I’ve had similar issues and after a horrendously long dispute managed to agree on a figure which I owed them. In my experience with afew PDL companies, if they aren’t getting certain details right and you dispute them…they end up slipping up more and more. In this instance CFO had the amount I owed wrong, had failed to acknowledge certain payments made (it takes them several weeks to cash incheques which I learnt from my discussions with Stepchange who handle my DMP) and they were unable to give an itemised statement of breakdown and charges –any explanation regarding how charges and interest had been applied were done in brief and in writing, despite me requesting an itemised statement. In the end I threatened to go to the FOS and suddenly gotthe result I wanted in that what I owed was in line with what I said I owed to them. All this was done by email so I have documentable evidence should I need it. Furthermore, they outright lied when they said Stepchange had not been in contact with them regarding ‘missing’ payments – when I spoke to Stepchange they had the exact name of the ‘account manager’ which I had been talking to.How would Stepchange know this detail if I had not told them? CFO are terrible lying sc**mers in my experience. However, the story doesn’t end there. Having finally paid off the account through my DMP I received a letter a couple of months later stillstating I owed several hundred pound. Haven’t had anything since, save the odd email inviting me to take another loan out with them. The account is still showing as in default on my credit report and I am trying to get it amended to closed and settled which is the true status of the account. Just make sure you review and follow up your credit report after settlement!

Ok so back some time ago when I was desperate and probably not of sound mind I took out a loan with CFO, for £250. Interest was set at 39% fixed on the borrowing, so at the end of the month 1 I was due to repay £347.50. At the end of month 1 I decided to 'rollover' the loan by paying the interest element only, thus paying £97.5. This means at the end of month 2 I would still need to pay £347.50 to clear the loan. 10 days later (and partly into month 2 now) CFO offered me an additional £175 which I (again) stupidly took, due to being in a desparate payday loan spiral. This meant I had borrowed a total of £250+£175 = £425. So as interest is set at 39% fixed I should be paying them back £590.75 at the end of the month 2 right? WRONG!!! (according to CFO). What actually happened is they calculated from the £250 I initially borrowed and added on 39% interest to total £347.50 i.e. what I was due to pay back at the end of month 2. To this they then added the £175 further borrowing = £522.50 and applied interest of 39% (£203.78), meaning according to them I now owe £726.28 at the end of month 2. So I've now incurred 39% interest on 39% from the first original loan too! Rather than simply borrow an additional amount with a separate contract, they've kindly 'refinanced' this into a new contract, much to their benefit of course. At the end of month 2 I predictably decide to rollover the loan again, paying the interest only. I pay £203.78. This means at the end of month 3 I need to pay £726.28 to clear the loan. Somewhat predictably again, the temptation for someone who is desperate and getting chased left, right and centre for other debts to borrow further is too much. CFO allow me to top up with another £90 midway through month 3. Can you guess what this means? Yes - they calculate it by adding what I owe at the end of month 3 and add on the further £90 borrowed. They then apply interest to this total. So basically instead of paying 39% interest flat rate on £515 total borrowed, I'm paying 39% interest on £816.28. I now need to repay £1,134.63 at the end of month 3. Quite honestly, I don't know why I fell for this. I made some very lousy decisions but it really highlights why I wasn't of sound mind. Ordinarily I am an intelligent person and I've only picked up on this because I was already disputing the balance CFO say I owe them. I've formally complained to CFO, have told them I will be going to the OFT (and I will) with all of my records once I've had their final reply. Of course I expect a refund for what I've overpaid too and will be going to the Financial Ombudsman Service in 8 weeks time as I expect my complaint won't be resolved to my satisfaction. I'm now in a DMP and aside from this creditor and Safeloans it's been a massive weight off my shoulders. My experience with Safeloans is that you can definitely fight back and stop paying what these companies are not entitled to. Whilst they have pulled a fast one on me, where does this stand legally speaking - particularly if I wished to pursue a claim through the small claims court if this can't be resolved? Has anyone had a similar experience with CFO or any thoughts of what I should do. The OFT is definitely going to be informed at the end of the week.

What email do you use (gmail, hotmail etc.) and do you use it online or through Microsoft Outlook?It is possible to organise emails into folders or labels. In other words, you could have a separate folder for emails to and from one creditor. Makes finding them a lot easier. I've been poorly organised at this sort of thing before but this is what I've just got round to doing.

Under no circumstances borrow any more money to pay off anyone even if they threaten this that and the other. That’s how I got in massive trouble, it’s a fools game. PDL companies will usually make loads of threats but it’ll take a long time to go to court (if at all) after a non-payment. Bear in mind you’re going to use the credit cards and store cards again, likewise you’ll want to continue using Orange services. I guarantee these will try to harass you just as much. I had MBNA on my back for ages and they called my home, mobile and workplace, despite my insistence not to. Oh and you’re going to rack up late payment charges & potentially over-limit charges too. What are the individual sums that need to be paid and how much money will you have to pay against all these debts? Insist only on communication in writing, email is great as it keeps a great trail of events and it doesn’t cost you postage and printing costs. I assume the PDL lenders all have your debit card details?

I had very carefully worded my correspondence, my reckoning being that if they agreed to my terms they would have no comeback i.e. I explicitly stated that it would be in full and final settlement of the accounts, that I would be released from all liability and that SL or a third party would not be able to enforce or pursue the debts thereafter. I have also asked that my file with the credit reference agencies is updated to show ‘settled in full’. Although I have been guaranteed this will happen I have my doubts, but my credit rating is completely destroyed right now and it’s going to take 6+ years to wait for the adverse things to drop off anyway. I paid the agreed amount today and I’ve just had the email to confirm the accounts are settled full and final. Logged into their online area and both accounts show as ‘No current loan’ and ‘today’s settlement amount £0.00’. Clearly I’ve managed to articulate my queries and responses to their correspondence well enough to cause a stir. Quite honestly I tried to work with them far too much but I was going on the basis that should it ever reach court I was the one willing to come to a resolution and they were simply saying ‘pay us this on these terms or we’ll take you to court.’ I was never trying to get out of paying them, they forced me into this fiasco. I’ll gather up all the stuff in chronological order when I can and put it in a new thread.

What do you mean by a comeback?

Yep, I've made sure I have it in writing, I have an excellent trail up until now as I've only liaised by email. Which is one of the reasons they've slipped up so much in my opinion. .

Well my emails have had more than the desired effect. They will settle all accounts for circa £70. I offered them £180 on Wednesday! Once my payment has cleared and they have confirmed receipt I shall put all the evidence on here, so to assist others in a similar situation with this company.

Here's an extract from one of my emails, I will post the whole chain of events here when I am not at work: There was plenty more in this email. I have basically written the chain of transactions on my account (that I'm aware of) and have itemised this in a logical order. I have produced a apreadsheet shedule to make it very clear. My thinking was should it go to Court this will make things very clear for the judge. I'm only just getting started because I can't quantify exactly what charges have been added to my account until I get a breakdown. I've reiterated in my last 3 emails that I need this breakdown and I haven't had it yet.

An update: I have made it clear that I cannot afford to pay them anything on a monthly basis in addition to what I'm paying through the DMP. I made them an offer in full and final settlement which I've clearly stated is due to a relative gifting me the money for this sole purpose. I've since had numerous emails which state they are going to make a claim and listing the costs of which I will suffer if the claim is successful. A lot of scaremongering about attachment of earnings etc. as well. I noted their letter earlier this month stated they would cancel all default charges and interest if I paid them over 3 months i.e. I pay the principal borrowed + £45 admin fee. I have since recalculated this as the figure seemed to high, indeed I worked it out to be a lot less (less than the amount I offered as a lump sum in full & final settlement) so I queried this. Turns out the wording on their offer was wrong and they meant unpaid interest and charges. I worked their offer would only save me £24 compared to the original loan contract (if I hadn't had defaulted and no additional charges were applied). I've obviously requested a full itemised breakdown of account/statement and I'm still waiting on this. I've also questioned why they need to take me to court when a) I am willing to pay the debt, albeit at a reduced rate through the DMP b) I have stuck to the DMP thus far and not missed a payment. I've kept everything in writing so I have solid evidence, can hopefully give you all a log of this and the actual correspondence over the weekend. To me, it is clear Safeloans are using or threatening to use the court process to gain preferential treatment over other creditors. Does this fall foul of OFT guidelines? Also, should I be so lucky to receive claim forms I will be defending in some shape or form so I may call on some help in the near future (it would be very appreciated).

Also, out of interest, is there any other 'benefit' for SL to take up this course of action, other than to bully someone into paying more than they can afford?

It's been a while since I've posted on here, mainly because my debt situation is now under control. Back in March I decided enough was enough and I was fed up trying with the constant communication I was having with creditors in order to manage my debts and repay them. So the good news is I bit the bullet, contacted CCCS and got myself on a DMP. The bad news...Safeloans are not accepting the offer of repayment and instead have sent both myself and the CCCS two repayment proposals and their intention to follow this up with court action to 'protect their interest in this debt'. One proposal for repayments has reduced the amount I owe from around £350 to circa £240. Prior to this I have had emails from Safeloans suggesting that they would refuse to deal with my 'fee charging Debt Management company' and that these often incorrectly inform their clients that payments cannot be made outside of a DMP which is not true etc. As the CCCS have sent them my I&E and list of creditors it is clear that none are getting preferential treatment over the other and that the surplus is going to the CCCS i.e. I don't have any additional money to pay to anyone. My questions: Clearly Safeloans are trying to use this tactic to get me to pay more than I can afford. It is also clear they are using the threat of a CCJ to gain preferential treatment over other creditors. Should I report this to the OFT? Should this go to Court would the judge take a dim view of the above tactics and will it cause them more bother? I have a sneaky suspicion that Safeloans won't be able to provide me with an itemised breakdown of my account and therefore I will defend a claim (if it happens) just to be a pain in the bum. But can I factor the scare tactics into a defence too? Essentially I just want to be the pain in their backside rather than the other way round from now on.

Thanks a lot. Hopefully I will get a grasp on what's going on when I phone on Monday.

Hi all, I have been in arrears with my unsecured personal loan repayments to Santander which has been passed to 'DMRS' (as far as I can tell this is just a department of Santander). After not being able to get anywhere on the phone agreeing to a repayment plan I wrote to them, together with a repayment schedule which shows the loan and the arrears to be paid in full by beginning of July 2012 (the loan term finishes end of March 2012). The monthly repayments are not uniform each month, but only increase as time goes on i.e. month 1 £xxx, month 2 & 3 £yyy, months 4 - 8 £zzz). I received another phone call which stated I could only setup a repayment plan if the monthly amounts were uniform but they would accept my repayment schedule if the CCCS sent it to them. I don't really see the need for a third party to become involved, but if I do go to the CCCS are they going to want to know everything about all my other debts? I've basically been doing all my debt management and repayment plans myself and I'm quite fine to do this. Any advice welcome, thanks.

Right, PDE had agreed to a 6 month repayment plan with 3 lots of payments at £60 and 3 x £185 thereafter. Having now had all the remaining money from my account cleared today (which I did not expect) I phoned the bank to see what card transactions had taken place. Seems PDE has taken £175 instead of £60, in chunks of £25 or £50. Obviously I need to contact PDE and inevitably cancel my debit card. Does anyone have bank details for PDE? any future payments are now going to be done by bank transfer (if I make them). I've read about reporting this and getting a crime number and reversing the transaction and will do this if needs be i.e. they won't refund the money. Alternatively I will negotiate to pay the remaining balance over a longer period because they've now put me in a tight position, or push them for a lower settlement amount if I can afford it. Any advice?