence and the firm's current FCA permissions.

Where another binding rule, lender requirement or firm procedure sets a higher standard, the higher standard applies. Compliance should confirm applicability to the firm's permissions, products and distribution arrangements before approval and after any material change.

2 Regulatory framework

2.1 Consumer Principle and cross-cutting rules

For retail market business within scope, the firm applies FCA Principle 12: a firm must act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers. In doing so, the firm must:

• act in good faith towards retail customers;
• avoid causing foreseeable harm to retail customers; and
• enable and support retail customers to pursue their financial objectives.

The firm applies these obligations reasonably and proportionately, taking account of the nature of the product, its role in the distribution chain, the customer's needs and characteristics, and characteristics of vulnerability.

2.2 Four Consumer Duty outcomes

2.3 TCF outcomes

The firm will continue to use the FCA's six TCF outcomes as supporting indicators: fair treatment is central to culture; products and services meet identified consumer needs; information is clear and timely; advice, where lawfully provided, is suitable; products and service perform as customers have been led to expect; and customers do not face unreasonable post-sale barriers.

3 Conduct standards for every customer interaction

• Give customers what they have paid for and describe products accurately.
• Do not exploit information asymmetry, behavioural bias, limited financial literacy, urgency, trust or vulnerability.
• Do not use pressure, manipulation, unfair incentives or sales tactics that prevent reflection or comparison.
• Do not allow the interests of the firm, a lender, product provider or another third party to override the customer's interests.
• Use clear, fair and not misleading language, highlight material limitations and costs, and provide information in good time.
• Make reasonable adjustments and offer appropriate communication channels where needed.
• Own mistakes, correct them promptly and consider all affected customers, not only the person who complained.

4 Governance and accountability

The board will receive sufficiently detailed and timely information to understand whether customers are receiving good outcomes. At least annually it will assess whether the firm is complying with the Consumer Duty, whether the firm's future strategy is consistent with the Duty, what evidence supports the assessment, and what action is required. Approval, challenge and actions must be minuted.

5 Products and services

Before distributing a finance or ancillary product, the firm will obtain and understand the provider's target-market, product, distribution and fair-value information. It will identify the customers for whom the product is and is not intended and distribute consistently with that position.

• Maintain an approved product and lender register, including target market, negative target market, key benefits, limitations, eligibility and distribution strategy.
• Offer a product only where the customer's stated needs, circumstances and objectives are consistent with the target market and eligibility criteria.
• Discuss relevant available options fairly. Do not imply that finance or an ancillary product is compulsory when it is optional.
• Do not present regulated advice or a personal recommendation unless the firm is permitted and the staff member is authorised and competent to provide it.
• Give providers accurate and timely sales and outcome information where required. Escalate recurring complaints, cancellations, poor persistency, exclusions, declined claims or out-of-target-market sales.
• Suspend distribution where evidence indicates foreseeable harm, poor value or material target-market mismatch until the issue is assessed and controlled.

6 Price and value

The firm must not distribute a product unless it has reasonable grounds to believe the product offers fair value to the target market. Price is assessed against benefits, quality, limitations, expected total costs and non-financial costs. Affordability and fair value are separate tests; a product may be affordable but still represent poor value.

• Obtain and review the manufacturer's or provider's fair-value assessment before distribution and when it changes.
• Consider the cumulative effect of interest, fees, commission, optional products, deposits, balloon or final payments, early termination terms and other charges.
• Ensure remuneration and sales incentives do not create foreseeable harm, undermine impartial presentation or encourage inappropriate sales.
• Monitor whether different customer groups, including customers with characteristics of vulnerability, receive materially different value or outcomes.
• Record challenges, decisions and action where value information is incomplete, inconsistent with observed outcomes or no longer reliable.

7 Consumer understanding and financial promotions

All financial promotions and customer communications must be clear, fair and not misleading, balanced and appropriate for the intended audience and channel. Information must be provided early enough for the customer to use it.

• Explain material features, benefits, risks, exclusions, eligibility, status, total and periodic costs, APR where applicable, duration, ownership, early termination and consequences of missed payments.
• Prominent information must not be obscured by layout, speed, scripts, hyperlinks, small print or verbal explanations that contradict the written message.
• Explain technical terms such as APR in plain language. Do not promise that an advertised rate will apply to every customer; explain representative examples and eligibility accurately.
• Use checks for understanding at key decision points. Ask open questions and invite the customer to explain key commitments in their own words; do not rely only on a signed document or a yes or no response.
• Test important communications with an appropriate sample or other proportionate method. Record findings and improve communications where testing shows confusion or poor decisions.
• Keep customers appropriately informed before, during and after the sale, including material changes and actions needed from them.

8 Sales and credit broking controls

1. Establish the customer's needs, objectives and relevant circumstances, including intended use, budget, deposit, expected duration of ownership and preferences.
2. Explain the firm's status and role, the nature and scope of the service, any lender panel limitations, and whether the firm is providing information or advice.
3. Present relevant options consistently and without pressure. Give the customer reasonable time to consider information and ask questions.
4. Collect complete and accurate application information. Never alter, omit, coach or misstate income, employment, expenditure, deposit source or other facts to obtain acceptance.
5. Explain the proposed agreement and total commitment, including interest, fees, mileage terms, final payments, ownership, withdrawal or termination rights, default consequences and optional products.
6. Complete and retain the required disclosures, eligibility and understanding checks, vulnerability adjustments, commission disclosure and evidence of the customer's informed decision.

Creditworthiness and affordability responsibilities must be performed by the party on whom the applicable rules place them. The firm will support that assessment with accurate information and will not proceed where it knows or reasonably suspects the commitment is unsustainable, the information is unreliable or the proposed arrangement is likely to cause foreseeable harm. Concerns must be escalated.

9 Commission and conflicts of interest

Commission and other remuneration must be governed so that they do not distort customer outcomes. The firm will maintain a current commission disclosure procedure aligned with CONC and any applicable FCA motor-finance requirements.

• Before the agreement is entered into and in good time, disclose the existence and nature of commission where required, including how it may affect the amount payable where applicable. Disclosures must be prominent, clear and not hidden in generic terms.
• Tell the customer the amount of commission when the applicable rules require it, including in response to a qualifying request. Staff must know how to obtain the figure promptly.
• Do not use a discretionary commission arrangement or any other model prohibited by FCA rules.
• Identify and manage conflicts created by lender selection, differential commission, volume bonuses, targets, add-on products, staff incentives or ownership relationships.
• Keep the commission disclosure, customer acknowledgement where used, lender or product selected, amount or calculation basis available to the firm, and any customer question or complaint.
• Review scripts and disclosures promptly after regulatory, court, lender or redress developments. Compliance must approve changes before use.

10 Customers with characteristics of vulnerability

A customer may be vulnerable because of health, life events, resilience or capability, and vulnerability may be permanent, temporary, multiple or not visible. Staff must be alert to signs without making assumptions or applying labels that disadvantage the customer.

• Encourage disclosure sensitively and explain why relevant information is requested and how it will be used.
• Record only relevant information, with appropriate consent or another lawful basis, using objective and respectful language and access controls.
• Offer reasonable adjustments such as more time, breaks, alternative formats or channels, accessible premises, repetition, a trusted third party where properly authorised, or referral to a specialist colleague.
• Check that the adjustment works. Do not reduce safeguards, exclude the customer automatically, or proceed merely because a customer wants to complete quickly.
• Where capacity, coercion, financial abuse or serious distress is suspected, pause where appropriate and follow the firm's safeguarding and escalation procedure.
• Monitor outcomes for relevant groups while protecting privacy, and take action where poorer outcomes are identified.

11 Consumer support and after-sales service

Support must be effective throughout the relationship and as accessible as the sales process. The firm will not create unreasonable barriers to obtaining information, exercising rights, cancelling optional services, making a complaint, changing contact preferences or seeking help.

• Publish and maintain accurate contact routes, responsibilities and response targets.
• Make clear when the customer should contact the lender, product provider or the firm, and provide a warm handoff where practical.
• Respond flexibly to financial difficulty or changed circumstances, avoid repeated disclosure of sensitive facts, and signpost free debt advice or other specialist support when appropriate.
• Monitor abandoned contacts, repeat contacts, wait times, handoffs, unresolved cases and barriers affecting customers with vulnerabilities.

12 Complaints, incidents and redress

Complaints must be recognised regardless of the channel or the words used, handled in line with the firm's complaints procedure and applicable DISP requirements, and used as evidence about outcomes. The firm will preserve relevant motor-finance and commission records and comply with any current FCA complaint-handling, pause, reporting or redress requirements.

• Investigate fairly, address the root cause and communicate the outcome in clear language.
• Consider whether the same issue affects other customers and whether proactive remediation or redress is required.
• Escalate systemic issues, regulatory breaches, material customer harm and significant control failures to the responsible director without delay.
• Where a customer may have suffered loss or harm, provide fair and timely remediation and do not require an unnecessary complaint as a condition of correction.
• Record decisions, calculations, communications and evidence supporting the scope and outcome of remediation.

13 Monitoring and management information

The firm will use a proportionate mix of leading and lagging indicators. Data must be sufficiently granular to reveal poor outcomes across products, channels, staff, lenders and relevant customer groups. A green process measure does not override evidence of customer harm.

Managers will review MI at a frequency matched to the risk, normally monthly or quarterly. The board will receive consolidated reporting at least quarterly. Reports must state the population, period, thresholds, limitations, adverse trends, actions, owners and due dates. Compliance will test whether completed actions improved outcomes.

14 Training, competence and incentives

• All relevant staff must complete induction and refresher training on TCF, Consumer Duty, credit broking, promotions, commission, vulnerability, complaints and the firm's procedures.
• Competence must be assessed through observation, file or call review, testing and outcome evidence, not attendance alone.
• Staff must receive product-specific training before selling or discussing a product and after material changes.
• Incentives, scorecards and performance management must balance commercial measures with quality and customer outcomes. No target may encourage pressure, inappropriate sales or concealment of problems.
• Training, assessments, coaching, supervision and remedial action must be recorded.

15 Records and evidence

Records must enable the firm to reconstruct the customer journey, demonstrate why the outcome was reasonable at the time and support complaints, remediation and regulatory enquiries. Records will be retained securely for the period required by applicable law, FCA rules, provider agreements and the firm's retention schedule, using the longest applicable period where requirements overlap.

• Keep approved promotions, scripts, product and target-market information, fair-value information, training and competence records, monitoring samples, board papers and action logs.
• For individual sales, retain relevant needs and circumstances, disclosures, options discussed, customer communications, application information, understanding checks, vulnerability adjustments, commission evidence and reasons for exceptions.
• Do not create misleading, backdated, incomplete or reconstructed records without clearly identifying when and why they were created.

16 Third parties and outsourcing

The firm remains responsible for customer outcomes within its role when activities are outsourced or delivered with lenders, product providers, marketing partners, introducers or technology suppliers. Due diligence, contracts, information sharing, monitoring, escalation and exit arrangements must be proportionate to the risk. The firm will cooperate across the distribution chain and will not use data-protection concerns as a blanket reason to withhold information that can lawfully and appropriately be shared.

17 Breaches, concerns and review

Staff must report suspected breaches, poor outcomes, inaccurate promotions, pressure selling, data manipulation, vulnerability concerns and conflicts immediately to their manager or the director responsible for compliance. No person will be penalised for raising a genuine concern in good faith.

Compliance will record the issue, contain ongoing risk, assess affected customers and regulatory implications, determine root cause, assign actions and verify closure. The firm will consider whether notification to the FCA, a lender, provider, insurer, Financial Ombudsman Service, Information Commissioner's Office or another body is required.

This policy will be reviewed at least annually and sooner following a material rule or guidance change, supervisory finding, court decision, redress development, product or lender change, business-model change, merger, significant complaint trend or evidence of poor outcomes.