Previous Nisa member Dilip Patel, in the process of handing over his store to another retailer, needs to hear from anyone who has had dealings with Close Finance.

Simple story: “I was desperate last year and the banks weren’t lending so I took a two-year loan with Nationwide Finance and I gave my equipment (chillers, freezers) as guarantee.”

Broker Nationwide Finance arranged two two-year loans for Dilip of £25K and £15K with Close Finance. Dilip understood that he could settle at any time sooner without penalty. Wrong.

After a year he had paid back the principal sum, but when he asked if he could settle was told that he could, but the repayments would amount to another £30K - the equivalent of continuing payments for the full term. He says he cannot find out what the APR is and, as a limited company, signed personal guarantees for the loans.

Dilip is going to go to his MP and has a solicitor on the case. He also has one other retailer with a similar problem, but he needs more for group action. So if you have had any dealings that are similar, give him a call on 0795 1930659.

And I cannot let this go without referring you to a YouTube clip posted last September by a retailing couple. Their finance, with leasings arranged by Henry Howard with several finance companies, including PCF, required a final and unexpected payment of nearly £500 to transfer the ownership on refrigeration that cost over £10K. The clip shows some fairly brutal manhandling of the fridge out of the store by two guys with Donegal Investigations printed on their T-shirts acting on behalf of PCF.

Have a look at YouTube JohnJoseph565, video 0013.

As they say on some news reports: the following may upset viewers. If you are affected by this, ring the helpline Oh yeah, that’s me.

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