Tweet
The OFT is warning credit brokers to improve the way they deal with customers' upfront fees or risk losing their licences.
The warning follows OFT action to revoke the credit licences of two associated businesses NIZ Financial (UK) Ltd and First Money Direct Ltd after uncovering unfair business practices.
This followed OFT concerns 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 - often after claiming that loan applications had been 'pre-approved' or 'approved in principle' - when no loan was provided or it was later offered at a higher APR/lower amount, and
- not refunded brokerage fees when requested to do so.
NIZ Financial had also used a trading name, Bentley Cooper, which was not on its licence.
The OFT's investigation also showed that......Read more here from the OFT Site