How many Bespoke Finance's do we need?

What is a Mortgage Calculator

With my Mortgage Adviser father (Mark), we sat in the living room trying to come up with company names.

With several attempts behind us, Mark suggested “Bespoke Finance”. Whilst checking Companies House, my response was “there is no way that is available.”

I was wrong, and It was free! I set it up.

Since 2009 for 11 years its been our name, Bespoke Finance.

The Old Bespoke Finance

Unfortunately, we were not the first Bespoke Finance. A name too good not to be used before. A company with a similar name dissolved just a few months before.

That means the name has a history. In 2010 got the first communication about a Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) complaint. We’ve never sold PPI.

Since then every month, we get threats from Solicitors and the odd county court case. They are all easily dismissed. Except after the first hundred, it gets annoying.

The bothersome part was that our Company Credit File would get pinged now and then. That was more laborious to put right.

The More Bespoke’s the Merrier

Lenders started paying cash into the company bank account for no reason.

It turns out, Bespoke Finance is a name too good for just one company. Both Companies House and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has approved many more.

31 companies set up using a variation of the name that we use. That we market and that we have been building trust and recognition with. (I’ve made a little list at the end of the article).

The Issue

I read press articles of other Bespoke. I see people tagging the wrong Bespoke on Social Media. I receive money that was destined for them. I receive calls and emails from there clients. I compete on Google for my own brand. I hear radio adverts for a different Bespoke that friends think was us. With old website articles saying we missold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) when we never offered it.

A brand is valuable to a company. If consumers can not differentiate your brand. You can lose potential clients by them calling the wrong company.

Incidentally, we get calls for Bespoke Joinery quite often. That is irrelevant they offer different services. The issue here is financial services firms with similar brand names.

Stop using my name!

Companies House are very lax on companies using similar names. It allows some use of a name variation, but some fall foul of The Company and Business Names (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2009.

Except we have just 1 year to realise a company has a similar name and object to Companies House.

Plus anyone can use a variation of the company name as a trading name, without consulting Companies House.

What should I have done?

The way to adequately protect a brand is, therefore, a Trademark. A name at Companies House is no protection for your brand what so ever.

The Future!

We are moving forward with a new name, Cyborg Finance. It’s a new entity, a new Trademark and has all the domains we want. Including .finance and .com .

No one is using it, its burden free, its a brand we can build and prevent others from using (this time around).

We’re not abandoning the Bespoke Finance name. A new future still exists for it.

The Many Bespoke Finance Companies

  • BESPOKE FINANCE CONSULTING LTD (08548494) EST 2013
  • BESPOKE FINANCE SOLUTIONS LTD (08798695) EST 2013
  • BESPOKE FINANCE CONNECT LTD (10947283) EST 2017
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL LTD (09805162) EST 2015
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL ADVICE LTD (09805666) EST 2015
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL ADVISORS LTD (09056282) EST 2014
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL CONSULTANTS LTD ( 10006070 ) EST 2016
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL GROUP LTD ( 09065410 ) EST 2014
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL MORTGAGES LTD (11770538) EST 2019
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL NEW BUILD SPECIALIST’S LIMITED (11770501) EST 2019
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL (NEWCASTLE) LTD (09065271) 2014
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL (NORTH WEST) LIMITED ( 09229631) 2014
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL YORKSHIRE LTD (09101021 ) EST 2014
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL ADVICE LIMITED (09805666 ) EST 2015
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL EXTREME LTD (12096859 ) EST 2019
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL ADVISERS (trading style of Lawton Financial Services LTD)
  • BESPOKE-ADVICE LTD (08754524) EST 2013
  • BESPOKE INDIPENDENT FINANCIL ADVISERS LTD (08733808) EST 2013
  • BESPOKE FINANCE SOLUTIONS LTD (08798695) EST 2013
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL (NEWCASTLE) LTD (09065271) EST 2014
  • BESPOKE FINANCIAL GUIDANCE LTD (06888172) EST 2009
  • BESPOKE BUSINESS FINANCE LLP (OC332518) EST 2007
  • BESPOKE MORTGAGE & PROTECTION SERVICES LTD (11983178) 2019
  • BESPOKE PROPERTY FINANCE CONSULTANTS LTD (10093026) 2016
  • BESPOKE COMMERCIAL FINANCE LTD (11194757) EST 2018
  • BESPOKE BUSINESS FINANCE & CONSULTANCY LTD (08755018) EST 2013
  • BESPOKE HOME FINANCE LTD (SC493767) EST 2014
  • BESPOKE MONEY LIMITED (10507268) EST 2016
  • MMG BESPOKE FINANCE LTD (10947283) EST 2017
  • BESPOKE PRIVATE CLIENTS LTD (12056508) EST 2019

The Many Bespoke Finance Website’s

Written on November 16, 2020