Money Mart Financial Services, formerly Dollar Financial Group, is a financial services company with over 600 locations in Canada and the U.S. The company offers a range of financial services, including

installment loan An installment loan is a type of agreement or contract involving a loan that is repaid over time with a set number of scheduled payments; normally at least two payments are made towards the loan. The term of loan may be as little as a few months and ...

, cash advance/

payday loan A payday loan (also called a payday advance, salary loan, payroll loan, small dollar loan, short term, or cash advance loan) is a short-term unsecured loan, often characterized by high interest rates. The term "payday" in payday loan refers to ...

, check cashing, prepaid card, and money transfer services. It focuses on the

underbanked The underbanked is a characteristic describing people or organizations who do not (or volunteer to not) have sufficient access to mainstream financial services and products typically offered by retail banks and thus often deprived of banking servic ...

and subprime customer segments. Prior to 2018, the name 'Money Mart' was associated only with the 38-year-old Canadian unit DFG acquired in November 1996. Money Mart Financial Services operates under a number of retail brands. In Canada, the company has Money Mart and Insta-Chèques stores. In the U.S. it has Money Mart and The Check Cashing Store locations. Some services are also offered online via the company’s consumer websites.

History

logo still used at many locations Founded in 1979 as Monetary Management Corporation, the company changed its name to Dollar Financial Group in 1990. In 1996, it purchased Money Mart, which was founded as an entrepreneurial venture in 1982 in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Alberta. Money Mart Financial Services was purchased by a private equity fund manager in 2014, which took the company private.

Associations

Money Mart is a member of the

Community Financial Services Association of America The Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA) is a trade association in the United States representing the payday lending industry. Controversy The payday lending industry has been the source of ongoing controversy due to its lo ...

(CFSA). National Money Mart, the company's Canadian subsidiary, is a member of the Canadian Consumer Finance Association (CCFA), and is accredited by the

Better Business Bureau Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a private, 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization founded in 1912. BBB's self-described mission is to focus on advancing marketplace trust, consisting of 97 independently incorporated local BBB organizations in the Unite ...

Legal Action

On Dec. 23, 2003, a $515 million Ontario class action lawsuit was started against Money Mart by Margaret Smith of

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southe ...

. The action alleges that Dollar Financial and Money Mart caused the plaintiffs to pay interest at a criminal rate contrary to section 347 of the

Criminal Code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that might ...

. The lawsuit was settled on June 5, 2009, with no admission of wrongdoing from Money Mart. Money Mart agreed to pay approximately $120 million in cash, legal fees, debt releases and "transferable transaction credits".

References

{{reflist Financial services companies of Canada

History

Associations

Legal Action

See also

References