Ebenezer Scrooge is most commonly understood to be in the finance business, specifically as a moneylender or small-scale banker who deals in debts and other financial instruments. Many scholars and readers also describe the firm of “Scrooge and Marley” as a kind of Victorian financial institution that might combine moneylending, holding and collecting private debts, and possibly some brokerage or exchange trading.

What kind of business did Scrooge have?

In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol , Dickens never gives Scrooge a single, explicit job title, but the clues in the story strongly point to several overlapping financial roles.

  • He runs a counting-house , where Bob Cratchit keeps ledgers and accounts, which fits the model of a 19th‑century moneylender or banker handling loans and repayments.
  • He is shown “on ‘Change” (the Exchange), suggesting he also trades in financial instruments such as debts, and possibly commodities or securities.
  • Literary and historical analyses often describe “Scrooge and Marley” as a firm that buys up doubtful debts at a discount and then profits by collecting what it can from struggling borrowers.

In short, Scrooge’s business is best described as a hard‑nosed Victorian financial house : moneylending, debt collection, and related banking or brokerage activities.