In a situation where individuals or businesses do not have enough funds, they look for different sources of funds, of which loans stand out in the first place. The periods in which there is an increased demand for financial services, with an emphasis on lending to citizens and businesses, stand out in particular. One such period is the current COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic affected the decline in the income of business entities and the decline in the income of citizens, which made it difficult for both groups of entities to meet their obligations. In the conditions of globalization and internationalization of business entities, and thus financial service providers, there is a possibility of using the services of foreign financial service providers. In doing so, their business is very often viewed under a magnifying glass due to business conditions that differ from credit institutions. The basic goal of this paper is to study the business models of foreign financial service providers and to identify illegal elements (which can also be characterized by greenery) in their business. In the Republic of Croatia, as many as 171 foreign financial service providers (according to the CNB register) are approved for the direct provision of services in the territory of the Republic of Croatia. It is possible to notice that although these are often unknown financial service providers, a certain part of highly developed and at the same time reliable financial service providers makes up this number. In the empirical part of the paper, three foreign financial service providers in the Republic of Croatia are analyzed. It is possible to notice that although at first sight the use of their services seems very desirable, in the end the use of this form of lending can lead to undesirable consequences such as payment of higher interest rates, payment of high default interest and the like.