Case Studies
Issue No. 19 - October/November 2004
Loanco
Due Credit
Suffered through bad times? Need credit and can't get it from mainstream lenders? Try…
This approach you WON'T hear from Loanco, whose self-appointed mission is overcoming credit problems. The finance broker, rapidly outgrowing its automotive beginnings, is remarkably low-key about its work.
Based in Royston Park, Loanco has four offices and operates with three consultants and an office manager. The firm specialises in obtaining finance for borrowers with bad credit histories, such as people discharged from bankruptcy.
Loanco was formed primarily to provide finance and insurance services to new and used motor vehicle dealerships. Subsequently it has expanded its lending to business, commercial, boat, home and personal loans.
Principals Rikki Loffler and Andrew Millchard, now in their mid-30s, met about six years ago and joined forces three years ago to set up their lending operation. Initially they operated from the premises of a car dealership. The business was to have been a specialist firm catering to the motor vehicle industry, but after first branching out into insurace, the partners found demand for their services was considerably wider.
They have quickly built up to a staff of 17, including three analysts, and Rikki Loffler credits good personnel choice and low staff turnover as a key business building ingredient: for instance, a senior analyst nicknamed 'The General', at 68 brings a great deal of experience to the firm.
"We do about 120 personal and car loans per month," Rikki says. "We are purely brokers, and deal with lenders on the borrower's behalf. We do about 30 home loans per month and that has been building up.
"We have international contacts. If we can't help in a particular situation, we probably know someone who can.
"Establishing ourselves meant developing a reputation for honest and integrity - dealing straight with the client. We had to do the deals where i...
