Local Yorkshire-based lender, The One Stop Money Shop, is excited to be approaching its 25th anniversary in the consumer credit space.
The business was founded in 2002 and originally acted as a credit broker before becoming a direct lender in 2005 and has served thousands of customers across the UK looking for a short term injection of cash.
Acting as an alternative to high cost lending products, borrowers can borrow between £400 to £2500 over a 6-24 month period, with the option for early repayment.
Originally based in Wakefield, the team of 10 recently expanded to a second office location in Harrogate, with the addition of family members working in customer service and operations.
A spokesperson from The One Stop Money Shop commented: “We are excited and amazed to be reaching our 25th year in business. From humble beginnings, our business has always been centred around transparency and fairness for customers.”
“Our commitment to responsible lending was confirmed during the FCA’s huge review of the industry in 2015. During this review, the majority of the lenders in our industry were faced with heavy compensation bills and subsequently closed down – and we were one of the few lenders who were not affected.”
When asked how the industry has changed in the last 25 years, they commented:
“The industry has become a lot more strict in terms of compliance and protecting consumers, which is very important. When we started, the industry was self-regulated which encouraged other competitors to charge high rates and use aggressive collection methods.”
“The FCA’s involvement has made the industry more trusted and safer for consumers. The typical product in the sub-prime lending space has also progressed from being around 14-28 days to being repaid over several instalments, which is essential for borrowers to have more breathing space.”
“The biggest change over our 25 years has been the role of digitalisation. Originally a portion of our applications were taken over the phone and even through direct mail and manually entered, but now 100% of applications are online – and we can use automated checking through credit scoring, decision-making and open banking to provide faster and more accurate underwriting and deliver funds faster than before.”
“Money shops in the form of bricks and mortar were also popular, but have significantly reduced in recent years.”
When asking about the future of the consumer lending space, they said:
“Naturally, the industry will move forward with AI and this may help us with our decision making and underwriting processes – and consumers might be able to use AI to find better products and be more informed when selecting lenders, making payments and saving money.”
