Debt management

If you’ve got money in a debt management plan run by a specialist debt management firm that’s failed, we may be able to pay you compensation.

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Debt management

Limitations

Your claim would need to meet all the following criteria:

  • The firm must have failed on or after 1 April 2018.
  • The firm must have been authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You can check on the FCA's website.
  • The firm must hold client money, i.e., money that you’ve paid in as part of your debt management plan.
  • The firm must have received or held the money through a UK branch in connection with the regulated activities of debt counselling or debt adjusting.
  • The client money reconciliation process must show a shortfall in the amount of client money the firm held for you.
  • The firm (or its principals) must be unable to meet claims for compensation.
  • You must be eligible under our rules.

We may cover money a firm holds under a debt management plan, but we don’t protect:

  • Money that a debtor pays under an individual voluntary arrangement arranged by insolvency practitioners (which the FCA doesn’t regulate).
  • Debt advice.

We aim to pay claims as soon as possible, but the time it takes will vary, depending on how quickly the insolvency practitioner can reconcile the data from the failed debt management firm.