Pay in 3 and Pay in 30 days need nothing from you. Klarna Financing, spread over 6 to 36 months and usually with interest, is regulated credit, and Klarna switches it on only for businesses authorised by the FCA as credit brokers. We prepare your complete limited permission application pack — fixed price, ready in three business days* once we have your details — and file it for you.
Klarna offers UK shoppers two kinds of product. Pay in 3 and Pay in 30 days are interest-free and repaid within 12 months in no more than 12 instalments. Since 15 July 2026 they are regulated as deferred payment credit, but the regulation falls on Klarna as the lender: a business that offers them at its checkout needs no authorisation, whether it sells online, in a shop or in customers' homes.
Klarna Financing is different: fixed monthly payments over 6 to 36 months, usually with interest. That is a regulated credit agreement, and introducing your customers to it is credit broking, a regulated activity. Klarna's UK merchant guidelines require a business offering Financing to say that it is "authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority" and "acts as a credit intermediary and not a lender". Until you are authorised, Financing stays switched off.
Because selling your products is your main business and finance only helps customers pay for them, you qualify for limited permission, the simpler and cheaper route. That is exactly the application we prepare. Our guide to the 2026 buy now, pay later rules sets out the line between the two products, and our guide for retailers covers the wider picture.
CreditLicence is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Klarna.
Preparation is in our hands and takes days. Once filed, we handle all correspondence with the FCA on your behalf.
A short form to get started. A member of our team will then call you to discuss your requirements and the application process. We start the DBS checks the same day — the FCA will not accept an application without them.
We prepare every document the FCA expects for a limited permission application — secondary credit broking, introducing your customers to Klarna Financing — tailored to your business.
We submit your application through the FCA’s Connect portal and deal with the caseworker’s questions until your decision. You just review and sign the declarations.
Every document the FCA expects of a limited permission applicant, prepared for merchants offering Klarna Financing and filed through Connect on your behalf.
Limited permission for secondary credit broking: introducing customers to Klarna to help them buy your products, online or in store. The same permission covers another lender you add later.
If you sell in customers' homes, broker finance unconnected with your own sales, or lend your own money, the application is for full permission instead — and we tell you before you pay a penny.
One fixed fee, paid in two parts. The FCA's own application fee is separate and is itemised on your invoice.
No. Pay in 3 and Pay in 30 days are deferred payment credit: interest-free, repaid in 12 or fewer instalments within 12 months. From 15 July 2026 Klarna, as the lender, is regulated for them, and a merchant that offers them at its checkout is exempt from credit broking authorisation. The exemption covers businesses that sell in customers' homes too.
Klarna Financing runs for 6 to 36 months and usually carries interest, so it falls outside the deferred payment credit exemption. It is a regulated credit agreement, and introducing your customers to it is credit broking, a regulated activity. Klarna's UK merchant guidelines require a business offering Financing to state that it is authorised and regulated by the FCA and acts as a credit intermediary, not a lender.
Limited permission for credit broking, in almost every case: selling your products is your main business, and finance only helps customers pay for them. Full permission is needed if you sell in customers' homes, broker finance unconnected with your own sales, or lend your own money. We confirm which before you pay anything.
Yes. Pay in 3 and Pay in 30 days need no authorisation, so they carry on as they are. What you cannot do before you are authorised is introduce customers to Klarna Financing.
Your application pack is ready within three business days of our having everything we need, and we file it on the FCA's Connect system. The FCA then decides in its own time and does not commit to a date; we handle its questions until the decision. Once authorised, your firm is on the FCA's Financial Services Register with its firm reference number, which your Klarna disclosures quote.
Yes. The FCA needs a criminal record check, issued within six months of the application, for the director who holds SMF29 and for each controller. Our questionnaire works out who needs one and at which level: a Basic check the person applies for online, a Standard check we submit for you. The certificate stays with your firm and is never sent to the FCA.
No. Our £995 covers your complete application pack; the FCA charges a separate fee (currently £560 for limited permission), which we collect with your final payment and pay to the FCA on your behalf.
No. CreditLicence is an independent regulatory consultancy and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Klarna. We prepare and file FCA applications for merchants whichever lenders they work with.
A short form to begin. A member of our team will call the same business day to discuss your firm's activities and the application.
Begin an ApplicationWe use essential cookies to make this site work. With your consent we also use analytics and advertising cookies — from Google and Microsoft, and from HubSpot, the CRM we use to manage enquiries — to understand how the site is used and which advertising brings enquiries. See our Privacy Policy.
