Three North West debt management firms have gone into administration, leaving up to 2,500 clients, once confident their debts were being managed, in limbo.

Administrators at Duff & Phelps in Manchester have been appointed to: Gregson and Brooke Financial Services, which traded as Expert Money Solutions; One Tick, which traded as Debt Savers Direct and 1-Tick; and The Money Management Service.

All three firms were based in Bolton and linked by Gary Gregson who owned One Tick and was a director of the other two until August.

Shalles Onido is registered as the sole shareholder of Gregson and Brooke, and David Brennan owns The Money Management Services.

Their collapse follows the failure of Sale-based Smooth Financial last year and First Step Finance, in Stockport, and Bournes in Manchester earlier this year. Nearly 10,000 people who had debt management plans with these companies were affected.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which now regulates the sector, warned customers to stop making payments to the Bolton firms in September saying they were unable to pay creditors on their behalf.

It froze the firms’ bank accounts in late August and said it was working with them to return any payments made after August 29.

People with debt management plans pay a regular amount which is held in a client account and distributed to creditors by a debt management company in return for a fee.

Source: The Business Desk
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