Google Ads for UK Lending: The Ultimate Compliance Guide

Running Google Ads for a lending company in the UK is, to put it mildly, a massive headache. It's not like selling t-shirts or software. You're in a heavily regulated space, and Google is terrified of getting on the wrong side of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). So they put up a wall of compliance checks, automated flags, and manual reviews that can feel impossible to get through. Most lenders who try to go it alone burn through cash on disapproved ads and end up with nothing to show for it.

The problem is, most advice out there is generic. It doesn't get into the nitty-gritty of what the UK regulatory landscape demands. But if you get the foundations right, you can build a predictable, scalable customer acquisition channel. It just requires a different mindset—one obsessed with compliance and transparency first, and marketing second.

So, why is this all so difficult?

Let's be blunt. The reason Google is so strict is because the FCA is watching them. The UK has some of the worlds most stringent rules around financial promotions to protect consumers from predatory lending and unclear offers. Think about the payday loan scandal a few years back; the regulators came down hard, and that scrutiny has never really gone away. Google, as the biggest advertising gatekeeper, has to toe the line or face massive fines.

Their automated systems are designed to be overly cautious. They're scanning your ads and, more importantly, your website for anything that even hints at a violation. This includes things like:

-> Making promises you can't keep (e.g., "Guaranteed loan approval").
-> Not being transparent about costs, fees, and risks.
-> Targeting vulnerable people.
-> Not clearly identifying who you are and that you're authorised to offer credit.

So when your ad gets disapproved, it's often not because your headline is bad, but because a bot scanned your landing page and couldn't find your FCA registration number in the footer. It's a game of details, and you have to play by their rules. This isn't just a Google policy; its a reflection of UK law. Many businesses struggle with this, and we often find ourselves helping them navigate the complex world of getting fintech ads approved in the UK.

Before you spend a single penny, can you even advertise?

This is the first and most important question. A lot of founders think they can just build a website, set up a Google Ads account, and start getting loan applications. That's a fantasy. There are two non-negotiable gatekeepers you have to get past first.

1. FCA Authorisation: Are you authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority? If the answer is no, stop right now. You cannot legally promote lending services in the UK, full stop. Google will check your company against the FCA Register. If you're not on it, or if your permissions don't cover the specific type of credit you're advertising, you're done before you've started. No amount of clever marketing can get around this.

2. Google's Financial Products and Services Verification: Once you have your FCA authorisation, you then have to apply to Google directly to become a verified advertiser. This involves submitting your business details, your FCA number, and other documentation. They will manually review your application and your business to ensure you're legitimate. This process can take days or even weeks, and there's no guarantee of approval if they find something they dont like.

Getting these two things in order is the absolute bedrock of any paid acquisition strategy for a UK fintech. Without them, you have no business being on the platform.

What does a 'compliant' ad and landing page actually look like?

Right, so you've got your authorisations sorted. Now for the hard part: building assets that Google's bots won't instantly reject. Tbh, your landing page is about ten times more important than your ad copy. This is where 90% of disapprovals happen. You need to treat it less like a marketing page and more like a legal document.

Here’s what Google (and by extension, the FCA) demands to see on your landing page:

-> Full Business Details: Your registered company name, full physical address (no PO boxes), and a phone number must be easy to find. Hiding this in tiny text in the footer isn't good enough. It signals you've got something to hide.

-> FCA Information: You must state that you are "Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority" and clearly display your Firm Reference Number (FRN). It's best practice to link this number directly to your entry on the FCA Register so reviewers can verify it in one click.

-> Representative Example: This is a huge one. You must show a clear, representative example of the total cost of credit. This should include the amount borrowed, the term, the interest rate (and whether it's fixed or variable), the total amount repayable, and the Representative APR. This can't be an image; it needs to be text that the bots can read.

-> Clear Risk Warnings: You need to include prominent warnings. The classic one is: "Late repayment can cause you serious money problems. For help, go to moneyhelper.org.uk." Other warnings might be needed depending on the product, like for high-cost short-term credit or if you're securing a loan against a property.

-> No Misleading Claims: Your page cannot contain phrases like "approval in minutes," "no credit check," or "guaranteed acceptance." Even if your process is fast, these are red-flag terms for Google's bots. Your ad copy must also avoid this language completely.

Getting this right is often the difference between a successful campaign and one that never gets off the ground. The reality is that many businesses are simply not set up to succeed and end up wasting money because their foundational assets aren't compliant.

How on earth do you target people without getting banned?

Once you've got a compliant landing page, the next challenge is targeting. This is another area where Google restricts financial advertisers. You can't just target people based on their credit score or income level. Personalised advertising for credit products is heavily restricted to prevent predatory targeting.

This means things like remarketing (showing ads to your past website visitors) and targeting certain demographic segments or in-market audiences are often disabled for credit-related campaigns. It feels like you're advertising with one hand tied behind your back.

So, your main weapon is keyword targeting. And you have to be incredibly deliberate about it.

-> Go for High Intent, Not High Volume: Forget broad, generic keywords like "loan" or "borrow money". The competition is insane, the cost-per-click (CPC) is sky-high, and the traffic is mostly junk. You'll get people looking for payday loans, student loans, car loans—everything you don't offer. It's the fastest way to empty your bank account.

-> Match Keywords to Your Product: Your keyword strategy should mirror your actual loan products. If you offer secured homeowner loans, your keywords should be things like "secured loan for homeowners uk", "home equity loan rates", or "borrow against my house". If you offer debt consolidation loans, target "debt consolidation loan calculator uk" or "combine credit card debt into one loan". Be specific. The more specific the search query, the more qualified the user.

-> Use Negative Keywords Aggressively: Your negative keyword list is just as important as your target list. You need to proactively exclude terms that signal a poor fit. This includes terms like "free", "payday", "student", "business", "car", and the names of competitor lenders you don't want to compete with directly on brand terms (unless that's a specific strategy). Every irrelevant click you prevent saves you money.

This disciplined approach is fundamental. We go into this in more depth in our broader guide for UK founders using Google Ads, but for lending, it's not just best practice—it's essential for survival.

Let's talk numbers: What should this actually cost?

This is the question every founder asks, and the answer is always "it depends". But in the UK lending space, I can tell you one thing for certain: it's not cheap. You're competing with major banks and established lenders with huge budgets. CPCs for good quality financial keywords can easily be anywhere from £5 to £20, or even higher.

So, a simple "Cost Per Lead" (CPL) metric can be misleading. A lead could be anything from a simple name and email to a full, multi-page application. A more useful metric is Cost Per Funded Loan, but that can take a long time to measure. A good starting point is to aim for a Cost Per Started Application.

Let's say your average CPC is £10. If your landing page converts visitors into started applications at a rate of 5% (which is pretty decent), your cost per application is £200 (£10 / 0.05). If only 1 in 10 of those applications turns into a funded loan, your final Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) is £2,000.

Does that number seem terrifying? It shouldn't, if you understand your numbers. The real question isn't "what's my CPA?", but "is my CPA profitable?". This is where understanding Lifetime Value (LTV) becomes critical.

For a lender, LTV isn't as simple as a SaaS subscription. It's the total profit you expect to make from a customer over the life of their loan. A rough way to calculate it is:

LTV = (Average Loan Value * Gross Profit Margin) - (Average Loan Value * Expected Default Rate)

So, if you lend an average of £10,000 at a 20% gross margin, and your default rate is 5%, the calculation looks like this:

LTV = (£10,000 * 0.20) - (£10,000 * 0.05)
LTV = £2,000 - £500 = £1,500

In this scenario, each funded loan is worth £1,500 in profit. If your CPA to get that loan is £2,000, you have a serious problem. You're losing £500 on every customer. You either need to lower your CPA or accept that this channel isn't profitable for you. This kind of financial modelling is at the heart of any successfull PPC strategy for a fintech lending business.

The Best Account Structure to Avoid Disaster

Finally, let's talk about how to structure your Google Ads account to maximise control and minimise risk. The worst thing you can do is lump all your loan products and keywords into one campaign. It's messy, inefficient, and dangerous.

If one ad group or keyword gets flagged for a policy violation, it can sometimes put the entire campaign under scrutiny. By siloing your products, you isolate that risk.

I recomend a hyper-segmented structure based on your specific loan products. Here's what that looks like:

-> Campaign per Product: You should have a separate campaign for each major loan type. For example: "Campaign - UK - Search - Homeowner Loans" and "Campaign - UK - Search - Debt Consolidation".

-> Ad Groups per Intent: Within each campaign, create tightly-themed ad groups based on user intent. For the Homeowner Loans campaign, you might have ad groups like "Home Equity Loans", "Secured Loans Rates", and "Borrow Against Property".

-> Dedicated Ads & Landing Pages: Each ad group should have ad copy that speaks directly to the keywords within it. And crucially, those ads should point to a landing page that is 100% dedicated to that specific loan type, with the correct representative example and terms.

This structure gives you ultimate control. You can set different budgets for different products, tailor your messaging perfectly, and if the "Debt Consolidation" campaign gets hit with a disapproval, your profitable "Homeowner Loans" campaign keeps running without interruption. It's more work to set up, but it's the professional way to manage a high-stakes account. Many businesses looking for a fintech-focused ads agency in the UK come to us specifically to fix messy account structures that are holding them back.

Your Action Plan for Compliant Growth

Navigating Google Ads for lending in the UK is a challange, theres no doubt about it. It demands a level of rigour and attention to detail far beyond most other industries. But it is possible to build a powerful and profitable customer acquisition engine if you follow a disciplined, compliance-first approach. It's about respecting the rules, understanding your numbers, and being methodical in your execution.

This is the main advice I have for you:

Getting this right is tough. The rules can be opaque, the disapprovals frustrating, and the financial stakes are incredibly high. A single mistake on your landing page or in your targeting can lead to weeks of delays and thousands in wasted ad spend. This is why many lending companies decide that navigating this landscape is best left to specialists who live and breathe financial advertising regulations.

If you've read through this and feel overwhelmed, or if you're tired of banging your head against the wall of Google's policy team, it might be time to get an expert opinion. We offer a free, no-obligation strategy session where we can review your current setup, pinpoint compliance gaps, and lay out a clear path to getting your ads approved and acquiring customers profitably.