Possibly not actually, since I've just read that cars are excluded from Credit Card Protection...

Did you pay for it on a credit card, out of interest? If you did you might be protected.

Go into the branch and talk to the bank manager. Ask to renegotiate to a lower level of repayment. They want your custom as a potentially high earning graduate. The fact that they asked how much you could pay back in the first place also means they'll be more likely to change it for you.

Not very helpful, I know, but he should never have accepted a caution. If they had no evidence, they had no case, so he would have been cleared in court.

Have you never had a contract mobile phone or similar? That's usually why student accounts are rejected. Lack of any form of credit history. It doesn't have to be a credit card, but SOMETHING is usually needed.

Well yes I was exploited by the appalling interest rates, but I knew full well what I was signing up for. Every story I've read on here has started 'I failed to pay the loan back' or similar. Well, what do you expect? They're not just going to let you off! If they were claiming people hadn't paid when they really had, it would be a different matter, but as it repeatedly says on the websites of these companies, 'If you think you're going to have problems paying it back, don't take out a loan!' Payday loans are intended for people who have money coming, but not for a couple of weeks and want an advance on that at the cost of the interest rates these companies attach to such loans. If you don't have the foresight to see three weeks ahead and know you're not going to be able to repay it, then it's hardly surprising you end up with debt recovery agencies after you!

Yeah, it's horrendous, but at the same time it's a useful service to people who can't otherwise get credit, such as students. They've saved me a couple of times.