The company, Mason Chase, which has been trading as AdvMoney.co.uk (Mason Chase), has been accused of breaching the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) code on several grounds.

The complainant contacted the ASA after receiving a text message from the money lender, implying they had applied for a loan and it was ready to be deposited into their account. This was not the case.

The ASA stated that the unsolicited ad, which the complainant had already opted out of receiving from the company, ‘irresponsibly promotes credit services.’

From search engine results, it seems that Mason Chase is the umbrella title for a number of short term loan companies, such as purplepaydayloans.com and 247cashline.com.

When the ASA made attempts to contact Mason Chase they were unsuccessful, with the ad watchdog saying that this is of ‘considerable concern’ to the ASA and a breach of the CAP code, which insists that when an enquiry is made, a company should respond to it as soon as possible. 

Additionally, the ASA accused Mason Chase of not keeping their databases up-to-date, another breach of the CAP code.

The ASA has now insisted that Mason Chase does not send the message out in the form it was received by the complainant, ruling that they must make sure that the recipients have consented to receiving such messages before they do so again.