| Industry | Consumer finance |
|---|---|
| Fate | Acquired by First Union |
| Founded | 1967 |
| Founder(s) | Alan Turtletaub |
| Defunct | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Union, New Jersey |
| Key people | Marc Turtletaub |
The Money Store was a consumer finance company that was based in Union, New Jersey, but with most of its corporate employees in Sacramento, California. It specialized in sub-prime home equity loans, and also was a large Small Business Administration lender. First Union Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., paid $2.1 billion for the lender in June 1998. First Union closed the company two years later, at a loss of $1.7 billion, as a result of a shakeout in the sub-prime market. However, the student loan division, Educaid, and the SBA loan division were retained by First Union.[1]
Alan Turtletaub founded The Money Store in 1967. He was succeeded as president by his son, Marc Turtletaub. In 1991, the company went public, and in 1997 was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Baseball Hall of Famer Phil Rizzuto (with his "holy cow" ad) was a longtime advertising pitchman for the company. He was then followed by Jim Palmer, another Hall of Famer.[2]
In 2006, the Money Store name was purchased from Wachovia Corp. (formerly First Union) by a mortgage lender based in Florham Park, NJ, but the current company is not related to the former company.[3] A payday loan company called 877PayDayNow.com also seems to be using the name.