Thirty-six-year-old Liz Jackson lost her sight ten years ago. She has her own telemarketing business over 100 employees, and an MBE. Liz is spending eight days living undercover in South London, where she will be introduced to people who may need her help. She’ll meet people in the area who are not only living with disabilities and financial problems, but are helping others to live with theirs. Liz is inspired by the people she meets and is forced to confront her own disability, before giving away tens of thousands of pounds of her own money.

Wednesday 16 September 2009
9:00pm
Channel 4

A Nottingham businessman who appeared in Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire has been declared bankrupt.

Chek Whyte is reported to owe £30 million to various creditors.

The millionaire appeared in Secret Millionaire in 2007 and handed out money to various causes in Salford.

Manchester law firm Pannone LLP, acting on behalf of creditor Halls Furnishings Ltd, said: “Mr Whyte had put forward proposals for an individual voluntary arrangement which were withdrawn.

“And therefore, as no further proposals were put to creditors, the court made the bankruptcy order.

“Mr Whyte’s exposure on TV has portrayed him as an altruistic individual but sadly his business dealings have left him owing suppliers tens of thousands of pounds and these businesses have to take steps to recover monies owed to them”.

This week on Secret Millionaire , Rob Calcraft, a flamboyant beauty industry magnate, lives undercover in Barrow-in-Furness, which has been described as the most working-class town in Britain. Rob volunteers to help local thrift shop manager Colin who, despite suffering from MS, raises money for local disability groups. And at the “Drop Zone”, Rob sees how teenage trouble-makers can be inspired to look beyond their own needs. Here he meets 17-year-old Kieron who, while living in a hostel for the homeless, raises money for orphans in Romania.

Sunday 3 May 2009
9:00pm, Channel 4

A BBC South Inside Out investigation will tomorrow show how a multi-millionaire has made a fortune by misleading his hard-up customers.

James Benamor owns the Richmond Group, which employs almost 300 people in Bournemouth, and his personal wealth is estimated at £77million.

He recently gave away thousands of pounds when he played The Secret Millionaire in a Channel 4 documentary.

But the Inside Out programme, at 7.30pm on BBC One South, will show how Mr Benamor makes money from a simple scam.

His companies, which include Tenant Loans and Advantage Loans, offer to arrange loans for people with a poor credit history.

Half-a-million customers have signed up in the past year and many of them pay a £50 brokerage fee.

But when the paperwork comes through, the clients don’t get the loans they were expecting. Instead, they are simply sent the phone numbers of other banks and lenders.

Joanne Amorello agreed to pay the £50 fee because she was convinced that she was going to get a £500 loan.

She tells Inside Out: “I had already booked things to do with the kids and I even rang the housing office to say my rent arrears are going to be paid.”

Disabled pensioner Shirley O’Sullivan was also certain that she was going to get a loan: “The way they talked to me I was 100 per cent sure they were trying to help. They seemed such nice people and I thought ‘they understand’.”

Mr Benamor denies misleading clients. He says his companies offer a loan brokerage service which is independent and works only on behalf of clients to find the best loan for them: “We will always inform clients that we do not guarantee loan amounts or APRs which ultimately are offered by lenders.”

Inside Out wanted to check whether this was made clear to customers, so presenter Joe Crowley made a series of loan applications. On each occasion, the sales staff gave the impression that he had been accepted for a loan.

Said Joe: “I told them I was on benefits and they still seemed quite happy to offer me large sums of money. I wanted to see how far they would go, so I made some outrageous demands.

“On one call I told them I wanted to borrow £10,000 to gamble on the horses and on another call I asked for £15,000 to invest in the stock market.

“They said yes to whatever I asked, because the company just wants to take the £50 fee.”

Andy Sherriff, from Bournemouth Trading Standards, said the phone calls were a cause for concern: “I think the circumstances suggest it could easily be misleading. People are not being frank, they are not being honest with you.”

Under the Consumer Credit Act, Mr Benamor has to give dissatisfied customers a refund. But several customers who spoke to Inside Out had struggled to get their money back.

Mr Benamor said that his companies provided clients with the best loan options that were available to them in the UK: “In cases like these where our clients are unhappy with loans found by us we have a simple refund procedure which requires the client to write in to cancel their service and request a refund.

“This is clearly explained to our clients, however according to our system no request was ever received.

“We have now refunded all of the clients in full. We aim for client satisfaction in all cases and are sorry that in this instance the customers in question were unhappy with our service.

“We value any feedback regarding our customer experience and are always distressed to hear if people haven’t received the service they required.”

American businesswoman Margaret Heffernan – who made millions 15 years ago as an internet pioneer – says goodbye to her Somerset mansion, moving to one of Nottingham’s poorest areas. Nottingham has gained a recent reputation for guns and drugs, and Margaret has just nine days to identify people who she feels are worthy of her money.

At the end of this period Margaret may have found some solid investments for her money, but her next concern is how her actions will be perceived. Will they think that her offer of financial help is “crass” and that the money is real but the relationship was phoney?

Wednesday 19 December 2007
9:00pm, Channel 4