Bad Credit Loan Companies

To prey on the poorer members of our society, is the lowest of the low, but this is exactly what a “Loan” company (I use that term loosely) called UK Finance Ltd set out to do just that.

The company set out adds in newspapers and cold-called on customers, in the hope that they took up they’re offer of receiving a loan, by telling the people they called on, that they could receive a unsecured loan, that didn’t require any credit checks.

All that the customer had to do, was to pay a administration fee of £70 to cover the cost of processing their application, thousands obviously took the offer on the face value of it and the chance of a loan without credit checks, would probably be seen as the only way that they would be eligible for any sort of loan, but the sting was that once they had paid their fee of £70, a letter was then sent out by UK Finance Ltd, to inform them that they had been refused the loan and that their admin fee would NOT be non-refundable.

Some of the people who were duped, contacted them and fought back by saying that if they did not receive their money back, that they would take the matter up with the Trading Standards and the Press, only then did UK Finance Ltd back down and refund them their money.

All in all this scam made UK Finance Ltd in the region of three quarters of a million GBP from cheques that were paid in by the conned customers and it is thought that many thousands more, was taken in the form of blank uncrossed postal orders and cash payments.

Russell Philips set up the company in 1998 and the scam was ended in 2001, when warrants were executed and the offices were searched, following the scale of complaints levelled against the company.

Subsequently charges were brought against Philips who was sentenced to 3 years, Paul Jennings (5 years), both were also banned from taking up posts as company directors for 10 years, while to other senior company members, Mark Whittaker and Shaun Summers were also found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud, with both being found guilty and Whittaker receiving a 240 hours community service order and Summers sentencing was adjourned for 6 months.