The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

[TonyS]

Re: The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

I work in the Head Office of Axcess so if you have any questions I'll try and help you out. Nearly 50% of HO staff being made redundant and 340+ stores closing (confirmed today by the new MD).

[tracksuitbarry]

Re: The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

Tony, are you able to confirm the level of "credit checking" that actually happened at Cheque Centre. We met RM from security once who told us there wasn't actually a credit check and it was an "everyone passes" system - this was when Authorisations were booted out of approving new loans. Any truth in that?

[Amethyst]

Re: The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

I work in the Head Office of Axcess so if you have any questions I'll try and help you out. Nearly 50% of HO staff being made redundant and 340+ stores closing (confirmed today by the new MD).

Thanks Tony, Sorry to have missed your post before. Presumably you're on the redundancy list Is Axcess retaining the head office buildings?

[TonyS]

Re: The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

Tony, are you able to confirm the level of "credit checking" that actually happened at Cheque Centre. We met RM from security once who told us there wasn't actually a credit check and it was an "everyone passes" system - this was when Authorisations were booted out of approving new loans. Any truth in that?

Spot on, nearly impossible to fail the check

[TonyS]

Re: The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

I'm actually staying, as far as I am aware we are staying in the same building.

[Amethyst]

Re: The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

Good news for you then xx

So what areas are Axcess going to be concentrating on because I doubt cheque cashing, currency and gold is a sustainable business plan?

( to be precise currently seems to be

Money For Mobiles
Foreign Currency
Cheque Cashing
Worldwide Money Transfers

)

[Karlhenk]

Re: The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

Good news for you then xx

So what areas are Axcess going to be concentrating on because I doubt cheque cashing, currency and gold is a sustainable business plan?

( to be precise currently seems to be

Money For Mobiles
Foreign Currency
Cheque Cashing
Worldwide Money Transfers

)

I work at store level. Willing to answer any questions..

Loans are not being reintroduced until at least 2015. The new company structure going forward is keeping stores open who do profits from non lending products.

[Lauranna]

Re: The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

I'm actually staying, as far as I am aware we are staying in the same building.

I doubt you will be for long if anyone comes across this. They will fire you for anything. Even if it is unjustified. I was fired for something petty. Something that other staff members get a slap on the wrist for. My assumption, I was the only member of staff on my area that was entitled to redundancy pay and that is the reason I was fired.

I can tell you that all Cash Generators and Cheque Centres except 95 are being closed down. 14 will remain in England. The rest will be in Scotland. Andy Deller made a very swift departure from the company before anyone knew what was happening. It was estimated that the company would lose £3 million per month with the withdrawal of the loan products. It was also said that this would go on for approx 4 months before the installment loan (6-12.months dependant on pay frequency) was reintroduced. The Loan Stores within Cash Generators are no longer anything to do with the Cheque Centre and it is rumoured that loans may be reintroduced in the middle of 2015 although there is no guarantee.

The reason we pulled the loans on April 1st was due to the FCA taking over and the company wanted to ensure that we were in compliance. The company had already taken steps to improve the way business was run and the loan products were taken away from our targets. They were no longer part of the bonus scheme and we reduced the amount we lent to people. Moving from 70% of a customers income down to 40% over the course of a few months. The credit checking system did work so not quite sure what Tony is talking about. Lots of people were rejected. The only thing that wasn't taken into account was outgoings. We input them on the system but they didn't seem to account for anything.

The company procedures improved 10 fold in the few months running up to the removal of the loan services. We no longer harrassed none payers. We weren't to ring them at all. Payment plans were more readily available. Customers were almost forced into reconsidering and we would make sure that they knew what they were getting into. A new complaints procedure was put into place. Leaflets were no longer to be handed out and there were no more sales calls.

Hundreds of people are being made redundant and the first stores will close from August 8th once the 45 day consolidation period is over. I personally am glad to be out of that company. I feel for the friends I made that have no longer got jobs and think the company handled this completely wrong as they told staff that jobs were safe enough. I am just suprised it isn't in the news yet. Cheque Centre had been in the press so many times for bad reasons I would have thought they would have been all over this...

[Karlhenk]

Re: The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

I doubt you will be for long if anyone comes across this. They will fire you for anything. Even if it is unjustified. I was fired for something petty. Something that other staff members get a slap on the wrist for. My assumption, I was the only member of staff on my area that was entitled to redundancy pay and that is the reason I was fired.

I can tell you that all Cash Generators and Cheque Centres except 95 are being closed down. 14 will remain in England. The rest will be in Scotland. Andy Deller made a very swift departure from the company before anyone knew what was happening. It was estimated that the company would lose £3 million per month with the withdrawal of the loan products. It was also said that this would go on for approx 4 months before the installment loan (6-12.months dependant on pay frequency) was reintroduced. The Loan Stores within Cash Generators are no longer anything to do with the Cheque Centre and it is rumoured that loans may be reintroduced in the middle of 2015 although there is no guarantee.

The reason we pulled the loans on April 1st was due to the FCA taking over and the company wanted to ensure that we were in compliance. The company had already taken steps to improve the way business was run and the loan products were taken away from our targets. They were no longer part of the bonus scheme and we reduced the amount we lent to people. Moving from 70% of a customers income down to 40% over the course of a few months. The credit checking system did work so not quite sure what Tony is talking about. Lots of people were rejected. The only thing that wasn't taken into account was outgoings. We input them on the system but they didn't seem to account for anything.

The company procedures improved 10 fold in the few months running up to the removal of the loan services. We no longer harrassed none payers. We weren't to ring them at all. Payment plans were more readily available. Customers were almost forced into reconsidering and we would make sure that they knew what they were getting into. A new complaints procedure was put into place. Leaflets were no longer to be handed out and there were no more sales calls.

Hundreds of people are being made redundant and the first stores will close from August 8th once the 45 day consolidation period is over. I personally am glad to be out of that company. I feel for the friends I made that have no longer got jobs and think the company handled this completely wrong as they told staff that jobs were safe enough. I am just suprised it isn't in the news yet. Cheque Centre had been in the press so many times for bad reasons I would have thought they would have been all over this...

i can fully vouch for the fact we were put on the straight and narrow - and we were getting 7/10 customers failing the credit check.

on the other hand, hearing your dismissal doesn not surprise me, after all the rubbish they've put us through regarding ending consultation early etc!

[Lauranna]

Re: The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

i can fully vouch for the fact we were put on the straight and narrow - and we were getting 7/10 customers failing the credit check.

on the other hand, hearing your dismissal doesn not surprise me, after all the rubbish they've put us through regarding ending consultation early etc!

They were never honest with us. We found out on March 31st at approx 5:15pm (15 minutes before we closed) that as of April 1st we would no longer be offering loans. My dismissal didn't suprise me either. I knew the second that I was invited to disciplinary that my employment would be terminated.

Luckily for me, ACAS have assured me I have an unfair dismissal claim and if I am successful they will owe me a minimum of 2 months wages and full redundancy pay due to the fact that I was not properly informed as to why I was being dismissed and was assured that I would receive a letter within 7 days and I had 7 days from then to appeal. 6 weeks later and I still hadn't received my letter so ACAS said that because they haven't given me the opportunity to appeal they had breached dismissal policies.
I just hope other people have been screwed over the same way I have been.

[Karlhenk]

Re: The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

They were never honest with us. We found out on March 31st at approx 5:15pm (15 minutes before we closed) that as of April 1st we would no longer be offering loans. My dismissal didn't suprise me either. I knew the second that I was invited to disciplinary that my employment would be terminated.

Luckily for me, ACAS have assured me I have an unfair dismissal claim and if I am successful they will owe me a minimum of 2 months wages and full redundancy pay due to the fact that I was not properly informed as to why I was being dismissed and was assured that I would receive a letter within 7 days and I had 7 days from then to appeal. 6 weeks later and I still hadn't received my letter so ACAS said that because they haven't given me the opportunity to appeal they had breached dismissal policies.
I just hope other people have been screwed over the same way I have been.

yeh, i remember the infamous 31st march email "you will not be open for trade tomorrow" even though the sign said "shut for training" :beagle:
I have a letter stating i can take CC to an ET, once HR (whoevers left) decide to get back to me.

good luck in the future!

[No2PDLs]

Re: The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

Firstly, my thoughts are with anyone who has been made unemployed. I mean that.

It is good to hear things were changing within Cheque Centre for the better, but unfortunately the dye was cast with the shocking exposee last August 2013 of a Regional Manager and others in The Mirror, it made Cheque Centre fair game. Following that, many shop workers approached the media and OFT, of which there was an active investigation.

MPs mentioned them in the House of Commons Hansard record.

Then of course, the Daily Mail undercover filming.

What I am trying to get at is that once mud is thrown - you either counter it in the public or press, and brass neck it, like Wonga - or your reputation is made. I think the FCA also looked for an easy win, Martin Wheatley's reputation with MPs and others is safe, and the media feel "important" as if he responded to them.

I think that CC did a good thing in getting out, but are people paying off their loans - is it possible from another pay day lenders as a source of payment? By being the first to exit, they could also save themselves.

Finally, for the employees, didn't you realise it was a bit of a house of cards built on Jobseeker's sign on sheets? I am sure you must have realised who you were lending to, how your income was made up etc.... I am not criticising you, just highlighting that you must have seen the customers not being able to afford it, and witnessed the media outcry. I am not suggesting it is your fault, or that you could change circumstances, but did you ever question management or its decision making? Andy Deller only last a few months, but the problems were before him too as he came after the August story?

[NesmithA]

Re: The Cheque Centre - Withdrawal of Payday Loans Business

Well, maybe this is bad news for a few people. Some, depend on payday loans whenever they have emergencies. It is good to know that some people are still there to help people in a difficult situation. This is why SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM are so good. You can get cash in just a few hours without any kind of credit check. This will save time and will be convenient on one's part. In addition to that, getting rid of payday loans would mean lots of people would end up with no way to get help once in a while. We just have to be very careful when it comes to signing up for loans. Let's make sure that we check how reliable these companies are so we won't get into any troubles.