Watchdog
revokes licence
of payday
lender

MCO Capital, which was using the online names Help Loan and Balance Loan when it was duped, failed to carry out adequate identity checks and lacked the skills and knowledge needed to run a consumer credit business, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) found.

Its failures made it vulnerable to fraudsters, who used the personal details of more than 7,000 people to successfully apply for loans worth millions of pounds, the trading watchdog said.

MCO Capital then caused “unnecessary distress and inconvenience” by writing to people to collect the debts, even though it knew they might not have actually borrowed the money, the OFT said.

The watchdog has imposed a £544,505 financial penalty on MCO Capital and revoked its consumer credit licence, which it needs in order to trade.

However, the firm has 28 days to consider whether to lodge an appeal and said it plans to continue trading, which it is entitled to do, while it decides what to do.

The lender, which now trades online under the names Speed Credit, Paycheck Credit and Pop Credit, said in a statement: “MCO Capital is disappointed at the decision of the Office of Fair Trading and is studying the adjudication that it takes very seriously.

“When we have had time to fully consider the decision of the OFT will we be in a position to decide our next steps, which could include lodging an appeal. MCO continues to trade as it is fully entitled to do so whilst a decision regarding a possible appeal is being made.”

Lenders must carry out appropriate identity checks under the Money Laundering Regulations, which are designed to stop lenders leaving themselves open to money laundering and terrorist financing.

The frauds took place in the summer and autumn of 2010 and people were chased for loans they may not have taken out well into 2011, the OFT said. The watchdog said MCO engaged in “unfair business practices” by asking for repayments from people whom it knew may not have taken out the loans. It said the lender had ignored the OFT requests to stop.

City of London Police detectives, who wrote to those whose details were compromised, also raised concerns in April last year that people had received demands for the repayment of loans they had not taken out. Detective Inspector Perry Stokes said then: “It is unacceptable that innocent people continue to be contacted by various credit collection companies asking them to pay back money they never borrowed.”