The Vulnerability Registration Service (VRS) is a not-for-profit organisation providing a central, independent register of vulnerable people, helping companies to identify vulnerability and keep people safe.
It is free to use, entirely voluntary, and users can remove themselves from it whenever their circumstances have sufficiently improved.
By giving vulnerable consumers a single place to register their status, the VRS helps them avoid having to repeat the same difficult conversations every time they engage with organisations like lenders and creditors.
All of our leadership team have professional experience in consumer credit, with a mix of expertise in regulatory, compliance, and consumer affairs. They have all worked with people experiencing vulnerable circumstances and it is because of this experience that they wanted to provide a service that would help both the consumer and their services provider.
We see it as essential to collaborate with as many organisations as possible where there is a focus on addressing vulnerability. Vulnerability isn’t sector-specific – one vulnerable person has touchpoints in terms of housing, utilities, health, banking, insurance, mobile phones and internet, loans and credit cards and many more. If you’re vulnerable, it’s relevant to numerous aspects of your life and the organisations you deal with.
The FCA’s Guidance for firms on the fair treatment of vulnerable customers strongly emphases the need to for firms to place the treatment of vulnerable customers high on their agenda. By partnering with the VRS, you can establish your customer’s vulnerabilities and provide them with the level of treatment they need. Organisations increasingly see the importance of this which will hopefully lead to achieving the FCA’s objective of seeing these consumers receiving ‘consistently fair treatment’.
