Press release from OFFICE OF FAIR TRADING
Some of you might like to discuss the implications of the extraordinay power these people seem to have.
9 January 2006
OFT REFUSES CREDIT LICENCE FOR READING BASED MOTOR COMPANY
A motor company based in Reading has had its application for a
consumer credit licence refused by the OFT.
A director of Impulse Motor Company Ltd in Woodley, Reading, was
convicted of kidnapping and causing grievous bodily harm on 14
November 2001. As a result of this, the adjudicator decided that the
applicant was not fit to hold a consumer credit licence and
accordingly the application was refused.
In considering fitness, the OFT takes into account a number of
factors carried out by the business or anyone involved in running the
business including:
* any offence or conviction of violence or dishonesty
* failure to comply with the provisions of the Consumer Credit Act or
other consumer protection legislation
* consumer complaints
* evidence of unfair business practices
* evidence of discrimination on grounds of sex, colour, race or
ethnic/national origin.
Christine Wade, Director of Consumer Regulation Enforcement, said:
'Convictions of this nature raise serious concerns about the fitness
of a person to hold a consumer credit licence and we will not
hesitate to take similar action where doubts exist as to fitness.'
NOTES
1. The Consumer Credit Act 1974 requires most businesses that offer
goods or services on credit or lend money or are involved in
activities relating to credit or hire to be licensed by the OFT.
2. The OFT can refuse or revoke a licence if it decides that a trader
is not fit to hold one.
3. It should be noted that proceedings by the OFT under the Consumer
Credit Act are not the same as those of a court and the adjudicator's
findings under the Act are not the same as convictions by a court.
Therefore, where the adjudicator finds that an offence has been
committed or a provision of the law has been contravened, it does not
mean that the person concerned has been convicted under court
proceedings of that offence or of that contravention.
4. Adjudicators issue and determine licensing Notices under the
Consumer Credit Act. They do so on behalf of the OFT, but make
individual and independent decisions on fitness based upon the
contentions in a Notice, the evidence attached to a Notice and the
representations of those to whom the Notices are addressed.
Representations may be made in writing and at an oral hearing.
5. An adverse determination (a refusal to grant a licence or the
revocation of an existing licence) can be appealed to the Secretary
of State for Trade and Industry. The period for appeal has now
lapsed.
6. The Consumer Credit Public Register is maintained by the OFT. The
register documents traders that hold a licence and any action taken
against them. It also details traders that have applied for a
licence. Enquiries can be made to the Consumer Credit Licensing
Bureau on 020 7211 8608.
7. The determination to refuse application number 566809 was
published on 22 November 2005. The licence applicant was Impulse
Motor Company Ltd., 727 London Road, Woodley, reading. RG6 1BE
MEDIA enquiries: 020 7211+
Corinne Gladstone 8899
Julia Smith 8898
Roger Hislop 8133
Kate Wilcox 8901
Mark Kram 8900
Mike Ricketts 8904
press@oft.gov.uk
Out of hours: mobile: 07774 134814
messages: 020 7211 8961
Copies of press notices: Ext. 8993
www.oft.gov.uk
PUBLIC enquiries: 0845 7224499
enquiries@oft.gov.uk
OFT reports and consumer information leaflets are available free
from:
OFT, PO Box 366, Hayes UB3 1XB 0800 389 3158 oft@ecgroup.uk.com
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thats basically always been the case with a credit licence as anybody can apply for one,the thing is once armed with a credit licence you could knock on someones door and offer them a tea towel for £2 interest free and come back the following week and as they are now a customer of yours with a credit agreement you can now offer them a cash loan at your chosen interest rate,if they dont pay and you are that way inclined you may very quickly turn to violence, that is why the licence was tightened up therefore you have to fill in all relevant sections of the credit licence hold your breath and hope they give one to you.
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I'm sure there are some hard luck cases on the margins of creidit licence refusals, but do we want kidnappers acting as moneylenders?
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A kidnapper can be someone who takes a criminal to the nearest police station these days though. We see 'daily' stories of injustics against decent people who have to break the law in order to uphold it (just as the Police do).
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One would want to know whether the offence was committed in the course of business (so to speak) or was unconnected. Ishok Leyland suggests this kind of prosecution can be brought against a respectable citizen on occasion, and the media seem to bear this out. However such cases are quite rare.
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Sources of credit are more than numerous and second hand car dealers have a poor reputation at the best of times. I have no doubt the decision of the OFT was correct.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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agree with espada.
the oft has taken the right decision at the right time.
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Sorry HJ, on the face of it, I'm with the OFT on this one.
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Not to forget the GBH?!
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So let me get this straight. The man kidnapped someone and stoved their head in (or something similar) and this OFT have refused to grant him a licence to lend money to people?
I've said it out loud and I still can't see what the problem is.
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Quote;
'The man kidnapped someone and stoved their head in (or something similar)'
A very good reason not to default on the HP re-payments
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Good point - I thought all lenders did this to people who didn't pay up ;-)
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Having posted earlier I thought I'd see if anybody else could see the oddity of denying a convict a CC license, but still no answers. I suspect HJ knows more about this case than is disclosed in the OFT press release. But on the face of it I still think there's nothing extraordinary about a licensing system with a right of appeal and the further safeguard of judicial review.
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The OFT has very wide powers and does tend to act as judge and jury, and not always consistently with established interpretations of regualtions, in its adopted role as a branch of the nanny state. A skim of its press releases reveals IMO a very politically motivated agenda, with lots of grandstanding on 'consumer' issues going well beyond the simple reporting of what it has done
That said, they presumably make the occasional good decision of which HJ's story might be an example - or not.
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What got to me was this:-
* evidence of discrimination on grounds of sex, colour, race or
ethnic/national origin.
Correct me if I'm wrong but on "evidence" of this, a car dealer can be deprived of his consumer credit licence so cannot then sell insurance or warranties.
HJ
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It wouldn't in itself prevent selling insurance or warranties but loss of CCL would be a pretty serious problem I should think.
Insurance regulation since 14 Jan 2005 (extended warranties excepted) is considerably more onerous than credit brokerage.
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Err Yes that right. If he refuses to offer warranties or credit to certain ethnicities but will to others..
If thats based on ethnicity only then that seems a good enough reason to take away a license to me.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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What got to me was this:- * evidence of discrimination on grounds of sex, colour, race or ethnic/national origin. Correct me if I'm wrong but on "evidence" of this, a car dealer can be deprived of his consumer credit licence so cannot then sell insurance or warranties. HJ
But if potential car dealer is shown to be sexist or racist, they may well penalise those groups of people with e.g. higher interest rates, not offering the same deal, discounts, same period of warranty and so on. Wouldn't they?
I bet there's plenty of dealers who regard women as an easy target and i remember that there was a piece in the news that women tend to get poorer deals than men when buying a car (although that might have been the BBC and based on a sample of the reporter and 5 mates...). You'll have a better insight into this than most of us HJ, do women get treated the same as men in the showroom in your opinion?
If a dealer can't treat all customers the same, and penalise certain groups because of their gender or the colour of the skin or whatever, why should they be licenced to do so?
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Fair enough, but I wouldn't want the OFT as judge and jury if I was in the dock with my livelihood at stake.
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Thanks, Manatee. That's what I was getting at.
HJ
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Fair enough, but I wouldn't want the OFT as judge and jury if I was in the dock with my livelihood at stake.
I suspect (but don't know) that they would have to rely on some pretty conclusive evidence that dealer does have a problem with certain groups of people; in the OP, with the trader having a conviction for kidnapping is fairly open and shut, but quite how you demonstrate that someone is sexist / racist to the same level of certainty I don't know. I can think of a couple of examples, but it's late.
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Its near impossible to prove I suspect.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I think that in this case the OFT has made the right decision.
The person involved has clearly stepped on the wrong side of the law and hence can't be trusted not to do it again. We'd all be up in arms if he was granted the license, had a genuine hard luck defaulter and then sent the boys around to "sort it out" in front of his whole family.
As far as the provisions of race/gender etc, yes I agree again with the OFT guidelines. We all get annoyed if we find out that we're paying a higher mortgage rate for no good reason than the next customer of the same bank, often because some customers developed better relationships with the branch managers etc. A few years ago, one major bank had to pay out on this very issue after it came on the wrong side of the Ombudsman's decision. I think that was also the right decision, and no race or gender issues were at stake.
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