The Co-operative Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank based in Manchester, England. Established as a bank for co-operators and co-operatives following the principles of the Rochdale Pioneers, the business evolved in the 20th century into a mid-sized British high street bank, operating throughout the UK mainland. Transactions took place at cash desks in co-op stores until the 1960s, when the bank set up a small network of branches that grew from 6 to a high of 160. Branches for residents of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands were closed in the 2010s during a significant rescaling exercise. As of 2023 it has 50 branches in the UK.
A payday loan is a short-term unsecured loan, often characterized by high interest rates. These loans are typically designed to cover immediate financial needs and are intended to be repaid on the borrower's next payday.
A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of collection, and generally operates outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, aggressive, and extortionate actions when seeking to enforce the satisfaction of the debt. As a consistent or repeated illegal business operation or "racket", loansharking is generally associated with organized crime and certain criminal organizations.
Peer-to-peer lending, also abbreviated as P2P lending, is the practice of lending money to individuals or businesses through online services that match lenders with borrowers. Peer-to-peer lending companies often offer their services online, and attempt to operate with lower overhead and provide their services more cheaply than traditional financial institutions. As a result, lenders can earn higher returns compared to savings and investment products offered by banks, while borrowers can borrow money at lower interest rates, even after the P2P lending company has taken a fee for providing the match-making platform and credit checking the borrower. There is the risk of the borrower defaulting on the loans taken out from peer-lending websites.
Moneytree, Inc. is a retail financial services provider headquartered in Tukwila, Washington, with branches in Washington, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and British Columbia. Moneytree offers payday loans, installment loans, prepaid debit cards, money orders, bill payment, Western Union transfers, auto equity and title loans. In 2013, Moneytree won "Best Place to Work in Colorado" in the small business category.
Andrew Housser is an entrepreneur who co-founded Freedom Financial Network, and who co-founded Bills.com.
A payday loan is a small, short-term unsecured loan, "regardless of whether repayment of loans is linked to a borrower's payday." The loans are also sometimes referred to as "cash advances," though that term can also refer to cash provided against a prearranged line of credit such as a credit card. Payday advance loans rely on the consumer having previous payroll and employment records. Legislation regarding payday loans varies widely between different countries and, within the United States, between different states.
Payday loans in the United Kingdom are typically small value and for short periods. Payday loans are often used as a term by members of the public generically to refer to all forms of High-cost Short-term credit (HCSTC) including instalment loans, e.g. 3-9 month products, rather than just loans provided until the next pay day.
William Allan Jones Jr. is an American businessman from Cleveland, Tennessee. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of Check Into Cash, Creditcorp, Jones Management Services and the Community Financial Services Association, and several other local lending agencies. He has been called the "father of the payday loan industry" for founding and building the first major payday loan chain.
Wonga.com, also known as Wonga, was a British payday loan firm that was founded in 2006. The company focused on offering short-term, high-cost loans to customers via online applications, and began processing its first loans in 2007. The firm operated across several countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Poland and South Africa; it also operated in Canada until 2016, and in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands through the German payments business, BillPay, between 2013 and 2017.
Wise PLC, previously known as TransferWise, is a financial technology company focused on global money transfers. Headquartered in London, it was founded by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus in January 2011. As of 2023, it offers three main products: Wise Account, Wise Business, and Wise Platform.
The Sunday Times Tech Track 100 is an annual league table published in association with The Sunday Times newspaper in the UK. It ranks Britain’s 100 private technology (TMT) companies with the fastest-growing sales over their last three years. It is published in The Sunday Times each September, with an awards event typically held in November, and networking dinners for alumni companies throughout the year. The league table is researched and produced by Fast Track, an Oxford-based research and networking events business.
LendUp was an American online direct lender. It offered payday loans, installment loans, and credit cards to consumers with low credit scores using publicly available data to assess creditworthiness. The company referred to its customers as “the emerging middle class.” LendUp also issued credit cards in partnership with Tom Steyer's Beneficial State Bank.
Niall Fraser Wass is the senior vice president of Uber's Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific regions. He is also a director of Uber B.V., Uber's international presence in the Netherlands, and the former Chief Executive of the British payday loan company Wonga.com. Before Wonga, Wass was chief commercial officer at Betfair. Wass has an MBA from INSEAD.
Check Into Cash is a financial services retailer with more than 1,100 stores in 30 states. The company was founded in 1993 by W. Allan Jones in Cleveland, Tennessee, where the headquarters are located today.
StreetShares, Inc. is a financial technology company and small business funding marketplace based outside of Washington, D.C.
London Plus Credit Union Limited is a not-for-profit member-owned financial co-operative, based in Fulham and operating in the City of Westminster and west London boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, Wandsworth and Hounslow. Wandsworth Plus Credit Union is a trading name of London Plus Credit Union working in partnership with Wandsworth Council in south-west London.
money.co.uk is a UK-based price comparison website launched in 2008. It compares financial products including credit cards, bank savings, and mortgages. The company is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority registered under Dot Zinc Ltd. In 2015 it was ranked as having the second fastest growing profits of the top 100 private companies in Britain by The Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 league table.
Western Circle is a British payday loan company offering "short-term, high-cost credit". The interest charged by the lender is 277.40% pa. The interest is non-compound, as dictated by the FCA. The company declare an APR of 1116% but also claim that the APR measurement is irrelevant for non-compound loans. Currently, the firm operates in the UK market only. The company claims to be technology oriented, and develops its own decision making algorithms.
Tide is a UK financial technology company providing mobile-first banking services for small and medium-sized enterprises. It enables businesses to set up a current account and get instant access to various financial services.
