First Response Finance: company profile

First Response Finance: company profile

First Response Finance is a UK motor finance lender based in Nottingham. It offers hire purchase finance for cars, vans and motorbikes, mainly to people with thin or poor credit files, through car dealerships. This profile sets out what the public record shows, what the company says about itself, and what we could not verify.

Researched: 9 November 2026. Part of: UK Motor Finance Industry and its company leaderboard (currently unranked).

UnclaimedCompiled by Whito from public sources. Is this your company?Claim this profile

Independent company intelligence, not a recommendation. Whito does not recommend or endorse any finance provider. Nobody pays to appear in our research or to change what it says. Before taking car finance, check the lender on the FCA Register and read the agreement.

Key facts

Legal nameFirst Response Finance Limited
Websitefirstresponsefinance.co.uk
Company number03560611, registered in England. Private limited company, active. Incorporated 8 May 1998 (named Hardy Ways Limited until 23 November 1998). Source: Companies House.
Registered office5 Regan Way, Chetwynd Business Park, Chilwell, Nottingham, NG9 6RZ
Business type on the registerSIC 64921: credit granting by non-deposit-taking finance houses and other specialist consumer credit grantors
FCA statusAuthorised since 14 January 2005. Firm reference number 309356. Permissions are in consumer credit. The register lists 8 trading names. Source: FCA Register.
OwnerItochu Europe plc (company 02098168) holds 75% or more of the shares and voting rights and can appoint directors. Source: Companies House, notified 6 April 2016. The company’s website says it is backed by Itochu.
Lender or brokerLender. Its car finance page says it is a vehicle finance lender and that the car belongs to First Response Finance until the final payment.
Latest accountsMade up to 31 March 2025. Next accounts due by 31 December 2026. Source: Companies House.

What the company does

First Response Finance lends money for vehicles bought from dealers, using hire purchase. With hire purchase you pay monthly, and you own the vehicle once the last payment is made. Its website covers car, van and motorbike finance, and its menu also lists personal loans.

Types of vehicle finance

  • Hire purchase only. We found no personal contract purchase (PCP) or leasing product on its car finance page.
  • Cars, vans and motorbikes. The car finance page mentions used cars, SUVs, seven-seaters and electric cars. Van and motorbike finance appear as separate pages.
  • Dealer only. The car must be bought from an FCA-authorised dealership. It does not finance private sales.

Published terms (car finance page, read 9 November 2026)

  • Loans of £2,000 to £15,000 over 18 to 61 months.
  • Applicants must be 18 or over and live in the UK. Provisional licence holders are considered. Mileage limits of 120,000 (petrol) and 160,000 (diesel).
  • No additional fees, and early repayment without charges, according to the page.
  • The page shows two representative rates: 28.9% APR in the header and 29.9% APR in the calculator example for a £7,000 loan. We have noted this as a point to clarify.

Target customers

The company says it serves people with thin or poor credit files, people turned down elsewhere and people rebuilding their credit. It says it lends based on credit score, status and income, and will not approve an application it believes the customer may struggle to repay.

UK market presence and company figures

These figures come from the company’s own website. Whito has not independently verified them.

  • “300,000+” customers (homepage and About Us page).
  • More than 2,750 FCA-accredited dealerships in its network (About Us page).
  • Operating “for almost 30 years” (About Us page). Companies House shows the company was formed in May 1998.
  • It runs Motopeople, a used car dealership in Nottingham (About Us page).
  • It says it donates to the Trussell Trust and Magic Breakfast for every finance agreement written, raising “over £100,000”.

We found no published lending volumes or market share figures. Financial figures in its filed accounts have not yet been reviewed for this profile.

Customer feedback and review sources

  • Feefo: the company’s website shows an average of 4.9 out of 5 from 2,198 verified reviews (read 9 November 2026).
  • Trustpilot: the company’s About Us page describes its Trustpilot rating as “Excellent” without a number. We could not open the Trustpilot page on 9 November 2026, so we quote no score.
  • Smart Money People: the company also collects reviews there. We have not read that page in full.

Review scores are shown as found. We have not assessed how each platform collects reviews, and review scores are not used on their own to judge customer outcomes.

Complaints

The company’s complaints page says it will send a final response and that customers can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service if they disagree, or if it takes longer than eight weeks. Complaints can be sent to complaints@frfl.co.uk or 0115 946 6368. We have not yet reviewed any published complaints data for the firm.

Awards

As listed by the company on its About Us page. We have not checked each award with the organiser.

  • Best Car Finance Provider at the Consumer Credit Awards, five years in a row.
  • Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award, six times. The page body says “sixth time” while a linked article title says “fifth time”.
  • Finance Provider of the Year (sub-prime) at the Car Dealer Power Awards, which the linked article title says it has won nine times.

Regulatory information

  • The FCA Register lists two requirements on the firm: it cannot hold or control client money (effective 29 September 2026), and it must not carry on consumer buy-to-let mortgage business unless registered (since 21 March 2016). These describe what the firm may not do. They are not penalties.
  • As a consumer credit firm, customers can take unresolved complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The FCA Register notes that the Financial Services Compensation Scheme does not usually cover consumer credit.
  • The company says it is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (reference Z7872916).
  • Motor finance compensation: we have not found a public statement from First Response Finance on whether, or how much, the FCA’s compensation scheme affects it. We make no assumption either way.

Strengths and areas where further evidence is needed

What the public record shows clearly

  • Company number, registered office and FCA authorisation are easy to confirm, and they match across Companies House, the FCA Register and the website.
  • Ownership is clear: Itochu Europe plc is the registered controlling owner.
  • The website says plainly that it is a lender, and publishes loan amounts, terms and a representative APR.
  • The FCA Register shows it as authorised since January 2005.

Where more evidence is needed

  • Customer and dealer numbers are company figures, not independently verified.
  • The FCA reference number is not shown in the website footer. We found it on the FCA Register.
  • Two different representative APRs on the same car finance page.
  • No published lending volumes, and its filed accounts have not yet been reviewed here.
  • No public statement found on exposure to the FCA compensation scheme.
  • Review scores are company-displayed. Independent complaints data has not yet been reviewed.

Latest relevant developments

  • April and May 2026: Companies House shows two new directors, Taketo Aoki (appointed 1 April 2026) and Daisaku Itami (appointed 1 May 2026). The company had eight active officers when we checked.
  • 29 September 2026: the client money requirement on the FCA Register took effect.
  • Industry-wide: the FCA’s motor finance compensation scheme is partly suspended while legal challenges are heard, due between 16 February and 3 March 2027. See FCA regulation and motor finance developments.

Leaderboard position

Not ranked. The UK Motor Finance Company Leaderboard is an unranked index until every listed company has a full profile read in the same month. See how positions will be decided.

Sources

Corrections: if anything here is wrong or out of date, email hello@whito.co.uk with a source. We check it and update the page with a dated note. First Response Finance can also claim this profile. Claiming does not change what the evidence shows or any future score.

This page is company information, not financial advice.