Credit Brokers Warned Over Unfair Business Practices

Credit brokers in the UK are being warned they could lose their licences unless they improve their methods of dealing with customers’ upfront fees.

Credit brokerage refers to the practice of introducing customers seeking credit or goods on hire to businesses that provide credit, or other credit brokers .

The warning from the Office of Fair trading (OFT) comes after the watchdog recently revoked the credit licences of two associated businesses, NIZ Financial (UK) Ltd and First Money Direct Ltd, for unfair business practices.

The OFT said it was concerned that NIZ Financial (UK) Ltd and/or its associates had debited the current debit or credit cards of consumers without their authority; taken upfront brokerage fees when no loan had been provided or it was later offered at a higher APR/lower amount; and not refunded brokerage fees when told to do so.

NIZ Financial had also used a trading name, Bentley Cooper, which did not appear on its licence, the OFT added.

Both NIZ Financial (UK) Ltd and First Money Direct Ltd were associates of Carter and Carter Financial (Management) Limited, theloansupermarket.co.uk Limited, Easysteploans (UK) Limited and TLG Loans Limited, which were shut down by the Insolvency Service last May.