Credit

These are the facts to the best of my knowledge.

Husband & wife team start a business selling used commercial vehicles.

After ~ 18 months the business is doing well and they follow their accountant's advice and become a limited company.

Several months later a credit company rep comes to see them and asks if they would like to be able to offer credit. They sign up with said company and are then capable of offering to sell vehicles on finance.

Everything goes along fine for another year or so, then they get a letter from the office of fair trading asking if they have a consumer credit licence.

They write back to say that they do not, and are invited to submit an application. (I think there was a fee of £1200.)

Weeks later they have heard nothing so they ring the office of fair trading to ask what is happening and are told they will receive a reply within a few days.

The following week the office of fair trading ring to say that the licence has been refused because of failure to declare a criminal conviction.

They explain that the conviction was a 20 month suspended sentence and because the 20 month period had passed, they thought that meant it was spent.

The office of fair trading conceded that the suspended sentence was not an insurmountable obstacle, but advised then that they were also guilty of offering credit without having a licence to do so, therefore, the refusal would stand.

They were told that there is an appeals process, and were advised to get professional help with the preparation of their appeal.

The time is limited, and as yet they have been unable to find a professional (or anyone) with experience in this particular field.

Any advice would be most welcome, especially if it did not involve the deactivating and then reactivating of a power source.