[20] The company had been subject to bad publicity, including a TV investigation into its selling practices, pressurisation of staff, unreliable vehicles and debt collection methods.

[25] The Central Bank of Ireland in late 2014 fined and reprimanded Provident Financial for flagrant breaches of the regulatory requirements aimed at protecting Irish consumers.

[26] The five whistleblowers who reported the law breaking were then sacked by Provident, which led to the matter being raised in Dáil Éireann.

[27] On 22 August 2017, Provident Financial lost two-thirds of its stock value in a day, following its second profit warning in two months, the replacement of its chief executive by Manjit Wolstenholme, cancellation of a shareholder dividend and a warning that the full-year dividend might also be cancelled, and the announcement of an investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority.

[30] In March 2021, Provident Financial announced it intended to introduce a scheme of arrangement, under which £50 million would be set aside for compensation payments for unresolved claims made before 17 December 2020.

The company were criticised by the Citizen's Advice Bureau, whose chief executive told Panorama, "I call into question...the motivation to keep exploiting people who clearly can't be held responsible for their own decisions in that situation.

"[36] In 2018, Vanquis Bank was fined £2 million for failing to properly disclose charges on one of its popular repayment plans.

[45] In July 2024 the bank was forced to announce £40 million of write-downs and issued warnings over capital ratio targets.