Key facts
WizzCash stopped accepting new applications in 2022 but the parent entity Emergency Cash Limited has not entered administration or liquidation. The summary below records the key facts of the wind-down and the continuing position of the parent.
Operating entity: Emergency Cash Limited (Companies House 07527455). WizzCash was a trading style of Emergency Cash Limited, not a separate company. The same entity operates the MustCompare credit comparison service. Registered office: 14th Floor, 33 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0PW. Source: WizzCash.com about page; Companies House records for Emergency Cash Limited.
Timeline
The WizzCash timeline differs from most UK payday closures because the wind-down was an active commercial decision by a continuing entity rather than the result of a formal insolvency process. The events below cover the brand-relevant milestones from 2012 to the present.
Emergency Cash Limited incorporated
Emergency Cash Limited is incorporated at Companies House (registration 07527455). The company is registered to a London address and authorised to conduct consumer credit lending and broking activity once the FCA assumes responsibility for consumer credit regulation in 2014.
WizzCash brand launches
Emergency Cash Limited launches WizzCash.com as an online direct payday lender. The product is positioned as a more responsible alternative to the dominant pre-cap UK payday lenders. Loans of £300 to £1,000 are offered in a single fixed structure of 3 monthly instalments. The brand also operates a referral function passing rejected applicants to a panel of partner lenders.
FCA assumes consumer credit regulation
The FCA takes over consumer credit regulation from the Office of Fair Trading. Emergency Cash Limited is granted full authorisation under FCA reference 673428. The firm trades through the FCA authorisation period of interim permission to full authorisation without enforcement action.
FCA price cap takes effect
The FCA price cap on high-cost short-term credit comes into force. Maximum daily interest is set at 0.8 percent. Default fees are capped at £15. Total cost of credit is capped at 100 percent of the principal advanced. WizzCash adapts its product to operate within the cap and continues to lend through the post-cap period.
Survival through the post-cap closures
The major UK payday loan firms close in succession during this period: Wonga in August 2018, the CashEuroNet brands in October 2019, Sunny and MyJar in 2020. WizzCash continues to operate at small scale through this period. The smaller post-cap operating footprint and disciplined origination volumes are credited in industry commentary as the reasons for survival when larger firms could not absorb redress liability.
WizzCash stops accepting new applications
Emergency Cash Limited announces that WizzCash will no longer accept new loan applications from new or existing customers. The published statement on wizzcash.com describes the decision as a service withdrawal rather than an insolvency event. Existing loans remain in place and are collected on their original terms.
Continuing wind-down phase
Emergency Cash Limited remains FCA-authorised and continues to manage the existing WizzCash loan book. The firm continues to accept and process affordability complaints at complaints@wizzcash.com. The MustCompare comparison service continues to operate under the same legal entity. There has been no formal insolvency process, no Scheme of Arrangement and no transfer of the loan book to a third-party debt purchaser.
What went wrong
The WizzCash case is a different category of UK payday wind-down from the firms that entered administration or liquidation. There was no insolvency event. Emergency Cash Limited made a commercial decision to stop accepting new applications and continues to discharge its obligations to legacy customers as an active FCA-authorised firm.
Strategic wind-down without insolvency
WizzCash is one of the rare UK payday brand wind-downs that did not require formal insolvency proceedings. Most peer firms (Wonga, the CashEuroNet brands, Sunny, MyJar, PiggyBank, Peachy, Uncle Buck and 247 Moneybox) entered administration. The Provident group used a Scheme of Arrangement. Ferratum used a Creditors' Voluntary Liquidation. WizzCash simply stopped lending while the parent Emergency Cash Limited continued to operate. The pattern is informative for what was different about the WizzCash position.
Conservative origination volumes through the post-cap period
Industry commentary on the UK payday sector consistently identified WizzCash as one of the smaller post-cap operators by loan volume. The narrower customer base translated into a smaller absolute redress liability when affordability complaint volumes rose across the sector during 2019 to 2021. Where larger firms accumulated provisions that exceeded their solvency margins, Emergency Cash Limited's exposure remained within the level its balance sheet could absorb.
A simple single-product structure
WizzCash offered one product: a £300 to £1,000 instalment loan over a single fixed term of 3 months. The firm did not expand into longer-term instalment products, line-of-credit facilities or guarantor lending. The narrow product range limited operational complexity and reduced the surface area for affordability complaints, particularly the repeat-lending complaints that drove much of the redress activity at peer firms.
A deliberate decision rather than a forced closure
Emergency Cash Limited's public statement on the WizzCash wind-down characterises the decision as a service withdrawal rather than a forced closure. The firm has not published the underlying commercial reasoning. The continuing operation of the MustCompare comparison service under the same legal entity suggests the parent retained operational capacity and chose to redeploy it away from direct lending.
If you had a WizzCash loan
The WizzCash position is materially different from the post-administration position of most other firms in this directory. Emergency Cash Limited remains an active FCA-authorised entity. The summary below records what former WizzCash customers should expect in 2026.
Outstanding WizzCash loan balances
Existing WizzCash loans remain in place under their original terms. Borrowers are expected to continue making repayments to Emergency Cash Limited in the usual way, as set out in the original loan agreement. The loan book has not been sold to a third-party debt purchaser. Any contact about a WizzCash balance in 2026 should come from Emergency Cash Limited rather than from a debt purchaser. Borrowers needing additional credit while a WizzCash balance is being repaid can compare offers from active short-term loan providers regulated by the FCA.
Affordability complaints
Affordability complaints can still be submitted directly to Emergency Cash Limited at complaints@wizzcash.com. The firm remains the responsible party because it has not entered administration. Complaints are subject to the standard 8-week response window under FCA DISP rules. If the firm rejects the complaint or does not respond within 8 weeks, the complaint can be escalated to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The FOS continues to consider new WizzCash complaints because Emergency Cash Limited remains an active FCA-authorised firm.
Successful affordability claimants
Claimants whose affordability complaints are upheld by Emergency Cash Limited or by the Financial Ombudsman Service are entitled to redress on the standard FOS basis: refund of interest and charges on the affected loans, plus 8 percent simple interest from each payment date, plus removal of any adverse credit-file entries. The redress is paid by Emergency Cash Limited from its operating funds rather than from a Scheme estate. The position is materially better than the position of claimants of administration-era firms, where Scheme dividends typically returned 1 to 10 pence per pound of agreed claim.
Compensation under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme
High-cost credit firms, including those that historically offered bad credit payday loans, are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The FSCS is not relevant to WizzCash claims. The only redress route is direct complaint to Emergency Cash Limited and, if necessary, escalation to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Borrowers needing access to a same-day loan while a complaint is in progress can use a credit-broker comparison to find an active FCA-authorised lender.
If you are in current financial difficulty
The four bodies below provide free, impartial guidance to former WizzCash customers and other consumer credit borrowers. None of them charge for help. None have any commercial relationship with a lender, broker or claims management firm. Each can advise on disputed historical balances and on the formal options available where a balance cannot reasonably be paid.
The regulatory legacy
The WizzCash wind-down is studied within UK consumer credit policy as a counterexample to the post-2018 pattern of UK payday closures. The case suggests that smaller, single-product, conservatively-underwritten firms could survive the post-cap affordability complaint cycle in a way that the larger pre-cap firms could not.
A counterexample to the administration pattern
The dominant UK payday closure pattern from 2018 onwards involved a sequence: rising affordability complaint volumes, redress liability exceeding solvency margins, an administration appointment, sale of the loan book to a third-party debt purchaser and a small Scheme dividend or no dividend at all. WizzCash followed a different sequence: stop lending, retain the loan book, retain the FCA authorisation and continue to handle complaints out of operating funds. The difference is informative for understanding which pre-existing operational characteristics produced which closure outcome.
The active UK short-term credit market in 2026
The post-cap UK payday loan and short-term credit market is substantially smaller than the market in which WizzCash originally operated. The active firms in 2026 are concentrated among a smaller number of larger operators with established direct-lender footprints. Borrowers who would previously have applied to WizzCash for a 3-month £300 to £1,000 instalment loan can apply to current operators offering similar product structures within the FCA price cap. A small loan from one of the active direct lenders is the closest current equivalent to the original WizzCash offer.
Continuing operations of Emergency Cash Limited
Emergency Cash Limited has indicated no plans to relaunch WizzCash lending. The continuing operation of the MustCompare comparison service under the same legal entity suggests the parent intends to remain in the consumer credit space as a broker rather than as a direct lender. The longer-term position will depend on whether new direct-lending capacity is added or whether the parent winds the legacy loan book down to zero and ceases regulated activity at that point.
Where former WizzCash customers borrow now.
Three FCA-authorised firms in the UK short-term loan market that former WizzCash customers may now consider. None are connected to Emergency Cash Limited or its trading brands. All operate within the FCA price cap framework.
Direct lender for short-term instalment loans of £100 to £1,500 over up to 6 months. Gain Credit LLC, FCA authorised since 2008. The closest active peer to WizzCash in product structure and target customer.
Direct lender for online instalment loans of £300 to £1,100 over 4 to 12 months. Western Circle Limited, FCA authorised since 2014. Established UK direct-lender alternative to closed online payday brands.
Direct lender for short-term loans of £200 to £1,000, terms 1 to 6 months. PDL Finance Limited, FCA authorised since 2009. Established direct-lender peer covering a similar product range to WizzCash.
Sources and verification
Operating entity: Emergency Cash Limited, Companies House registration 07527455, registered office 14th Floor, 33 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0PW. WizzCash.com is a trading style of Emergency Cash Limited, not a separate company. Verified against the active Companies House filing register on 28 April 2026.
FCA authorisation status: Emergency Cash Limited holds FCA firm reference number 673428 and remains an authorised firm as of 2026. Emergency Cash Limited has not entered administration, liquidation or any other formal insolvency proceeding. The firm retains permission to undertake regulated consumer credit activities.
WizzCash wind-down statement: WizzCash.com about page publishes the public statement that new loan applications are no longer accepted. Existing loans remain in place under their original terms.
Companies House records: Companies House record for Emergency Cash Limited. The active filing record contains the standard annual statutory accounts and confirmation statements through to the most recent filing period.
Verification approach: All milestones verified against Companies House filings, the firm's own published statements at wizzcash.com and contemporaneous Financial Ombudsman Service decision references involving Emergency Cash Limited. Swift Money Limited is a credit broker, not a lender. This page is an editorial record published by Swift Money. The firm has no commercial relationship with Emergency Cash Limited or any of its trading brands. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FRN 738569.