I had a payday loan with Payday UK and missed a payment due to unforseen circumstances. Payday UK emailed me and asked for me to phone them to resolve the issue or "Failure to respond to this will result in your account being passed to a specialist debt recovery company." I phoned them and tried to reach an affordable re-payment plan. They refused to discuss a plan until I gave them my bank card details, I declined and said I wasnt willing to continue the discussion and ended the call. After a few failed attempts of trying to get my card details, they finaly decided to discuss a repayment plan with me, but refused all the offers that I made. According to the OFT Debt management Guidance 2003 section 2.6F - they can not force me to repay more than I can comfortable afford and if I offer to make a reduced payment then they can not refuse it. This was their 1st mistake! They continued to tell me my only option was to pay a £75 holding fee by card at that moment, then my account would be put on hold. I would then to pay a further £200 on the next three consecutive paydays. I didnt accept their plan because firstly I couldnt afford it and secondly I didnt trust them. After ending the call I did some research into the company and found that people have paid the holding fee but then the whole debt was taking out of their bank accounts a few days later, without permission. There is lesson number one for me, I will never let them get hold of my bank card details, they have no right to this information and they can not be trusted. I will also have no further contact with them by telephone, I want everything in writing as I do not trust them to make agreements over the telephone. They can not force me to communicate over the phone so I simply refuse to answer their security questions and tell them to contact me in writing. They have said I need to speak to an advisor to discuss my options so I asked them for the legislation that says I must make verbal agreements and they had no responce. I have now received a letter from Keyes Whitlock, this is a trading name for MEM Consumer Finance, as is Payday UK. They are the 'specialist debt recovery company' but they are not a company at all, I am in the process of finding out if they even have a licence to collect debts. I have sent an email today to [email protected] (because they are the same company) and I will keep you updated. I also sent a copy of the email to my bank to make them aware of the situation and to help them protect my money. In the email, I have also asked for a breakdown of the total amount owed. I will not pay anything until I have this information in writing and I will be checking all the interest rates and charges. According to OFT Debt management Guidance 2003 section 2.10D – you can not add charges as a penalty for non payment, other than to cover the real costs of collections activity. If anyone follows the above advise, please report your card as lost to your bank and if the bank then allow MEM to take the money from your account once they have been made aware of the situation, you can complain to banking ombudsman for unfair practice. These companys will try anything to take your money without reaching an acceptable agreement and we need to be smart to their ways. I hope I can help someone else with this information.