A Blog by Neil Pool
In November 2010 it emerged that a Finnish company, trading in the UK as Help Loan, had been targeted by organised crime. It was reported that about 9,000 innocent people had their details compromised. Because Help Loan had poor operational procedures, the criminals that stole the identities managed fraudulently obtain around £1.5 million worth of loans.
Nearly two years later, the Office of Fair Trading that regulated Help loans (otherwise known as MCO Capital) decided to revoke their licence – giving this ‘poor excuse’ for a lender the opportunity to keep trading in association with another bunch called Tooth Fairy Finance.
In August 2012 the licence was revoked. At that time the OFT had no right to suspend a licence, and through appeal, other disgraced businesses such as Yes Loans managed to continue trading for many years. The OFT have now been given the power to immediately suspend licences in cases where they believe there is evidence that the business has engaged in practices that cause, or have the potential to cause, physical, economic or other harm to consumers. These practices may involve violence, fraud or other forms of dishonesty, or the targeting vulnerable consumers with harmful practices.
The article below appears to say that the OFT have used this power and taken away the licence of MCO capital. However it seems that MCO have decided not to fight the revocation of their licence anymore and have stopped their appeal process against this.
Interesting that Gillian Guy of Citizens Advice mentions this will prevent consumers suffering, yet since August last year the combination of MCO and Toothfairy had continued to trade.
It is about time all these guys were gone….. when will Toothfairy follow them?
Neil
http://www.credittoday.co.uk/article/14972/online-news/oft-swoops-to-close-payday-lender
Having run cheque cashing stores and a franchise of up to 130 franchisees around the UK cashing cheques and offering payday loans Neil has an in-depth knowledge of the payday loans industry.
As one of the UK’s top Payday Loan Consultant, Neil assists lenders to start in the UK and develop existing businesses. Neil is able to provide or facilitate all the financial facilities required to start a payday or other lending business including Bank Account, Direct Debit, Merchant Acquiring and UK Faster Payments.
Follow Neil on Twitter: @NeilPool1