Founded in 1938 and floated on the stock exchange in 1961 S&U plc is the United Kingdom's foremost niche consumer and motor finance provider. We have over 140,000 customers and we provide work for over 800 people.S&U was founded in Birmingham in 1938 by Clifford Coombs, a charismatic figure from South Wales. His secret lay in his ability to charm and motivate people, whether they were customers or employees. By 1975, changing customer tastes and sophistication saw S&U and its sister company S.D. Taylor Ltd transform their goods based credit businesses into a finance and HP operation. This was successfully taken forward by Clifford's sons Derek and Keith Coombs for the following three decades! Consistent with this customer focussed home credit operation we now trade as Loansathome4u.

Loansathome4u provide valued home credit facilities to customers via over 500 agents across the UK. The emphasis on a personal relationship between customer and agent is as central to Loansathome4u's philosophy today as it was to Clifford Coombs' success.
Set up in 1999, Advantage has grown to be one of the most progressive and innovative motor finance companies in the country and is a member of the Finance and Leasing Association. Advantage employ over 70 people and has provided motor finance for over 45,000 customers across the UK, growing at the rate of 5,000 per year.

Operating within the non-prime market sector, Advantage has built its excellent reputation and track record on quality as opposed to quantity. Funding is invested wisely through a very experienced management team the majority of whom have been with the Company since inception. Low staff turnover and a strong focus on reward and recognition are fundamental to the success of Advantage which has achieved twelve consecutive years of record profits.

Our customers are at the centre of everything we do and we are passionate about serving them. With over 140,000 customers nationwide our employees and representatives are committed to the highest levels of integrity.

We understand that to build relationships of longstanding we need to understand every customer, their particular needs, and the products they will require at different stages of their lives. That's what we do best – giving our customers the credit they deserve.

Throughout our business, the secret of S&U's success lies in the close ties it has with its home credit and motor finance customers. It's therefore natural for this to translate into links with the local communities we serve.

On a national level we seek to promote financial understanding through sponsorship of events such as the Consumer Challenge Quiz organised by Birmingham Trading Standards, which aims to help young people with learning difficulties to become better informed and more confident consumers. Through our Trade Association, the CCA, we sponsor the Consumer Credit Counselling Service helping people with debt problems.

Locally, our efforts are as diverse as the interests of our staff. S&U is a corporate sponsor and Anthony Coombs is the Chairman of the Foundation for Conductive Education, based in Birmingham, a leading UK charity working to improve the lives of children and adults with neurological motor disorders resulting from strokes, Parkinson's disease and cerebral palsy.

Every year our staff organise collection events for charities ranging from the British Heart Foundation, Macmillan Nurses and Marie Curie Cancer Care. We also support The Sick Children's Trust through their SMILE magazine. In the past 4 years, staff have had fun raising money for healthy hearts, walked peaks for the homeless and biked for cancer sufferers. In fact both our Chairman and Deputy Chairman rode from London to Paris for disabled children.