Can anyone give me the latest situation in respect of claiming compensation in relation to Payday loans which are over 6 years old. I've read suggestions from 12 months ago that the Ombudsman was starting to look at these loans. What's the latest?

Hello. This is my first post, so please go easy on me. I went through a really bad period with payday loans a couple of years ago, which thankfully I managed to get out off. I was only able to get out of the debt spiral thanks to a new high paying job which I started in September 2013. Now that I have had some time to reflect I realise that the sheer volume of payday loans I was dealing with was immense. Here are some of the details: • Between 15/03/2011 and 03/09/2015 (4.5 years) I took out a total of 113 payday loans, across 11 different payday lenders. • Of these loans, I rolled over on 55 occasions. • In total I borrowed £56K and repaid £85K, resulting in £29K in interest. • Prior to my first payday loan my credit rating was so poor that high street lenders turned me down and payday loan companies were the only ones who would lend to me. • I did not default on any loans (I was desperate to not damage my credit rating further). • I did not have any gambling problems. • From what I can see, all of my payday loans are appearing on my Call Credit report (there is at least 100+ payday loans on my credit file). • I have bank statements for the duration I had the payday loans. • I often paid loans off and then instantly took out another with same company. • I took out payday loans to pay off other payday loans. • I also borrowed from friends, and took out guarantor loans in order to finally get my payday loan debt under control. • I had multiple payday loans with the same company at the same time, but under different lending names (i.e. Payday UK and Payday Express). • I had payday loans and longer term loans with the same company (i.e. Pounds to Pocket and Quick Quid) • The five highest APRs I paid to payday loan companies was as follows: 1. 47,700,103% 2. 5,000,000% 3. 3,076,698% 4. 146,975% 5. 93,133% I have reached out to all of the payday loan companies to obtain full details of the loans (Statement of Account). Most have been responsive, but for the ones who have not, I have been able to reconstruct the details from the agreements and bank statements. My plan is to approach the payday lenders to ask for a repayment of interest on the basis that my behaviour with them (i.e. rolling over and relending on the same day I paid off previous loans), together with my credit file should have confirmed that these loans were unaffordable. My concern though is whether or not I mentioned the other payday loans when I was applying, and whether this omission could be seen as fraud. Having looked through the various forums, I can’t see this point specifically addressed anywhere but I am certain I won’t be the only one who has this concern. Also, as I can’t be certain if I did or did not mention this when asked, should I not include the fact I had other payday loans with other companies when making my complaints? I am also concerned that the fact I did not default on any of the loans means I am less likely to receive a pay-out. I would welcome anyone’s thoughts on this.

Apologies if this is a regular question ... I took out a series of PayDay loans in Apr-July 2012, rolling over each month with the same company. Eventually I got the bank to issue a new debit card (said I had lost old one) to break the CPA and default the loan. After several difficult phone calls I got them to agree to a DMP where I paid off the loan in £10 installments per month, which I have been doing ever since. Now my credit file lists these payments as against a regular loan - an 'Advance against Income' . The loan is dated as starting the day I failed to pay my rolled over loan, with a complete (though occasionally inaccurate) list of my monthly payments. Regarding the credit listing surely this is not legit and the loan should be marked as defaulted? I had not been concerned too much until recently when I found this is messing up my application for a mortgage (overall my circumstances are better now). I want to get this 'loan' taken off my credit file or at least marked as a default against the original, which would be far less toxic than the current situation. Can anyone comment on the legal situation here and can I quickly force them to mark this as defaulted (around Aug 2012). deed can I make a complaint against the PDL over the rolled over loans, no credit checks taken ( I was in arrears on my Mortgage at the time) even though this is all before the new FCA rules, and include this demand as well? Thanks in advance for any advice, I appreciate your efforts.

Hi Guys, This is my 1st Post so not sure what the rules etc are. I am 25 years old and had unfortunately fallen into the trap of gambling however I have recently (2months back) started GA. The good news is that I have not had a gamble since starting the programme however the bad news is the large amount of debt it has left me in. Whilst gambling I was applying for payday loan after payday loan desperately trying to find the funds to continue with gambling. I was allowed to get payday loans easily to feed my addiction. At one point I believe I had 7 payday loans from different companies at the same time. I have paid off many payday loans however there are many that have now been sent to debt collectors. Is there anything I can do??? Any comments will be greatly appreciated - Cheers for taking the time to read

Well a little bit of background Info in a period from 2010-2014 I got caught In the payday debt spiral like many others did I would often move from one lender to next In a desperate attempt to try and make my month salary meet my everyday commitments, I eventually got out of the trap but not without a big impact to my credit score and mental health (I found myself to scared to open letters and ans phone calls I even changed email address to avoid dealing with the problem) I realise this was a stupid thing to do but believe this may have been caused by a mild form of depression caused by the stress of the situation. I would often feel intimidated by these companies and would agree to repay amounts I couldn't afford when trying to get then to agree to repayment plans, I even had a period when I went on holiday with my partner where I would have mild panic attacks when my phone would ring as I knew my mum was staying at our house looking after my young son and was worried one of these lenders had rang her or had sent a collection agency around. I have since started on a DMP with step change and started to get back on my feet, I am annoyed with myself for not acting sooner but honestly didnt have the confidence to deal with the issue and at the time I was mentally a mess unfortunately this resulted in me getting 2 ccjs one that should have been statue barred and one (uncle buck) where a defualt hadn't even been issued but because of my mental state I just wasn't in a position to fight these, I have however kept up with the repayments and both will be satisfied in next few months. I have recently learnt that a number of these loans will have been classed as irresponsible lending and to begin with I just passed it off as not worth the fight (again scared of potential outcome and maybe being forced to repay more effect my dmp ect) but on Sunday decided I was going to fight them due to the effects these loans have had on me as a person. I originally sent this email on Sunday night to all the lenders I have since received rather speedy replies from a number of lenders and have just sent my first ever complaint and feel quite liberated in doing so. any further advice would be greatly appreciated, I know this wont be a short process and I am hoping that I can continue with the positive mental state and not sink back into the shell im gradually crawling out of.

Hi, This is my first time on here so sorry if this is not in the correct thread. I took a loan out in my partners name in 2015 and he's only just found out. I had a massive gambling problem then, I have tried repaying some of it but my debt spiralled out of control due to the gambling issue and I've stopped paying it! I just need some advice on how to fix this? I know probably some people will judge me for what I did and I suppose it's fair enough but any advice is appreciated. The loan was for £2200 taken with AvantCredit, they did not ask me to prove my identity either, that might've perhaps put a stop to that (I'm not blaming them). Thank you in advance

Hi a bit of advice needed I had a payday loan with Next Credit. This loan was taken out in early 2013. Unfortunately due to serious debt issues I was unable to pay. Moving forward to 2016, I checked my credit file and Next credit had been reporting the loan as “late payment” for 3 years, no default. I made a complaint with them regarding this and they sent a final response in June 2016 saying “your credit file is a true reflection of the status of the loan”. I was going to raise this with the ombudsman but to be honest I forgot. I want to get this sorted I am happy to pay the balance (what currently is 2.8 times the loan amount) but I feel 3.5 years of late payment markers is unfair. If I pay this now it would be a further 6 years until this falls of my credit report. My question is what can I do, I understand I am out of time to complain to the FOS. I did make a complaint to the information commissioner's office, 4 months ago but I have not heard anything (I have chased this up and they keep saying they are busy) Is there any other options, could I file a county court claim maybe? If I can what would I file it under- i.e- mishandling of personal data? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Credit unions have been around in the UK since the late 1970s and are a form of co-operative and self help organisation. They were set up to offer low-cost loans of smaller amounts for people who couldn’t get affordable credit, or who were using doorstep lenders. Sadly, they are an underused resource, but they are a realistic alternative to payday loans [PDLs] and loansharks. As they are not profit-making, their rates are much lower than other high street lenders or PDL companies. There are 400 to 500 credit unions in the UK with almost a million members. As well as low-cost loans for smaller amounts, some now offer current accounts, savings and mortgages. Who can they help? Whilst the main aim of credit unions was to provide affordable loans to people who can’t get help from the banks, nowadays they also appeal to people who want to bank with an ethical organisation and benefit their local community. And because their rates are attractive, credit unions are becoming a popular form of affordable borrowing. Any member of a union can apply for a loan. How do I find a local credit union? The ABCUL website has a search facility to find a local credit union. Once you find one near you, you will still need to check the rules to make sure you are eligible to be a member. http://www.findyourcreditunion.co.uk/home There is also a helpline on 0161 832 3694.. And your local library or CAB may be able to help. Who can join? Each union will have its own rules, but generally you will need to live or work locally, or belong to the same employer or organisation as other members. For example, the NHS participates, along with some transport companies, trade unions, churches and other organisations. From 2012, organisations as well as individuals are allowed to be members of credit unions. What is the least I can save? Credit unions will let you save as little or as much as you can afford when you have money to spare, weekly, monthly or more frequently. You can make deposits at your local credit union branch or local collection points like shops, or have money deducted from your wages or by direct debit from a bank account. When you save, you know you will be helping neighbours or colleagues, rather than helping to make money for shareholders. And at the end of the year, your credit union aims to pay out a dividend on your savings, depending on how well the union has done. According to ABCUL, this can be up to 8% of what you’ve saved. Many credit unions include Life Assurance at no extra cost. How do I get an affordable loan and how much can I borrow? Loans are usually available up to around £3000. To borrow, you need to be a member of the credit union. They will take into account your circumstances and make sure you can afford the repayments. Life assurance should be built into the loan at no extra cost, so if someone dies owing money, it’s paid off by the insurance. What will it cost? This calculator helps you work out how much it might cost to repay a loan, although you would need to check with your local union. The most a credit union is allowed to charge is 26.8% interest, compared with 4000% for some payday loans! http://www.abcul.org/credit-unions/b...a-credit-union Can I pay the loan off early? Yes, there is no charge for this. If I invest, can I lose my money? Your money is protected in the same way as other savings, by the FSCS [Financial Services Compensation Scheme]. http://www.fscs.org.uk/ Credit unions are regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority [FCA]. Where do I find out more? For other information, here is a link to the ABCUL website. Or contact your local credit union. http://www.abcul.org/home

PDL company admitted fault in final response offered compensation which was accepted and a date by which it would be paid was agreed. That date has come and gone and the PDL company now say they are to busy with claims to pay up and don't know when they will pay the money. Is the agreement you already have with them as legally binding as it would be had they been directed to pay by the Ombudsman. It seems this is the latest from CFO lending and there are multiple reports of them doing this.

Hi Everyone, I wouldn’t mind some help or tips in how to deal with reclaiming some money back on a payday loan mess that I got into a few years back. All of the loans were before the amendments to the short term loans credit rules in 2015, can I still claim they were irresponsible? I’ve read the really helpful guides on here and put together my complaint to the lenders and issued them recently. There’s a summary below of the amounts I’ve borrowed over the years: Wonga - 9,984.00 Quickquid - 11,500.00 Payday UK - 10,960.00 Payday Express - 1,065 Lending Stream - 280.00 Capital Finance One - 660.00 Pounds to Pocket - 1,500.00 Mr Lender - 200.00 Wage Day Advance- 500.00 Total £36,649 In short like so many people on here I got into a spiral of debt with payday lenders and ended up basically paying them off every month through my salary only to borrow again as soon as they were paid off. I also used some to pay others off, rolled the debts over and deferred payments regularly. I’ve complained to Wonga, Payday UK, QuickQuid, Capital Finance One, Pounds to Pocket & Lending Stream. I still need to submit a complaint to Payday Express and Mr Lender. A few queries I have at this stage are some of the loans go back to 2009, can I still claim back the charges and interest on these? What about if this was a continuous account that went from 2009 – 2013? It seems that the Payday UK was treated as one account with a continuous amendment to the balance and transactions rather than separate loans each time. I’m hoping to get at least a partial refund or cleared balance on most of the companies but would really like the loans and defaults removing from my credit file, any tips on how best to achieve this? One or two of the accounts were sold to DCA’s – Motormile is one that appears on my CRA files, how can I get aim to get this default removed do I need to pursue the original lender or Motormile? Any help that anyone can offer would be greatly received.

Hi, am receiving emails and letters from Motormile Finance with regards to a QQ payday loan. Just looking for some help on how to deal with them. I have heard some debts come under the CCA and if they cannot come up with a contract then they cannot pursue? iS this correct? Any advice much appreciated.

Good evening guys, I am looking for some advice, 8 years ago I was in a pretty bad financial state, I had to juggle payay loans to survive...it got so bad that in the end I had a mental breakdown and ended up just walking away from everythingaround 30,000 worth of debt. 8 years on I have got my life on track, changed surnames and slowly tried to build my credit rating... The other day I received a letter saying that my payday loan has been purchased by prac and had a letter with bw legal...they gave me 28 days to pay etc... I just don't know what to do...I have checked through all my emails and found that I did take a payday uk loan out in 2009... I checked my credit file and noticed bw legal have done a search in my old and new name, are they just phising or do they know its me? As I'm on the electoral role in my new name? I'm scared if I contact the company send letters etc. that other debts will catch up with me...also it will effect the credit rating Ive spent the last six years trying to build up. If I contact them which name do I use? Again I have nothing in my old name for the past six years. I'm not eating or sleeping I feel sick. The sum of money owed is not a great deal but will it bring others out of the woodwork... I have heard bw legal take people to court. I have been punished and learnt my lesson Please help Thankyou

Hi all, Having read through many threads on this excellent site, I decided to raise formal complaints with a number of payday loan lenders. Between around 2012 and 2014 I took out around 60 payday loans. After the first few loans, I quickly found myself short of money after paying off the loans, and having to take out new ones again. Eventually I threw the towel in and started a DMP around the start of this year. My complaints were based on the loans being un-affordable, and that they should have been for short-term lending only. Complaints were raised in early October to the lenders. Here are the results so far: Pounds to Pocket - did not agree that the loans were unaffordable. However, they have cleared my outstanding loan in full. £996 written off as a goodwill gesture! : ) Lending Stream - didnt agree loan was unaffordable, but they reduced £105 from outstanding balance - refund of interest charged after i informed them of DMP - which i accepted. QuickQuid - did not agree that the loans were unaffordable. They offered me a £150 goodwill payment which I did not accept. Complaint with FOS. I am aware of recent redress ruling, but no contact from that. Peachy - This lender did not agree that the loans were unaffordable. Complaint with FOS 4Finance / Vivus.co.uk - This lender has not responded to my complaint. I dont think they operate in UK any more but they do have brands all over Europe. Does anybody know how I can contact them as they are ignoring my emails? Complaint also with FOS DifferentMoney (My Mate) - did not agree that the loans were unaffordable - with FOS Wonga - acknowledged my complaint, but not provided a response yet (still within 8 week window) Mr Lender - did not agree that the loan was unaffordable - with FOS Ladder Loans - acknowledged my complaint, but has not provided a response yet (still within 8 week window). I am aware of Dollar Financial redress scheme, no contact from that either. So... not a bad result on my complaints so far with around £1150 written off. I'll keep you all posted as the other complaints develop. My advice to anybody in similar situation to me, get those complaints in! pjb

Hi All i took our various payday loans some few years back as had real money issues ..working like mad to clear 2 mortgages on 2 houses and tenants not paying rent. in the end had to take out various Payday Loans Quick Quid Payday Express Payday UK Wonga Txt Loans at the point of taking these loans out my credit had around 1 defaults and late payments wonga wrote to me and actually admitting mis selling and wrote the loan off Txt Loans was only a small amount and that was paid off Quick Quid not paid off ..complaint put in not had final response that was months ago they passed that to collection agent i wrote told them there was a complaint in they havent pursued the it. not heard anything from payday express or payday uk and now received letter from BW Legal saying they are now handling the account for their client prac and that prac have purchased the debts. Ca anyone advise on what is the best way to handle these debts many thanks lets

Hi, I received a ccj threat from Asset Collections & Investigations ltd Glasgow they purchased it from Lending stream limited. I sent online an acknowledgment 0f service back and said i intend to defend the case this was on the 19 jan 2017 I have 28 days to defend it. the original sharks lending stream kept offering roll overs and when i got into difficulties they didnt want to know. seems it got sold off and now asset collections are sending this through COUNTY COURT bulk centre northampton. I want to defend my case But I am not entirely sure what grounds I should use???? can anyone advise me on ways to delay or get some help defend against it please. Best Regards Paul. ps. total claim £1572 + 0.34 day interest

Hi in 2009 i had personal problems and got into financial mess. I went overdrawn on bank account and took out many many payday loans. I was taking out loans to payback loans. After putting my head in he sand for many years i decided to sort finances out. I complained to each of my lenders on grounds of irresponsible lending and here are the results Wonga 5 loans £1000 outstanding written off due to technical error? Quick quick 16 loans many rollover £1000 written off plus £250 compensation did take several letters before agreement Payday express 2 loans £1200 written off 1 letter of complaint Lending srream 4 loans several months of complaining then went to FOS interest refunded plus £250 compensation Merligen investments £150 written off 2 letters to complain Good banks Barclays had 2 loans and overdraft which they lump together in on loan with 0% interest. Then 2 years later after paying £100 per month offered settlement of £2400 on a amount of £12000 Hlaifax accumulated £600 of bank charges after I had been paying for a couple of years phoned them and they wrote the balance of £400 off Bad banks Natwest had to continue write go to FOS for ppi compensation still fighting for CPP before 2015 Trition evil phone me nightly and threatened to take away my house and told me i would lose my job they made me worthless to the point one night after a particularly nasty call i thought about suicide and only did not because i knew my 4 year old son would find my body. I acknowledge that i was an irresponsible But so were the lenders. . In many cases such as quick quid i paid double the amount written off in interest. If you feel that lenders have been irresponsible complain

Hi I took a loan out with these guys and struggled to pay it. I did make a complaint with FOS and they declined my complaint (which surprised me as I was in default already with this company and in major debt) However my account is in limbo land. Instead of defaulting the account they keep putting on my credit file its a late payment. My main issue, I have the money to pay. They won't take it (i have offered since December). I have asked and they keep giving me a standard answer advising they are waiting for the FOS to reply, I tell they have and they go quiet. I sent a faster payment to clear the debt and it was returned. I made a second complaint regarding customer service. Terrible company. Any suggestions? thank you

Hi all, need a bit of advice please as to how to proceed realistically if you dont mind, here goes - A family member ( yes, honestly) has just bit the bullet and come clean to her other half regarding all the debt she is in. Luckily shes done it before it had any impact on their priority debts ( mortgage, utilities etc). They are all Payday Loans and are relatively recent ( some recently renewed). Heres the state of play at the moment - Inventive - £163 per month. Pounds to Pocket - £154 per month. Sunny - £275 per month. Very - £70 per month. - on top of these, she also has a Wonga loan with a balance of £1307 thats costing her £400 per month to "roll over". So as you can see, shes currently paying around £1000 a month to these firms and its got to breaking point. Two of them are paid by Direct Debit which Ive already got her to cancel through Internet Banking, the other three ( including Wonga) are by monthly Debit card payment. Ive told her to go to the bank this coming Monday and report the card as lost, this should generate a new card but with a different security code thereby stopping the other companies taking any money. Im sure I dont need to tell you that her other half has literally hit the roof, and understandably so, but he knows Ive been through dealing with debt some years ago when I divorced and has asked me for help. There is no question that he wants to repay these loans, but at an affordable rate, so I have a couple of questions for you. After all his priority debts, there is around £300 a month spare cash. Hes happy to offer each company £25 a month until the debts are cleared. Do you think this is reasonable? Also, do you think any of these firms will freeze the interest and if not, is there anything we can do about this? At the rate of £25 a month it will take a little over 4 years to clear the greatest debt (Wonga), is this also reasonable? (that is if they freeze the interest). Everything will be done in writing and by Recorded Delivery so if I do get any agreements, at least Ive got a paper record! So people, I could do with some more experienced input and will keep this thread updated for anyone else in this situation. Thanks in advance all.

Hi, I've recently had a letter from robinson way, offering to close my account and to record partially satisfied. Ideally I'd like the default completely removed. I'd like to know if this is even possible, or is it a waste of my time trying to negotiate this with them? Thanks!

So it turns out PDLs are not just bad for your Bank Account & Wallet - They are also bad for your brain too!! I highlight the below because this is still massively worrying...

Hi, I'm new here so thought I'd just dive right in with my situation and see if there's anybody here that may be able to lend some advice. So over the past 2 years I'd say, I've collected up some payday loan debts to which all the remaining ones are now on small repayment plans of £1-£5 a month as I'm a student at university. At some points during taking our these loans I have had summer jobs and reborrowed from lenders with the same details even tho I wasn't in work at the time I claimed I was in order to ensure I would receive the loan. As I took out some of the most recent loans (Payday UK and Mr Lender) in particular, the other loans were already on smaller repayments plans and my credit score was horrific. So the creditors I owe too are as follows: Mr Lender £332 Piggybank £577 Wageday Advance £142 Balmoral Financial £435 Payday UK £435 Safetynetcredit £244 Satsuma Loans/ Moorecroft debt collection £128.24 Some of these I have had for over a year now but I was in a stage where I was going through a gambling problem and suffering with some mental health issues (both are currently going well as of now), and was in a rut where I would be lending straight after paying off a previous loan or lending to pay off other loans companies, so I feel as though this tied in with my old gambling habits during the time of my mental health issues as well as being an unemployed student that there is some irresponsible lending occurring and that more checks should have been put in place by this loans companies? My only worry is, is that I have them all on small repayment programme's now that the company may cancel them and demand all the repayment (which I can't afford) at once. Or that the fact on some of the applications I had lied about being employed or did not mention that I was to use the money on gambling its my fault not theres. I'm really not sure at all about this or where I should take it/ what to do with it but its a problem thats been in the back of my mind for a couple of years now and feel like its time I tried to see if there was anything I could do. Thanks in advance for anybody who has any advice for me. Charlie.

Hi there all, No idea if iv posted in right place but im new. Background history - Owe £17500 over 10 creditors which I started an IVA for with DFD in 2013. Payments were minimum possible and the IVA failed within the year. Was informed by CAB/ND I had been given really bad advice from DFD and wasn't the right option. Began a DMP with a non fee paying organisation two years ago for all 10 creditors. Two have gone AWOL and have bounced back payments to DMP and had no contact. Have been advised they will contact me when they want their money so to just wait. Other 8 creditors are being paid their share of a low payment every month. Some remain with OC, some passed to DCA. All charges and interest frozen now, all communication goes through DMP, I get statements from time to time and that's it. So got into a pickle in June this year whereby my car failed MOT, massive bill which exceeded any emergency funds greatly. Unable to borrow from anywhere else I got a payday loan. Paid back no probs end of june. Obviously as this left me hundreds short I borrowed another one in July and paid that back and another in August. Due to pay back next week for one and other end of sept start. There is 3 loans altogether. Initial amounts borrowed £300, £550, £700. I need to go back slightly, after dragging my old banger through the MOT, the head gasket blew two weeks ago. Just two months after shelling out loads of money. Got a quote to have fixed and it was £1000 best case scenario. The car isn't worth it, and would of meant yet another payday loan so I have cut my losses and the car has been scrapped. To top all this off my ex decided in July this year he would start messing around with the maintenance paid via CSA and short pay. They are currently reassessing the payments so don't know what to expect or when to expect it. I am unable to go to work at present (work community based and car essential). I have put in a claim with DWP for benefits as I have a child under the age of five and am a lone parent. So can claim income support. I cant get a car on loan as poor credit history. And I need to get out of this ridiculous borrowing trap. I wish I had not bothered to fix the car initially, and just scrapped it then. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I am aware DMP will likely kick me off as I guess taking out the loans are classed as breaking the agreement. I agree that it was a bad thing. I was trying to do anything to stay in work! I am a single parent with two kids. But whats happened has happened. The only slightly good thing is that I have £90 additional surplus income now a month, which after taking out busfare etc then its what im not paying out for having a car. What would your advise be? To carry on paying DMP and not upset the cart with those creditors and split the £90 a month between the three payday companies? Or ring DMP and ask them if they are prepared to take on the payday loans and advise I have extra a month now? There is already seven defaults on my credit report, so im not concerned with the PDL places adding any. I was amazed they lent me any money after seeing the defaults. Two did credit searches which show up, the other one didn't. Bankruptcy is not an option as I rent and my landlord is likely to ask me to leave. IVA was not suitable. DRO, I have more than £50 a month surplus. I am happy to plod on with the DMP for the next 10-12yr. Its my debt, I want to repay it. Just wanted to see what your advice was on dealing with the PDL companies. Im expecting a lot of trouble from them and hassle but I literally cannot pay what I don't have. In your experiences will they accept £30 a month each on the above balances and help or am I facing court action? Thanks in advance : )

Good Morning to everyone here at CAG, another one of the many issues we've had to face at least it's not a council issue as before. I'm here to warn everyone and I have been a bit lazy and not searched the forum for any related articles, but I do feel this information needs to be passed on. This information concerns several business's and so I will Bold each one and to why I'm warning people of this. I will also provide as much information as I can, including links "BUT PLEASE DON'T USE THESE COMPANIES" The reason I'm posting this, is due to my wife. I run my own Small Business and by small I mean we currently only have one client, I also have a very bad credit history (though we are trying to resolve this) so trying to get the business of the off the ground with no money and no financial help is very hard work (Especially when you can't get credit). My wife works in order to bring in a steady income enough for our family to survive while we sort out our financial situation and get the business running. Now this concerns several business's in the "PayDay" loan sector and the mistake my wife made (Though not through any fault of her own), so I would like to pass this information on to everyone. So due to it coming up to Christmas, we have been short on money and so my wife looked at some loans and this is where it starts. Hypercross Limited: CN: 07720400 - Trading as Just Lend Cash They sent out a text message to my wife This appealed to my wife, as it was offering the loan to be paid back over 3 months. So she went to the website and saw it was a form for a loan and filled out the details. My wife being my wife, didn't think anything strange of this and so she hit the apply button and waited. This is where it all went wrong, as rather than tell her yes or no she's got the loan it redirected to the following site. http://www.loans-directuk.net/ Now if you look at the site, it tells you that it's a membership site and will cost you £69.95 to sign up. However this was not the case for my wife and it had automatically signed her up to the site. Though I have been through the email account in question and cannot find any emails from either company to confirm this, the only email I have is from me advising them that this was done fraudulently and advised if they take any money from the account it would be reported as so. So they did take the money from the account and subsequently been reported for fraud to the police, Action Fraud and the bank. We are just awaiting on the pending transaction to go through, at which point the bank will claw back the funds. DO NOT USE JUST LEND CASH - THEY FRAUDULENTLY OBTAIN MONIES BY DECEPTION Ok so the next one has got me very angry, even to a point I'm half tempted to visit this companies so called office of registration I only live 30 minutes from them. Frontier Finance Limited: CN: 06081861 - Personal Loan Finder (PLF) This was a cold call from the company PLF, I was around at the time of the call though not during the initial stages of the call. During this call they took details from my wife, including Debit Card details. I caught the call at this point and asked my wife to tell the lady on the phone that I wished to speak to her, she rang off as I said hello. My wife advises me that they had asked her to go to the website once she received the login details to approve the loan, so the text came through and this time I did the website information and looked at it. So I logged into the account with the details they provided and the first thing I noticed was the fee required, which was £39.99 at this point I said to my wife that there was no chance as I'm not paying a fee and we left it at that. Now my wife went to work and came home at 9pm, to advise me she had been paid a day early. So with the first part of this topic, I logged onto the account with the intention of removing all funds from the account to stop any money from leaving if it did. To my amazement, there was a discrepancy of £158.27 this rang alarm bells straight away. The £69 had been taken by Loans Direct for which was the reason for login into the account in the first place to make sure fund were not available to this company. There was however another £89.50 missing that was not accounted for, so we contacted the banks fraud department who have now advised that the £89.50 was taken by a company called Elite Loans Limited. This rang further alarms bells, as my wife had not had any dealings with this company and so I investigated and what I found is shocking to say the least. Elite Loans Limited: CN: 7179840 I've checked their website and also done a Companies House check on the company to see if they are a sister company of Frontier Finance who operate Personal Loan Finder and this is what I found and according to the details on companies house and on company check, they don't appear to be related but I know they are because it's the only other company that has taken my wife's debit card details.. Frontier Finance has in the last 24 hour since I raised a complaint to them (as the only way to contact them was through an email address, as the telephone numbers don't work) and advised I have reported them, have now removed their company number from their website or it's not at the bottom where it was last night. Since all this has happened, we have raised this with the police as fraud who have passed details across to Action Fraud. I've also contacted Action Fraud, who will be contacting me at some point today to discuss further. It has also been reported to the bank, who are going to claw back the monies and dispute against both companies. Now my advice to anyone and everyone, including those of you who feel you would know better. Investigate a company first, if it sounds to good to be true it most certainly is. Do all the necessary checks first and under no circumstance give out you Debit/Credit Card details over the phone especially if they require you to approve via a website and even then make sure you read the fine print. I've listed some links of useful site to use below. http://companycheck.co.uk/ - Check out the company first http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//wcframe?name=accessCompanyInfo http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ I will post up more information on how we get on, as and when we get it.

after recently discovering we could claim back from PDL's, I recently approached Payday UK for a statement of my account. It was a general query and they immediately responded and said my complaint had been forwarded to their complaints team and they had 8 weeks to respond. 8 weeks arrived and they said they were still investigating my complaint. Great, hadn't made a complaint yet, was just asking about the default on my credit files and a list of my loans I had taken out with them After about 10 weeks they sent me a statement. I was actually shocked when I looked back at all the lending! First loan was taken out in June 2009, and continued till October 2011, when I defaulted and never paid them the outstanding amount of £650. Every month, I either paid off in full, or deferred payment and part paid an amount in "rollover" fees. They only started checking my credit report in april 2011. Amounts involved over 28 months: Amount borrow: £4 625 (including interest) Interest alone: £2 900 Each month I would either pay the whole amount, and then either reloan the same day, or a few days later as I needed the money to survive the rest of the month. I then also started making the mistake of taking other PDL's out to repay them. I feel that with minimal checking, they provided me loans for over two years without checking affordability and should have realised that I was reloaning all the time and that I was spiralling downwards. I took my last loan with them in October 2011 and they defaulted me in July 2012. I intend to accuse them of irresponsible lending. What are my next steps? Do I just email them back saying that I feel I was lent money irresponsibly and that I want a refund of the interest? and default removed? Please advise.

Hi all Hoping you may be able to help me, I was stupidly heavily in debt in 2011 with 16 different payday loan companies (all clear and debt free since then) , I am now in the process of emailing them all regarding irresponsible lending, so far I have had generic responses but nothing further at the moment. I have received this from 247 moneybox and would like some advice on how to respond - not shocked with the response to be honest! Dear.... Hope that you are well. Please find below a copy of our complaints procedure. We are aware that there are many forums and templated letters available on the internet to exploit any previous credit commitments under the wholly subjective banner of affordability. We have seen some legitimate claims upheld in the press such as with the lender Cash Genie. However, to compare our actions with their reported behaviour is inappropriate. We are confident that the required assessments were carried out prior to the advance of all loans. We have had relatively few instances where customers have ultimately look to take recourse with the Financial Ombudsman Service and our record there is good as we are able to substantiate fully the information on which lending decisions were based. Our relationship was based on responsible lending in addition to responsible borrowing. We provided you with all the facts about our product and the charges and costs involved. We treated you as a rational individual able to make a credible decision as to whether to borrow or not. For our part of the relationship we acted on the information available to us at the time and the prevailing regulations and guidance at the time. I am your personal account manager and would be happy to discuss any of the above with you over the phone. I am available on 0207 183 8078 between 08:30 and 18:00 Monday to Friday. If you would prefer, please do feel free to provide a number and time at which I can reach you directly. Kind regards, Shahan Warning: Late repayment can cause you serious money problems. For help, go to moneyadviceservice.org.uk 247Moneybox 20-22 Wenlock Road London N1 7GU Complaints Procedure Customer satisfaction is of utmost importance to 247Moneybox. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you are dissatisfied with our service in anyway. We hope that it never comes to this, however should you wish to make a formal complaint in writing, please address your letter to: Customer Services Department 247Moneybox 20-22 Wenlock Road London N1 7GU If you have a complaint, please write to our Customer Services Department at the address set out above, e-mail us at Upon receipt of your complaint we will do our best to resolve your complaint by the end of the next business day. If we can't do this, we will send you a prompt written acknowledgement of your complaint within 5 working days and tell you who is dealing with it. In addition, we will provide you with a copy of our complaints procedure. If we need to investigate your complaint further to respond fully, we will tell you and keep you regularly updated. We will send you our final response as soon as possible but within eight weeks of receiving your complaint. Our final response will explain that you will have ultimate recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you remain dissatisfied. We will enclose a leaflet (or provide a link to information) from the Financial Ombudsman Service with our final response to assist you if you decide to pursue this further course of action. If looking to do so, you will need to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service within six months of receiving our final response. If you want to make a complaint to our trade association (BCCA), their contact details can be found at the end of this procedure. Our trade association will liaise with us to ensure your complaint is investigated fully and a response is sent out to you.