Amscot Financial is a company that is growing by leaps and bounds. Its founder is Scotsman Ian Mackechnie, who grew up working in his father’s bakery before and after school. Hard working Mackechnie relocated to Tampa, Florida once he sold his father’s bakery and has made quite a name for himself. Amscot Financial, named for America and Scotland, now has 113 locations in 14 central Florida counties.

The idea behind Amscot is to provide a convenient financial store, if you will, where people can handle their daily business transactions. He got the idea from watching his fellow employees cashing their checks at local bars and businesses rather than banks. Now, thanks to Mackechnie’s brainchild, they can still cash their paychecks in their local neighborhoods at his check cashing store on the corner. In addition to cashing your paycheck, Amscot provides personal check cashing services. They can protect themselves against an Amscot bounced check by giving you a prepaid debit card or credit card that you can use like cash. They also offer payday advance loans, Western Union wire transfers, notary services, fax and copy services, currency exchange, money orders, and even stamps and envelopes. In most locations they can even handle paying your cell phone or utility bills for you. At tax time, they can help with your tax preparation and do refund anticipation loans. The idea is to have one place that can handle all of your potential financial needs providing as much convenience to the customer as possible.

Amscot is planning on 250 to 300 stores in the next five years. Ian Mackechnie is constantly looking at ways to provide additional convenience at a high level of service to each and every person in the locality. He currently enjoys having one of the most admired business models in the industry.