Thread: Poundstillpayday

Hi

I hope I am OK to post this here as this is more of a 'cautionary tale' rather than a request for advise / assitance (although any helpful tips or hints will alway be appreciated).

I will try to keep this very sorry story short and sweet, here goes. The above company 'poundstillpayday' aka Northway Financial Brokers, Sonic Payday and goodness knows what else (they have various names in the US and Canada) are, just as it says on the tin, a payday loan company. Now before you all go 'oh foolish girl, these people are awful and charge ridiculous interest rates', yes you are preaching to the converted but there is an old saying about horses bolting and stable doors if you know what I mean. So we are where we are.

Anyhow, I stupidly got a loan from them and was paying it off until last month I had a major 'blip' in my finances and was unable to pay them back (you have to pay off the whole lot each month and then reloan). So I wrote to them before the payment was due to explain, offer them what I could afford that month and also said that I hoped it would be a temporary situation which I would resolve as soon as I was able.

Well since then I have been bombared with agressive and abusive calls from the states, they have threatened to contact my employer and told me thet will take the money out of my salary (which I know is illegal and they can't do, also I work for a law firm so if they did contact them they would get short shrift) refused to communicate with me in writing and have basically said that they will continue to harrass me by phone at work, home and on my mobile untill I pay the lot and the interest / charges (which are huge and I won't pay - I am aware of the unfair contract regulations).

I have been quite shocked and appalled at this as I have never come across such behaviour in all my days, so I decided to do a bit of reseach and googled their various company names. Well, oh my lord, I was aghast. There are some awful horror stories about these people and their bullying / intimidation techniques.

So to get to the crux of the matter, I am now on top of my finances again and these people are the only people I have an outstanding issue with. I have however taken extreme umberage to their bully boy tactics and have decided to go in all guns blazing, as fortunately, I am not easily spooked and know my rights, but they have made other peoples lives a hell and I don't think they shoudl be allowed to get away with it.

So I have done the internal complaints bit (they ignored my letter of complaint and continued to call me), so last night and today, I have reported them to the Office of Fair Trading, the Financial Ombudsman, and the Consumer Credit Trade Association. I have emailed them copies of my letters to each of these associations and as yet no response.

So the point of this post is as follows, to anyone who has been a victim of this company or who is currently being harrassed by them, stand firm. I will NOT be bullied and neither should you! If anyone has a legitimate complaint about this company, now is the time to make it. Also I now have accumulated rather a lot of info about them so if I can be of any assistance to anyone else, please pm me and I will assist in any way I can.

Hi there well i have had to leave my job and my final salary was not where near enough to pay off my loan to ptp. i have told them i will pay nxt month 25/4/08 can they enforce the loan? As my only income is now benefits?

Any advice would be well appreciated

thank you for that, i asked them to wait until the 25 but they have been calling me this week even though they agreed to it. Do we have a uk address for them so i can write and make an offer in writing?

They do indeed have a UK address which is:-

Suite 39, Unit 4, Old Down Business Park, Emborough, Radstock BA3 4FG

Although I suspect this is more of a post box simply for the purposes of getting a UK credit licence. Mind you the Malta address is exactly the same because they are actually a Canadian company and only have a few staff in the Malta office. They farm out their 'customer service' to a company in Dublin which is who you get if you call the customer care line on the website, but the threatening calls come from either Canada or free lancers in the US.

Re enforcability, their credit agreement is a joke and they do not want to be bothered with taking you to court, its much easier to bully you by phone. After reporting them to the Financial Ombudsman they 'disappeared' and have never contacted me since. The trick is though to email the ombudman using the address on the website and cc them in so they can see a) that you have done it b) exactly what you have said.

OP if you want a copy of what I sent to the ombudsman I will forward it to you, I still have all of the email addresses, credit agreement etc. So if there is anything else I can do to help give me a shout. Despite their bully boy tactics they are actually pretty easy to get shot of if you go about it the right way. So relax

Hi all,
I am having similar problems with pounds till payday. They added a £69 charge to the account for late payment, when they did not try to get my repayment in the first place ( i had the funds in the account on the date due). I have explained to them that i cant afford to repay in full but will pay what i can afford, and they have refused to let me do this. They consistently called me at home, at work, and on my mobile, and left threatening answer phone messages on all of these numbers.

Since i contacted the Ombudsman (by email cc ptp in) they have offered to remove the charge but still insist that I pay the amount in full. They have, however, stopped ringing me. Any advice? I really dont know what to do -

Should i pay the amount in full? (which will leave me with little money) Should i proceed to ask the Ombudsman to investigate - and if so, can PTP pass the account to debt collectors if the Ombudsman is investigating?
Do you think they will resume persuing me for this money? (heard nothing for two or three weeks from them)?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Vicky

hi all sorry i havent got back to you all just reading your emails, just checking which address to write to.

hey ocelotto411 could you post what you sent to then pls much appreciated

Originally Posted by vickylm

Hi all,
Should i pay the amount in full? (which will leave me with little money) Should i proceed to ask the Ombudsman to investigate - and if so, can PTP pass the account to debt collectors if the Ombudsman is investigating?

Do you think they will resume persuing me for this money? (heard nothing for two or three weeks from them)?

Vicky

I wouldn't give them squat. Yes ask the Ombudsman to investigate, I have so that will be two strikes against them. I would strongly suspect they will not pursue you any further, as their agreement is more than likely unenforceable anyway. Either way though, let them make the next move. This may just take a bit of nerve but I am sure you will be victorious!

Re the mailbox thing, as I suspected! I will be passing this info on to the ombudsman.

mich7k, here is my email to the Ombudsman.

Dear sirs
I am contacting you to complain about an internet payday loan company I am having problems with, the company in question is 'poundstillpayday'.
Due to a change in my financial circumstances I was unable to repay this loan in full on 31 January 2008. As such, on the advice of the National Debt Helpline, I wrote to the company in advance of the due date advising that I could not pay the full amount and making a reduced offer of payment. I also included a budget sheet which I got from the National Debt Helpline website.
Since then I have been bombarded with phone calls from this company, at home, at work and on my mobile. They have point blank refused to correspond to me in writing or read any of the written correspondence I have sent to them. They have stated that this matter can only be dealt with by telephone which I assume is quite simply because they do not wish to put anything in writing to me which I may use as evidence against them in leagal proceedings. They are highly aggressive and have threatened to contact my employer's payroll department to have the money I owe them deducted from my salary if I do not make immediate payment in full. Fortunately as I am training to be a solicitor and work for a large UK law firm, they would not get very far with this approach,
They have suggested that I take out loans elsewhere in order to give them the money I owe them in full and have told me categorically that they will not accept anything other than the full amount plus the ever increasing and extortionate charges. I am fully aware that their suggestion that I get into further debt in order to pay them back, breaches the UK Banking Code.
I have written to them to make a formal complaint and to tell them to stop contacting me by phone, as I will not tolerate their abusive and bullying tactics. I attach a copy of this letter for your information. However, they have ignored my letter of complaint and continue to telephone me on a daily basis, sometimes several times per day.
The company's address is:-

Northway Broker Limited

Trading as Pounds Till Payday
Level 8 Suite 3,
Plaza Commercial Center,
Bisazza Street,
Sliema
SLM15, Malta

Their website is www.poundstillpayday.co.u k

And their telephone number is 08000 32 76 55

These people have no respect for UK law and will employ any tactics at their disposal to intimidate customers who they assume have no knowledge of the law or their consumer rights. I feel that this company should be fully investigated at the highest level in order to assess whether or not they should continue to be licensed in the UK, when they refuse to adhere to its law. For your information I have today also reported this company to the Office of Fair Trading and I am awaiting their response,
Yours faithfully

And my letter of complaint which was attached to this email read

Dear Sirs
Poundstillpayday – Reference ************ – Formal Letter of Complaint

I am writing to advise you of the frankly shocking way in which I have been treated by two of your employees from your 'Payment Services' department.
I have a payday loan with you which I was not able to make full payment on, as due on 31 January 2008. As such I emailed your customer care department on 30 January 2008 to explain:-
1) that I would not be making payment
2) why I would not be making payment
3) offering to pay what I could afford to you this month and each month from here on in until my circumstances improve and
4) requesting details of how to make such payment.
I expressly requested that you respond to me in writing so that I have a copy of all correspondence for my records and also as this is quite a stressful situation which is only exacerbated by phone calls, which serve no purpose but to reiterate what I have already put in writing to you.

The first time I heard from you in relation to this matter was 7 February 2008 when I was called at work and one of your agents left a message on my voicemail asking me to call 'Payment Services'. I have since had two very heated conversations with your 'Payment Services' department who have been rude, aggressive and threatening towards me. They have advised me that they will not accept anything other than full payment immediately and advised me 'you are not getting out of this'. They point blank refused to read any of my written correspondence and told me that they would not send me any 'personal emails' nor did they have any intention of writing to me. I was advised that unless I pay the amount in full they would continue to call me at home and at work and would also be calling my employer to have the monies owed deducted from my salary.
As I am sure you are aware under UK law the only way in which anyone other than myself or Her Majesties Revenue and Customs can instruct for any monies to be deducted from my salary is after the obtaining of a valid UK court order. Therefore, this threat is of course complete nonsense.
I cannot understand why I have received any telephone calls from you, as I contacted you in advance of the due date to advise you of the situation and also to make an offer pay, let alone such an abusive one. These are hardly the actions of someone 'trying to get out of this', as your agent suggested.

As such I am writing to you to advise you that I will not deal with any of your representatives by telephone again and if I receive any further calls I will be contacting the Financial Ombudsman, the Office of Fair Trading and the Financial Services authority to make them aware of the situation, as I will regard this as harassment.
I would also like to remind you that under UK law any attempt by your company to discuss any matter relating to myself or my personal details with my employer or any other third party would be a direct and flagrant breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 (as amended).and would also result in my filing a formal complaint with any or all of the authorities referred to above.

As previously stated, in my original letter to you (sent via email on 30 January 2008), I wish to do everything in my power to settle this outstanding amount as soon as possible. I would therefore be grateful if you could respond to my original letter, in writing to my home address, to confirm whether or not my offer is acceptable to you.

I will await your further advices.

Yours faithfully

Feel free to reproduce any bits which are relevant to your case or you feel would be helpful.

Hi all,
Thanks for the advice and support - I think i will pursue this through the Ombudsman.

Ocelot, did you fill in the official forms which you can download from the Ombudsman website (through which they begin the investigation) or did you just email them? If you emailed the Ombudsman which address did you use?

Vicky

that letters fantastic so have you heard anything back from the Ombudsman? Have they gone quite since you sent them this then ptp i mean?