£4m profit for claims firm linked to banned Yes Loans

PROFIT has rocketed at the Payment Protection Insurance claims company set up by the family behind rogue debt brokerage firm Yes Loans.

Yes Loans – which was founded by Keith Chorlton and run by his sons Simon, James and Lance – was stripped of its operating licence in 2012.

An Office of Fair Trading investigation had found evidence of ‘deceitful and oppressive business practices’ after fees were taken from customers without their knowledge.

PPI claims firm We Fight Any Claim is run by Simon Chorlton and owned by Keith’s widow, Joy. Based in Cwmbran, South Wales, it employs 600 full-time staff.

Accounts for the year ending October 31, 2014, show sales jumped from £10.5million to £17.4million while losses of £175,000 last year were turned into a £4 million profit.

The flow of customers seeking PPI refunds was ‘as strong as ever’ according to communications director Simon Evans. He said the firm won its customers payments of £7.5million in July. He added: ‘People are still there to be convinced they had PPI in the first place. People who had their claims rejected are now being paid.’

Evans said the company does not cold-call potential customers, but contacts only those who have ‘opted in to receive a call’.

Though barred from acting as a director for a decade in 2000, Keith Chorlton was granted dispensation to become a director at Yes Loans in 2008. The family have pocketed millions of pounds in dividends.

Yes Loans, which recorded a £2million profit due to investment income, paid a £5million dividend to its parent Yes Money, owned by the brothers, but Evans said none of that was paid to its owners.