Complaint Review: Meade plc - Internet

Meade Investments used to be called Heathmill Village and they changed the name to try and hide the bad publicity about the payday loan business which they ran from Northway House.

There were 5 campaigns. Route 66 Funding/BIG/ Cash Today/ Interim Cash/ GFSIL, but they were all part of the Heathmill group of companies run by Aaron Gershfield, Lorraine Coombes, Marc Surrey, Darren Webb, and Dan Craddock out of Northway House in London, England. For a $200 loan, you would by default, pay only a $80 "processing fee" every two weeks forever . . . UNLESS you called and authorised them to take the full $280 back on your first payday after taking out the loan. Of course, even if you DID call, the $80 would come out anyway.

None of the "processing fees" went towards the repayment of the loan principal so many customers paid several $80 fees, sometimes totalling thousands of dollars, but still maintained the initial $200 loan balance so the "processing fees" would build up forever. And THAT is how they made money. Fortunately, the entire lending operation was shut down after an FTC lawsuit last year after Gershfield was forced to pay a $1m fine for violating lending laws. You can read all about it on the FTC's website. If you pull the actual lawsuit and filings from the Nevada court (available online), you will see just how calculated this enterprise was. Everything was geared around making money and then not paying any tax on that money. At the time, there was a parallel criminal investigation conducted by the FBI but that was suspended pending the outcome of the civil suit with the FTC. Now that has been settled, the criminal probe will have resumed.

They are now using the untaxed, hidden, income generated from the payday loan business to run new businesses in the UK under the names of Eyecare International and Bodycare International. These are mobile testing trailers which go around local businesses and perform health checks on staff, for a fee. Look out for these ventures if they ever come on the USA. They are not businesses I would personally deal with because I know the type of tactics these people use to collect money "owed" to them.

If this is true, then I couldnt be happier. Actually, elated is a
better term! And that elation would be shared by the hundreds, if
not thousands, of people whose lives have been permanently scarred
by this evil and greedy man and his vicious business ways. 

Though I have moved on and now work for a national food company, when I
was there, I worked on an idea for a coffee shop which though
built, sat empty for months while other businesses came and went. 
And I didnt even come in to do that type of work, but then you did
as you were told in that place regardless of what your skill set
was. I remember others who were in the same boat as me, seduced by
all the talk of bigger, brighter things, only to later learn about
the true income streams that generated this businesss growth
(illegal money lending, porn films, debt collection, and other
nefarious activities were rife in this organisation).

I dont really know what happened to these people after I left, but Id
like to think they all found proper, fulfilling jobs, working with
decent people in honest industries. I couldnt be happier to be
work in a loyal, supportive environment, which couldnt be further
from the chaotic, frenzied, insanity that was Meade Investments.