About Ramsdens

Brief History of Ramsdens

Ramsdens Financial Ltd is a privately owned business which was founded in Middlesbrough in the 1950's by Herbert Smith, father of the current Chairman and Managing Director, Stewart Smith.

The business (known then as H. Smith), began its journey as a small check trading business providing “Shopping Checks” to its customers enabling them to purchase goods and services from an agreed range of retailers. The customers paid for this credit token in weekly instalments to the company agent who called at their home each week. The charge for this was modest as the company agreed a discount and monthly settlement terms with the retailer for the “introduction” of the customer. This basic method of trading is still in similar use today, albeit it has evolved over time into multi retailer gift voucher trading. The major growth in company's Home Credit activities occurred however when short term cash loans were introduced.

In more recent times the business traded as Smith Cole Financial Ltd and in 2007 adopted Ramsdens Financial Limited (RFL) as its company name to reflect increased awareness of the brand.

Back to About Ramsdens ›