Cattles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cattles plc (LSE: CTT) is a British consumer finance company based in Batley, West Yorkshire. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Cattles specialises in Home Collected Credit. It has over 300 offices across the United Kingdom. In the year ended 31 December 2004 it made profits of £138.0 million before tax and £95.5 million after tax on turnover of £734.7 million.
Cattles operate under many other company names including Welcome Financial Services, Welcome Car Finance and Shopacheck.
These companies offer loans to "sub-prime" customers who are often refused credit by more mainstream lenders such as high-street banks. Since such customers are considered to be more risky, the interest rates charged tend to be significantly higher than most.
Head offices are based in Hull and in Ruddington, Nottinghamshire.
[edit] Controversy Over Home Collected Credit
In June 2004, the National Consumer Council referred a Super-Complaint regarding the Home Collected Credit industry to the Office of Fair Trading. The Office of Fair Trading published a consultative paper which raised concerns about concentration of market share between the four largest providers, including Cattles. It also mentioned a number of business practices and customer characteristics which could hinder market competitiveness.
[edit] External links
Many consumer complaints about this business can read on consumer forum:
