The Cash Shop was formed in late 2004 and they have branches in 14 locations at this time although two are owned by another firm. You can sell your used goods and they also offer such services as cheque cashing and pawnbroking. We will be looking here at their instalment loan product promoted on www.thecashshop.net. This goes by the name of YourLoan that allows you to borrow up to £500 over repayments of 1, 3 or 6 months. There is just one price breakdown. This covers an amount of £220.00 for 84 days that carries interest of £93.50. The headed APR for this example is 362.95%.

Any interested parties will have to apply directly by heading to one of their stores (these are all listed on their site). Should you do this then you will be asked to take with you bank statements and wageslips covering the last 3 months. Proof of address and an ID card must also be taken. When you initially reach www.thecashshop.net you will quickly spot the “Online Store” category on the menu bar. If you select this it actually redirects you over to their EBay shopping page. The Cash Shop is obviously doing well, since it is very expensive to run high street chains as they are.

They naturally have their work cut out if they are hoping to take the market share away from Cash Converters or Generator. Alike each of them, they have a similar buy back service in place. They have added site encryption, but they could really do with revamping the content. For instance, the terms and conditions page is empty and there was no listed Consumer Credit Licence. They provide a contact number that is for their Nottingham branch and so this appears to be their head office. Most of their branches close on a Sunday, but a few of them are open 7 days such as the Leicester and Stockport stores.

Cash Converters started out life in Australia in the year 1984. They have come a long way since this time and are today active in a wide range of countries with over 730 stores worldwide. They reference having around 220 stores in the UK with many of these being franchised. This is interestingly the same estimate quoted by their major local rival (Cash Generator). This Aussie company did arrive here in 1992 that was a few years before their competitor stepped in. The buying and selling of used goods has been their major focus over the years, although they have had to revamp due to the increasing competition online.

The Cash Converters loans are promoted on www.cashconverters.co.uk, but you must access them through a store only. To highlight the product available, you can receive sums between £10 and £750 over the month. No cost breakdown is provided for this monthly service, but more details follow for their instalment personal loans. The sums that can be applied for here range from £300 up to £2000 with the repayments been split over 6 or 7 months. Their calculator displays a £300 amount over the period of 6 months costing £321.60 that is much more expensive than what the leading online lenders are charging today. An update to the estimated pricing has been referenced below.

As advised at www.cashconverters.co.uk, You’ll need to take in 60 days of bank statements, your last two pay slips and two recent documents to confirm your identity. They only close on a Sunday. Memberships have been made with the CFA and the CCTA and there is even a BCCA member notice now printed on the site. Although the Cash Converters payday loan cost is not disclosed, their instalment product price is high. When selling items they do have a buy back facility in place that was discussed Further Here (32.5% was charged in this referenced post). There is of course no doubting their prominence, with no one else in this sector having the same worldwide presence.

We will be investigating the Cash Generator loans here today as headlined on www.cashgenerator.co.uk. This company was formed in 1994 and they are homed in Bolton although they are owned by the large American group known as Axcess Financial Services Inc. They have over 220 stores that were each originally designed as places to buy and sell used goods, although they have moved further into financial markets due to the struggles that they (and Cash Converters) have faced from EBay. There was a time when online Cash Generator loans would pass you on to The Loan Store (who have now rebranded to become Cheque Centre).

Axcess Financial owns them as well that explains this partnership. All applications must be processed though a local branch. They do provide information surrounding their products though at www.cashgenerator.co.uk that all lie within the CG Finance section. The short term loan is available from £50 to £500 or £1000 when returning. This is taken over the month with no price breakdowns being provided. However, £29.99 per £100 is what you would likely pay. This is what is charged by Cheque Centre and it is either them or the franchisee that stands in as the lender. Around 70% of all their stores are in fact franchised. Just to add that when I used their pawnbroker service, the charge was 32% (read more about This Here).

They also promote personal loans between 3 and 12 months, but they don’t say how much you can receive and no charge breakdown is presented. The franchisee covers this product. The documents that must be sent in depends on who issues the funds based on which branch you head to. Taking a passport, a utility bill and recent bank statements should be enough to meet their demands. They do reference CFA membership although it is Cheque Centre who has this. Although they haven’t adapted well online over the years, they are easy to find with locations found on most high streets (these stores are closed on a Sunday).

Cash and Cheque Express (often branded with &) is a high street chain owned by DTW Associates Ltd. DTW were previously introduced here for their logbook lending brand Auto Advance. The difference here is that the services available have to be received in a local store with there being 22 of these listed on their site. There are 30 noted on the Auto Advance website and so they may have opened some new stores recently. If you head into their logbook section you will be able to transfer over to www.autoadvance.co.uk. The other headed services include cash for scrap gold, pawnbroking, payday advances and so on.

No information is provided surrounding when this company was formed, but the web address of www.cashandchequeexpress.co.uk was devised in November 2005. The Cash and Cheque Express payday loans are available between £100 and £500. They do not note any prices and so this makes it a little difficult to judge how well they compare against their high street rivals. If you do wish to take a loan out you would have to head to a store and take your last bank statement, a payslip, photo ID and proof of your address. This is a relatively small chain compared to the big financial high street players such as the team at www.cashconverters.co.uk.

The addition of their logbook service should help to support their land-based operations. This brand was only set on the market back in 2012 though and so it won’t be easy for them to stand out in this competitive subprime sector. All of the store times are listed on www.cashandchequeexpress.co.uk. Just be aware that most of these shops are located down South. If we use the example of their Coventry branch, this is open from Monday to Saturday between 10.30am and 17.30pm. From studying other locations, these times do often change and so it would be worth checking their site before heading to a shop. Finally, they are CFA members.

H&T Pawnbrokers is headed as the largest pawnbroker in the UK. They do certainly have an major presence on the high street with over 190 stores in operation. This company (Harvey and Thompson) has a historic past dating back to the year 1897. We are introducing the web address here of www.handtpawnbrokers.co.uk here, but not too long ago they did have a dedicated H&T payday loans site setup at www.handtpaydayloans.co.uk. This was only created in 2012, but they have decided to drop this product. Before this time they had a partnership with the Instant Loans Direct broker, but they went direct for a short time.

They now just have a personal loans product that must be completed in branch. They offer here cash sums of £50 to £1000 and grant flexible terms stretching between 1 and 24 months. Based on their calculator, £100 over just the single month would cost £28.40. Over extended terms, £300 for 3 months would be £88.68 and this same amount over 6 months would be £127.98. The real value is in these instalment terms. They are just a little more expensive than Oakam (£85) who provide the top online rate for this 3 pay period, but the 6 month option actually beats Oakam’s £150.

Once you have studied www.handtpawnbrokers.co.uk you will be advised to head to a local branch. A new bank statement, payslip, photo ID, proof of address, a debit card and 2 contact numbers must be presented to them. They open from 9am to 5.30pm throughout Monday to Saturday. Within their association memberships page they list being members of the CCTA and the NPA. Various other services are offered including foreign exchange, gold buying, pawnbroking etc. Having to venture on to the high street is not ideal, but they do have as much coverage as anyone and their excellent pricing is a major incentive to choose them.

The first Albemarle Bond branch was opened in Bristol back in 1983 and they have grown considerably over the years to reach over 140 stores. Albemarle & Bond Holdings Plc is the larger group that also owns the Herbert Brown brand and also Cash Window that they purchased as EPDL for £1.2 million. The web presence for the brand in question arrived in early 2002 through the creation of www.albemarlebond.co.uk. The content here is heavily focussed on pawnbroking and further markets such as cheque cashing and gold buying. They do have a loans section, but there has been recent changes with this product type.

On a previous visit they had a link up for EPDL where they quickly referred their loans. Now they have took ownership and rebranded to Cash Window you would expect them to still provide a link to them, but they don’t! The Cash Window closed notice has been up for a while, but it states that they are revamping and so this doesn’t appear to be a permanent closure. The Albemarle Bond loans are available between £100 and £1000 over terms of 12 to 18 months (you can repay early). These are briefly introduced on www.albemarlebond.co.uk, but you must head to a branch for completion.

No detailed charge breakdowns are provided by this CCTA member. What they require to be taken to them is your most recent bank statement, a new wageslip, photo ID and proof of address. If this is completed then they pay cash in your hand there and then. The branches I checked were open from Monday to Saturday. The times are set at 9am until 5pm although they open a little later at 9.45am on a Tuesday for some reason. Another thing to add is that they do have a logbook loans section. They are introducing for Mobile Money here where they directly send the application to.

Ramsdens for Cash is one of the UK’s leading pawnbrokers found online at www.ramsdensforcash.co.uk. This is of course a popular name on the high street and in particular with sporting fans with them being the kit sponsor of Middlesbrough football club. Ramsdens Financial Ltd has enjoyed rapid expansion with this initial small family business moving from annual profits of £200,000 up to over £7 million in just several years. Their first store was opened in 1987 and they now have 129 of these. This business is originally rooted to back in the 1950′s to Herbert Smith (father of the current chairman Stewart Smith).

That name isn’t to be confused with Herbert Brown that is a part of their major rival Albemarle & Bond Holdings Plc. The brand in question is well known for pawnbroking and gold buying, but the focus today stems around their loans. Unfortunately, the information surrounding their financial coverage is rather limited. Once the www.ramsdensforcash.co.uk website has been reached the products of interests to us are found in the “Cash It” section. Here they promote their branch products for buy back on electrical goods, a pawnbroking loan and a logbook loan. I am aware that they use Hermes Property Services Ltd for this logbook product.

There is no actual Ramsdens payday loans offering, but they have recently begun promoting Provident’s Satsuma Loans. They simply earn commissions on each referral sent through there. Various services are covered by this company. It just appears that financial is not really their core and so this is why they choose to refer. It is of course important to cover the major high street chains and this is certainly one of the key names. It has been a little surprising that they haven’t focussed on a payday product, since their major rival Albemarle has done this through Cash Window that they purchased for £1.2 million (as EPDL).

The Money Shop is the market leading high street payday lender that dwarfs most of their rivals with over 550 stores stretching the UK. The Money Shop payday loans are served through the address of both www.moneyshop.tv and www.moneyshoppaydayloans.co.uk. We have referenced the initial one that is their central website. This is also the one that they of course promote on the TV with the dog and cashback deal being shown in their latest campaign. Their initial store was opened in Nottingham back in 1996. DFC Global Corp went on to acquire them in 1999 when they had 11 stores behind them at the time.

DFC would go on to later acquire Payday Express and PaydayUK. These sister-brands are today used to issue their online loans. They only lend directly on the high street. There are two headed charges. The online charge is £29.99 per £100 and the rate is slightly cheaper for their cheque-based loan at £29.85. The Express rate is 29% and PDUK is 29.95% (just 24.95% with their £5 cashback). That cashback is also available here that would cut down the rates to 24.99% or 24.85% (cheque). The difference with this incentive is that it is for new customers only, whilst PDBUK rewards all customers.

Once a secure application has been made at www.moneyshop.tv you will redirected to one of the two partners whereby future account servicing will be provided over that way. The online cash sum is maxed at £500, whilst those visiting a store may access £1000. CFA membership has been acquired here. Should you wish to receive a branch loan then they usually ask for identification to be taken in as well as a wageslip. I checked out The Money Shop Manchester store and the opening times for it was from Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm and Saturday was 9am to 5.30pm (Sunday was closed).

Update: Online loans are no longer available here.

This post was initially going to be made for The Loan Store who have been providing payday loans since 2003. However in late 2013 there was a branding change that saw them become the Cheque Centre with all visitors now being redirected on to www.chequecentre.co.uk. The Loan Store had previously been the online supplier for the Cash Generator Loans and also for this company in question. CC provided their own money on the high street, but their web leads were passed on to TLS. The reason for this was that all of these companies are owned by the same larger group (Axcess Financial Services Inc).

Cash Generator has stopped referring online short term loans and they now just ask people to come in store where they are issued by this company (as Cheque Centres Ltd) or by the franchisee. The Cheque Centre was originally formed in 1996 and they have over 200 stores. You can head into one of their many branches or you can instead apply directly at www.chequecentre.co.uk that does house secure logins. This CFA member offers amounts for new applicants from £50 to £500 with £1000 being available to returning client only. The interest is fixed at £29.99 per £100 and this is a full cost that includes a faster payment.

These monthly loans are processed from Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 6pm and also on each Saturday from 9am to 5.30pm. From checking through their site info, it does appear that documentation may likely be required and it may take 30 or so minutes for approvals to be made within their operational hours. On this website, there is a wide range of further products displayed that includes options to sell used gold and mobile phones (these are dealt with in branches only). Just to add that there isn’t much of a difference in pricing between this high street chain and the market leader (The Money Shop).