Solar finance: the traps
Finance is not the problem. Finance arranged at the kitchen table, at the end of a two-hour presentation, with a discount that expires tonight, is the problem — and the specific mechanisms are worth knowing before you meet one, because every single one of them is legal.
Four questions that defuse almost all of it.
- “What is the cash price, and what is the finance price?” Two numbers, in writing. The gap is what the finance costs you.
- “Are you authorised by the FCA to arrange credit, or an appointed representative?” Then check the Financial Services Register yourself.
- “Will this price still be available in a week?” The answer tells you what kind of business you are dealing with.
- “Is this agreement regulated, and does section 66A withdrawal apply?”
None of these is aggressive. All of them are unanswerable by a script.
Trap 1: the subsidised rate that is not a discount
A 0% or low-rate deal is paid for by somebody. Frequently the installer pays the lender a subsidy, and that cost sits inside the price you were quoted.
That is not fraud and it is not hidden in any sinister sense — it is simply invisible unless you ask for the two figures separately.
The test: ask for the cash price and the finance price as separate written numbers.
- Same number? The finance is genuinely free to you.
- Cash price lower? The difference is what you are paying for the finance, expressed as a higher purchase price rather than as interest.
Then compare the cash price against the benchmark — price per kW — before deciding whether either number is reasonable.
Trap 2: the price and the finance decided in one conversation
The structural problem with kitchen-table finance is not the product. It is that two decisions get made at once, by someone who has been in your house for two hours, at the point of maximum fatigue.
Separate them:
- Decide on the installation — the specification, the price per kW, the installer’s record.
- Then decide how to pay for it, on another day, with the quote in front of you.
An installer whose business model survives that separation is one worth dealing with.
This is the single most reliable signal in the entire solar buying process.
A genuine price reflects genuine costs: panels, scaffolding, labour, certification. None of those change overnight. A discount available only if you sign now is not a discount — it is a device for preventing comparison.
The Consumer Contracts Regulations give you cancellation rights on contracts concluded at home, and section 66A gives 14 days on the credit. But those are remedies for a decision you should not have had to make under pressure. The better move is the sentence: “Leave the quote with me.”
Trap 3: confusing the two agreements
There are two contracts in a financed solar purchase, and they cancel differently.
The credit agreement. Section 66A gives the borrower under most regulated agreements 14 days to withdraw, without reason, running from the latest of the agreement being made, the creditor informing you of the credit limit, or your receiving a copy of the executed agreement. Excluded: agreements secured on land, and credit over £60,260 other than residential renovation agreements.
The installation contract. Its own rights, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations — see cancellation rights.
Withdrawing from the credit does not cancel the installation. People discover this the expensive way: they cancel the finance believing the job is off, and remain contractually bound to a purchase they must now fund another way.
If you want out of both, cancel both, in writing, and keep proof of sending.
Trap 4: money paid before anything is installed
Large deposits are the mechanism by which an installer’s failure becomes your loss. Our deposit protection page covers the ways a deposit can be protected and the questions to ask.
Two points that belong here:
Pay the deposit by credit card, not by transfer. Section 75 makes the card provider jointly liable on qualifying purchases, and the deposit is the piece that buys that protection for the whole contract.
Ask what the money is for. A deposit that funds materials should be evidenced by materials.
Trap 5: buy-now-pay-later, mid-transition
The regulatory position changed in 2026, so any advice on this that predates it is unreliable.
The FCA’s PS26/1, published 11 February 2026, brings Deferred Payment Credit into regulation from 15 July 2026. Firms without consumer credit permissions were required to register for a Temporary Permissions Regime from 15 May 2026. The protections described are information requirements, affordability standards and support in financial difficulty.
What we could not establish from the policy statement is whether section 75 and Financial Ombudsman access attach in the same way as for other regulated credit, or how agreements made before that date are treated.
So ask, in writing: is this agreement regulated; does section 75 apply; can I complain to the Financial Ombudsman; and what happens if the installer fails before commissioning?
Trap 6: the finance that outlives the equipment
A long term makes any monthly figure look manageable. It also means the agreement can still be running when the inverter needs replacing.
Two questions worth asking yourself rather than the salesperson:
- Will I still be paying for this when it needs its first significant repair?
- If I move house, what happens to the agreement?
Neither has a universal answer. Both are better asked before signing than after.
What good finance looks like
To be fair to the many firms that do this properly:
- the cash price and the finance price are both stated, without being asked twice
- the firm’s FCA status is on the paperwork and checks out on the register
- the quote is left with you, and is still valid next week
- the deposit is modest and can go on a card
- the installation contract and the credit agreement are explained as two things
- nobody mentions a discount that expires
If all six are true, the finance is probably the least of your concerns — and you can get back to checking the price per kW and the installer’s record, which is where the real money is.
Sources
- Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 66A
- Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 75
- PS26/1: Regulation of Deferred Payment Credit Published 11 February 2026. Deferred Payment Credit becomes regulated on 15 July 2026.
- Financial Services Register
- Solar photovoltaic (PV) cost data
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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