Payday loan firm Sunny has become the sector’s latest casualty as the coronavirus dealt a final blow to the already struggling company.
The UK branch of Elevate Credit, which trades as Sunny, collapsed on Monday saying it had asked administrators at KPMG to step in.
The company’s US owners had previously hit out at UK authorities, saying their approach to the sector is unclear.
“Regulators in the UK were unable to provide clarity that would allow Sunny to continue and sadly, the consumers’ choice for the most safe and reliable short-term credit option in the UK has ceased operations,” said chief executive Jason Harvison.
“I would like to give my sincere thanks to all of our UK employees and the thousands of Sunny customers who trusted us over the years.”
Elevate said the Covid-19 pandemic had “further complicated the environment”.
Sunny had previously been known as 1 Month Loan and Quid. It has stopped offering new loans, but borrowers should keep paying their debt in the usual way, Sunny said in a statement on its website.
Sunny is the latest in a long list of casualties from the controversial payday lender sector.
Critics have long accused the lenders of taking sky-high fees from vulnerable customers. Wonga became the most high-profile when it called in administrators in 2018.
Since Wonga collapsed, it has been joined by several others, including WageDay Advance, Peachy, PiggyBank, Juo Loans and QuickQuid.
