A number of instant cash loan companies that are apparently licensed in Britain seem to be getting away with no fixed abode in this country and are acting rather shy when pushed into answering questions about their operations.
The case of QuickQuid, one of Britain’s biggest short term loans companies is a case in point. The company’s “real” name is actually CashEuroNetUK, or, at least, that is what the Office of Fair Trading thinks it is called, as that is what its license name is here in Britain. CashEuroNetUK is actually registered as a business in the United States and does not seem to have either staff or an office in Britain. In fact, its offices are in Chicago, although the company is registered in the state of Delaware.
Now there seems to be a bit of fishy business going on with QuickQuid. While the company is quick to make a quid on this side of the pond, they seem to prefer to collect in dollars.
Despite the name, the business is a foreign company and therefore is supposed to be registered in this country as well. All registrations are done at Company House in London. Apparently, QuickQuid did register originally with Company House but then cancelled the registration two years ago, claiming that they had closed their “UK office”.
At the same time, they are also supposed to have a licence to trade which is issued by the Office of Fair Trading. The OFT say they have two addresses in London for QuickQuid. One is apparently a legal contact and another is used for correspondence.
On investigation, the legal address is a solicitor’s office, and the correspondence address is a company that offers a mail forwarding service.
The short term loans company neither has an office of its own here in Britain or any local staff.
In fact, an attempt by a financial advice spokesperson recently to make contact with anybody from QuickQuid at either of the two addresses drew a blank.
The investigation came about because of a complaint that the company had been sending demands for payment of unpaid loans to people in Britain who say they have never had anything to do with QuickQuid or, indeed, taken out any loans at all with any short term loans company.
The demands arrived by letter but did not state the registration or the “real” name of the company, i.e. CashEuroNet.UK, both of which omissions are illegal in Britain according to the Business Names Act
The licence for QuickQuid is coming up again for renewal in July this year, so it will be interesting to see if the OFT renews a licence for an instant cash loans company that seems to blatantly ignore British laws.