FCC Paragon Reviews

Instead of the usual 2 to 4 days to process a tenant’s documents and establish a report, FCC Paragon took 2 full weeks! Plus, they breached the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 by reporting my annual income to the estate agent around £19,000 below the true amount!!!

That delayed my tenancy’s start and made the landlord ask for several months’ rent in advance, which could have damaged my savings and investments. I complained firmly and they finally rectified their serious mistake without any apology. They simply tried to deflect their legal and professional responsibility by pretending that the reference report, a crucial stage in being approved as a new tenant, is nothing but “a recommendation only”!!! I cornered them, then later they wrote me a very insincere “we apologise for ANY inconvenience”. I’ll tell you what, FCC Paragon, why don’t you try to apologise for Illegally subtracting around £19,000 from a tenant’s annual income, instead of pretending to be sorry for “any” inconvenience?

Estate agents: be aware of the significant reputational loss you can potentially have in condoning the shady actions of unreliable companies such as FCC Paragon. Tenants, our online reviews have power. Post facts about such firms’ malpractices to raise awareness. Also, feel confident in complaining, and (if needed) in escalating the matter to the ICO, the ombudsman, or any other relevant entity.

Wow, wow, please stay clear of this company, nightmare to work with, phone saying that are having problems contact my employer and five minutes earlier my employee had just said he had spoken to them and only to find out from letting agent they did not believe he was my employer because he did not answer the phone using the company name, his Name is the company name, my god.......they make an already stressful situation more stressful.

I was worried because of the reviews but the process to pass this went really smooth. Thanks! I would advice to prepare all the documents in advance.

Having someone go through the various levels of cover was great. Also their cover is great if you are a tenant as it includes fixtures and fittings which a lot of other companies don't do. And very reasonably priced. Not sure about the claim process but lets hope I never have to go through that.

They take an extreme amount of data from you and any referees you have (far more than is necessary for a standard credit check), they repeatedly direct you to their expensive phone number instead of email contacts, and are generally shady. They seemed to want to sell my details to other companies too to make even more cash. Avoid.

Always very helpful with any enquiries, profession, friendly staff

appalling customer service , passed from staff to staff who had no clue whats so ever , very rude asking personal information that was not relevant to the application, questioned my income saying i earned to much ? how does that even work , in a nutshell avoid !!!!

if your estate agent uses these guys look else where for a property.

If you'd like to pay someone to get intimidated and bullied, then pay these guys. I just don't know how on earth would a legitimate landlord or letting agency hire the services of this joke of a company? How is this company still open and actually operating?
Also people is there a way to give 0 stars as this company don't deserve even 1 star.

VERY BAD EXPERIENCE... Not only incompetent staff, even worst...really unhelpful. Bad system in place and total lack of client managing skills or customer service. NOT RECCOMENDED

I had very bad experience where they said i gave them consent consent to talk to employer and start to investigate the employer him self instead of getting my references and even bully the employer. This is clear warning not to use this service which cost me 290 pounds to enable them to bully my employer.
I received ed email which cannot prove i signed for such bad agreement
My advice is still bad service and they are hiding agreement between lines .
clearing treating the customer not fairly

Your software is so bad it put me out of a home. I have had to rent a hotel because of your incredibly incompetence. Uploading attachments through a separate user interface is totally ridiculous.

If i could give them zero stars i would. The staff are incredibly incompetent and very unhelpful. They put legal clauses that offload all their responsibility to you if you are a landlord providing a reference, but they disguise it as a "decleration", and worst of all they charge you an outragous amount of money to conduct the reference. Terrible referencing company.

Dreadful! They were useless and didn't understand how someone can work for their own company! Also couldn't find my partner and I on the electoral role despite us being on it and us providing evidence! Also, anything out of the norm needs to be mentioned in a 'Notes' section, which they dont seem to read. Didnt even contact our referees! They didnt bother!

Very incompetent and unprofessional, they dragged everything out to the bitter end and made things as difficult as possible.
Requested details not to be shared but a day later start receiving junk mail and sales calls galore, coincidence?

I had a brilliant experience with FCC Paragon. My last last landlord has disappeared off the face of the earth and this meant I lit was near impossible to get a reference for my new place, FCC were amazing in tracking him down and we're in constant contact throughout. They had got a reference for me while I was on holiday and it was a great supreme that when I returned home I had been able to start the ball rolling and have moved into my new home. Brilliant company and highly recommended!

Excellent experience from start to finish.Staff very very helpful and know there bussio

Very good communication, fast and professional, helpful when needed. My experience with FCC Paragon regarding credit check and references while applying for a new property was very positive. Highly recommend.

They literally do ONE thing and they simply cannot get it right. They lost my bank statements and harassed me for these for days. After speaking to management I was told they had in fact received my bank statements. They caused so many delays during the referencing process, which was all down to them being disorganised and not asking for correct information up front or using their brain and calling current landlord when they couldn't get in contact with him by email. FCC Paragon are a joke and I refuse to use their services in future.

We had a bad reference from our last but one landlords who were sore losers after losing an adjudication by the Deposit Protection Service. Essentially they unjustifiably tried to repaint the flat we left at our expense from our deposit.



FCC Paragon weren't helpful at all and wouldn't set aside the malicious and vexatious reference

I have been a manager of a lettings agency for over 10 years and during this time we have always used FCC paragon. They offer a great service and offer detailed reference checks and landlord protection. We always find communicating with staff easy and someone is always available to answer our questions or go over any concerns. We would highly recommend FCC Paragon to any letting agency which wishes to feel a true piece of mind while carrying out reference checks.

Been with Paragon for tenants insurance for many years and have not had a single issue with them. Customer service and price is great. When I return to renting I will be going with Paragon again

Kelly was really pleasant and helpful, with great product knowledge. Thank you Kelly, much appreciated

It is interesting to note that negative comments come from refrencees and positive from reference-ors. As a letting agency we have nothing but praise for FCC who are helpful and supportive. Persons being references would do well to note that unless you have straightforward circumstances, referencing may be difficult but not impossible if you work with the agency and FCC Paragon to resolve any issues.

I would give them zero stars if i could. They will harass you, threat you. They are incredibly rude, lazy, incompetent and ridiculous. i WARN you, please refuse to rent/buy any property where FCC Paragon is involved.

Everyone at Paragon are always a pleasure to deal with, would be happy to recommend to friends and family.

I have used many reference company's in the past but FCC are brilliant. Always update you on the reference process, insurance claims are paid quickly, a pleasure to work with.
The best part is they take into account london rental prices are different so the income required is less.
When one of our staff member installed the wrong insurance policy they were happy to correct the error quickly and smoothly.
A well run organisation not like some of the others in the past.

I had a fantastic experience @FCC Paragon, polite and welcoming staff, great vibes around the office. Highly recommended!

They donot know anything abt overseas professional's working letter and they don't have any knowledge abt overseas professional's visa information. They even said it would take 2 days for an email to be received from China. They are not communicable. Extremely bad service.

I tried to take a flat on rent, the procedure was fine, continuous contact snd guidance was given through phone calls and emails. But the lady to whom i sent my employer's contact and email. She was emailing my employer about his official email's composition; that it is made a bit late as compared to company.. that annoyed me and my employer. It was a bit embarrassing when my employer told me that they are asking for my personal things though when the company was asking for contact of my employer i gave them the one which my employer frequently use.. anyway!! I am not being judgemental but my concern is, that this company's main concern was with the tenants so they should only ask about the tenants from the employers or other references to satisfy themselves rather asking about the references. That was annoying!!

Outstanding professionalism and friendly staff. Completed my tenant checks with zero fuss, polite phone manner and do their job well.

This company is absolute disgrace..I am a landlord and hired their services to carry out the referencing...My property was rented to a couple on work visa...Now it is the responsibility of the landlord to ensure that the tenants have valid visas which is fair enough,,,,FCC Paragon was taking wrong advantage of this rule and sending threatening emails to tenants to provide a new visa asap though they had 2 months left in their visas. Tenants reported it to me and i was astonished how FCC Paragon has intimidated the tenants with their abusive emails...
Shocking service..

Great customer service! Sam helped us through all the process and everything was very friendly and personal, which made it easier. Thank you!

We were to use this reference check company, who did they job but in a very slow pace. We were under very tight deadlines for moving into a property and we basically had to do their job of chasing every people to get their feedback so that the application can proceed. It seems to me a pretty expensive service for only ticking boxes.
But all in all, they responded to our calls and (slowly) did what they were supposed to.

Had a great experience with FCC Paragon. Attentive staff that kept me in the loop throughout the referencing check process - cheers Sam!

Unprofessional ... waste of time and not worthed ...
If you got limited company u can forget it about positive references... I made complain about them to trading standards and local MP.

Worst referencing company AVOID
Even not a 1 star.
They are breaking data protection rules...
Money and time wasters.

My personal experience has been excellent with FCC. My interaction has been with Matt Cobb over the past few years for various properties.

I enjoy speaking to Matt as I feel valued as a customer, he always remembers which property I am calling about, what stage it is at and also personal information about me.

I started using FCC as they were recommended to me, but Matt is one of the main reasons I stay with them.

Matt has great advice, he has a vast amount of knowledge, he is always obliging and genuinely a nice guy and a pleasure to work with.

Absolutely terrible company. The level of tedious detail requested is embarrassing. Good luck to those who have to go through this process, you'll need it!

Trying to take as much money from us as they could when we were leaving the property. Also threatening with legal action. Them and Stevens and co Ashford Kent try to take all they can from you don't go with either off these company's!!!!!!!!

Extremely unhappy with the service we have received, the staff seems to be very laid back in their approach to their client, there was no sense of urgency and really bad communication skills.

The prospective tenants were really unhappy with the way FCC Paragon communicated. This cannot be continued like this any longer, definitely looking to move the business to Homelet or RS next year.

Really disappointed.

They try to sell you insurance, before the referencing is done... I reckon if we would have signed up for an insurance, the referencing would have been smoother...
Also they are rude and demanding, not doing their basic responsibilities at all... My employer had to send over the confirmation 5 times, as the company somehow was 'unable to see'.

Edit: I have 3 statements saying (from 3 different persons) that the person calling regarding the referencing was rude and incompetent.

This company has made my family life miserable and should be banned. You can't imagine the level of mental stress this company will put you through in the name of reference checks. If it was not down to the kindness of good friends, this company had made me homeless.
All their positive reviews seems fake and paid for. I just wish i'd switched to their negative reviews (real reviews) before renting a home where FCC Paragon were to carry out the reference checks. If you had the misfortune of renting a property where these people are carrying out your reference checks then please book an appointment with a good physiatrist in advance as you'll certainly need it. You are warned folks.

FCC Paragon were an absolute pleasure to deal with. More than happy to post a review when they asked following my tenant referencing application.

Even if you opt out from all marketing communication they still give out your personal information to third parties. As soon as I filled out form I got a call from broadband comparison service even though I selected not to receive offers from third party providers. For a company that is dealing with personal information I find this unacceptable.

I have just finished my referencing process with Christopher at FCC Paragon and can't say enough good things about him or the company. I'm currently in Thailand looking to move back to the UK and needed a guarantor too, so mine hasn't been the easiest of applications. Christopher dealt with it quickly, efficiently and professionally, set and managed my expectations and made me laugh too. He was sensitive to various issues that cropped up and kept promises regarding call backs and time frames. Excellent service.

The customer service I received from Kelly was excellent. Prompt and clear responses to the issues/questions I raised. Very professional and supportive in working to deliver the best resolution for myself the client. The matter was resolved quickly and very much to my satisfaction. Clearly having the issue resolved to my satisfaction is important but its not reason I am writing this review, it was the way it was resolved that stood out for me. Well done Kelly, first class customer service is rare, you should be proud of yourself. Best wishes Stuart

I especially enjoyed the collaboration with the FCC Paragon team in handling my not-so streamline verification process. Highly patient and dedicated people with a lot of customer empathy and focus.

Kelly was very efficient and helped me sort my problem ithin a very short time. Well done.

I had the pleasure of dealing with FCC paragon as a guarantor for my daughter. I had no trouble or disputes, the staff are friendly and informative as to what was required of me. Better service then other referencing company's I have had the misfortune to deal with.

Tenancy referencing with them is an absolute joke. Strict rules for no reason. It's either black or white with this company, no room for common sense and evaluation on a case by case basis. The next time we rent we will make sure the letting agency isn't using this company because we will never want to deal with them again.

excellent customer service and I have been with them for years and their prices have remained very stable.

I've been with Paragon for a number of years for Buy To Let insurance and I've found their premiums competitive, cover very good and their customers service is very responsive, which I love. I haven't had to make a claim, so haven't tested that yet, but for everything else so far they have been spot on. Special mention to Jen who has been great recently!

The staff at Paragon are always very helpful, knowledgable and a pleasure to deal with. If only all staff in other companies were this good! It instills confidence that should a claim ever be made, it will be handled with the greatest care. Highly recommended.

If I could give them less than one I would do. Terrible from beginning to end, the document service is dreadful, staff were un-informed, had various different things told to me. Overall very very poor!

Worst reference company EVER!!!! Don't deal with them!

Their system is slow and archaic uploading files over and over again. It's frustrating

Fantastic service, very well looked after and guided through the relevant paperwork, thank you!

I have had Landlords Contents Insurance for my London flat with FCC Paragon for many years. Very happy with their professional and courteous service in handling renewals of the policy.

Having been a client of Paragon for some years, I would highly recommend them. I had to make a claim for accidental damage a couple of years ago and my claim was dealt with swiftly and successfully. The premiums are very competitive and the service that I have experienced has far outweighed any other insurance company that I have dealt with in the past.

Rubbish service
Incompetent staff
Very bad comunication skills
I wonder how can they still in business!!!
I had to give them one star for the review to be sent even though they don't deserve it

Reference check went through in less than a day. I was worried after reading reviews here but while they did ask for quite a few documents, they were efficient

I have used FCC for referencing at a previous letting agents in Putney and for my own company. Once you've done 1 and know the process it becomes very straight forward, I'm a happy customer and will use again and again and again. Thank you

Excellent customer service from Paragon - every time I speak to them they address any questions promptly and effectively - great company

My partner was cut just because of a small detail in address which could be modified, we had proof of address for overseas and the company refused to accept it. For us it was really really bad experience.
Very strict rules for absolutely no reason, unhelpful staff and not clear rules on how someone can pass and fail. I still cannot understand how the address of a person can show his ability to pay his rent. 1 star from me.

Completed my tenant referencing checks today, thought I would leave a review of my experiences but having read some previous reviews I couldn't believe the hate or understand why?? I had a no trouble with FCC Paragon, they requested information I provided it simple right? I dealt with nothing but professional and friendly staff over the phone any issues quickly resolved so well done to FCC and thanks! :-)

I had not checked what referencing company our agent used before paying the holding deposit. When I saw these reviews I got really worried. In the end it was surprisingly quick and smooth.

HOWEVER, they are asking for an incredible amount of information, some sensitive, some irrelevant etc. All these companies including Experian aggregate our details into consumer profiling data, which they then sell to companies to use in their marketing strategies.

SO, why do they use my data, even anonymously? AND, why the hell do I have to pay a reference fee, when the reference company makes a profit from my data?

Absolutely fantastic service from Jen at Paragon. She was so helpful and patient. I will definitely be recommending the services of Paragon to my friends.

I would give this no stars if it were possible not only is the company terribly run with the no reply emails and 0800 numbers they ask and expect you to provide an entirely unnecessary amount of documents as a tenant. After enquiring about a document i sent i was informed it would be processed before the end of the day. This was not processed for another 4 days. If you are trying to rent a home and the letting agent uses FCC Paragon to handle the reference check i assure you it isn't worth the stress and hassle.

The lady that call me she was so helpful. Explained everything to my. I definitely recommend it.

FCC Paragon system was easy to use and I could track the progress of my application which was really useful. Moved in today, really happy. Big thanks to the team

dont answer the phone
no one is able to give good, concise requests for information

all together terrible service as i called over 20 times n ended up having to call an accountant who is a friend to help me.

dont recommend the service.

When my agent told me I had to be referenced by FCC Paragon, I read these reviews and thought it wouldn t be a great experience. However, I was really surprised by the service I received from them. The staff were friendly, helpful and knowledgeable.

Bunch of idiots.
Don't reply to emails and the staff sound like bimbo's who propbably have difficulty operating a coffee machine.


So this bunch are pretty clever !!!!!!!!!!!! after all they are able to predict where we will be two years from now.
Micheal J Fox and the prof are on their staff and regularly GO BACK TO THE FUTURE on special fact finding missions for FCC PAAARAGOON

In reply to your response.
I have attempted to contact yourselves using the email address "clientliason ect" and there was no reply.
I suggest you answer the simple questions I put to yourselves in my emails !!!.
You don't appear to be receptive to the idea of explaining your proceedures.

Just to let you all know folks.
The only question I have put to FCC Paragon is ........... " what is your fee schedual for the supplying of a credit history search to one of your clients/subscribers"
To put it simply ......... HOW MUCH DO CHARGE FOR A QUICK CREDIT CHECK ?
They are not willing to answer this question .
In their response today , they state that my "complaint" [what complaint?]
will be looked into.

the worst referencing company in the world, I had the worst experience with them

As a professional letting agent dealing with around 150 new lets per year, I've used Paragon for more than 15 years. With an average of approximately 2 tenants per let, that's 4-5 thousand applications.
Like any business, they have their bad moments occasionally. Generally this is during the busy June-September time when they have more temporary staff. All in all, they're pretty thorough and they've always paid out when we've needed to make claims on their smart rent protection policies.
It's the sort of business where you are likely to annoy people by failing their application or asking for information which the applicant believes isn't relevant or helpful to their cause. I therefore think that a significant proportion of these negative reviews are likely to be down to sour grapes and the overall low rating is rather unfair.

The worst referencing company to deal with, they are great at first but then the head ache starts!!!
Arch legal whom deals with the eviction is the issue.....
Only advise I can give is, just don't use them, avoid them, they will try calling you back to inprove there service but again you will bigging your grave even further.
Fcc.....you need to get rid of Arch Lega, they are a complete mess.

As soon as application submitted I started getting loads and loads of marketing emails and calls from OTHER companies which implies FCC Paragon sells data to. This is despite me being on TPS. Clear violation of data protection.

Called them multiple time about the referencing they are conducting on me for a flat where i should be moving on the 9th of July , i am a sole trader in UK that have been established On the 6th January this year and have a contract with another company without end date and one month notice. i also have another sole trading business in France since 2009 and sent them all the required statement to prove that including a reference letter from my employer and proposed them to send them the contract. I also have more than 6 month of rent in savings between all my accounts.

They ignored the all thing and stated that my sole trading business in the UK was established less than 6 month ago (will be 6 month on the 6th of July) so i shouldn't pass.

I WILL BE MOVING ON THE 9TH OF JULY, MY SOLE TRADING COMPANY IN THE UK WILL BE OVER 6 MONTH AT THAT TIME AND I HAVE A CONTRACT WITH NO END DATE AND A NOTICE PERIOD, MY FRENCH SOLE TRADING COMPANY IS OVER 10 YEARS OLD AND I HAVE MORE THAN 6 MONTH OF RENT IN SAVINGS !!!

PROBLEM SOLVED : after checking with the agency and sending lots more documents to FCC Paragon, they finally changed their result.

I've acquired the services of this joke of a company so they can carry out referencing/documentation checks on my tenants.
However the tenants showed me the emails that they received from them. The emails had threatening language and they were harassing the tenants. Soon after the reference information was provided to FCC Paragon, the tenants started receiving offers from insurance companies and other marketing agencies which suggests their personal details such as phone number, email address, home address etc were sold/leaked to other companies. One of my tenant told me that she gave the employer details to carry out job reference and they were asking their HR manager for their personal details like name, date of birth etc which obviously they refused. FCC Paragon then had a very rude email conversation with them which was very embarrassing for the tenant. I deal everyone with respect and expect others to do the same. I won't do business with an unprofessional company like FCC Paragon.

To landlords, please don't be a part of the hostile policy of this company. To tenants, when renting a property first check if the landlord or letting agency are carrying out reference checks (harassment) through FCC paragon. If they are, just don't bother renting that property unless you want to undergo the unnecessary stress.

excellent phone service - answers immediately. Extremely helpful operator.(Penny)
Kim Groom