I am in the proverbial

[Nuggsy]

I have a number of payday loans that i have juggled for god knows how long, i dread to think how much i have paid over the months/years. I have managed to juggle them quite well but now its crunch time and i know i cant afford the interest nevermind the payments this month. I'm stuck as to what to do.

 

The loans i have are:

 

Wonga - £840

PayDayUK - £420

QuickQuid - £400

ToothFairy - £200

Lending Stream - £160

poundstilpayday - £200

 

Now i havent came here for a lecture but i have read this site quite a lot and im really after some help. I want to tell them i cant afford it and i want to go onto some sort of payment plan but i dont like the thought of all the letters/phonecalls as i fear these could make me homeless (i still live with my parents and i have had debt problems in the past whereby the family have bailed me out and i promised it wouldnt happen again).

 

I was thinking (in the chat i have just had with myself ) of sending these companies a load of gauranteed cheques to clear what i owe, even though i dont have the money in the bank i know the bank will be a lot easier (and cheaper) to deal with.

 

does anyone have any ideas? and does anyone have any ideas of what these comapnies are like to deal with?

 

your help is appreciated

[T2upNorth]

Hi Nuggsy, welcome. No lectures here, we leave that to parents, schools, aunties, traffic wardens etc.

 

OK, tricky one because of your living arrangements. Thats an awful lot of guaranteed cheques to be handing out, I'm not sure how the bank would react, or even if they would actually honour all of them.

 

I'll be absolutely honest, these companies are dreadful to deal with. I also think you will struggle to keep this from your family - I'm sorry to be negative but, been there, seen it, sold the t-shirt....

 

Is there any way your bank would give you a short term loan or arranged overdraft to cover the lot?

[Nuggsy]

Hi Nuggsy, welcome. No lectures here, we leave that to parents, schools, aunties, traffic wardens etc.

 

OK, tricky one because of your living arrangements. Thats an awful lot of guaranteed cheques to be handing out, I'm not sure how the bank would react, or even if they would actually honour all of them.

 

I'll be absolutely honest, these companies are dreadful to deal with. I also think you will struggle to keep this from your family - I'm sorry to be negative but, been there, seen it, sold the t-shirt....

 

Is there any way your bank would give you a short term loan or arranged overdraft to cover the lot?

 

Thanks for the quick reply T2, im afraid not. I actually work for the bank in question aswell. If i go ahead with the cheques thing then i know for sure it wont affect my employment, im not sure they will honour them, however, i think they have too. it was the only bright idea i had simply because i know how the bank deals with customers in that sort of situatuion

[T2upNorth]

Well, if you are sure they won't construe it as misconduct, or worse fraud, and if you think they will honour them, it will be cheaper.

 

As you work for the bank you'll know about the penalty charges (oh sorry, not penalties - services ) so you can budget for that.

 

Like I say, its a tough one - quite simply, if you default with a PDL they will hound you with texts, emails, phone calls, letters and probably even try unpleasant telekinetic thoughts.... they are also way above the law (or so they think) so small matters such as harassment and OFT and Data Protection guidlines don't really phase them too much. From what I've seen Toothfairy have the worse reputation. It may be worth searching around here then tryng to focus on paying off the worst behaving ones first.

[T2upNorth]

I'm sure others will be along who can pitch in too, have a look at posts by mjc007.5 amongst others - he started out in a similar situation and is now in control and a valuable poster on CAG!

[T2upNorth]

aha, speak of the devil! How are you mjc007.5, long time no speak!

[mjc007.5]

Hiya Nuggsy,

 

Sorry to hear of your predicament.

 

I was preparing my little missive for you yesterday and suffered IT problems so crashed out before posting! All fixed now so will try again!

 

Kind words from T2upnorth - very grateful, trust you are also well! Also sound advice as always to get you started

 

As T2 says, I started in some very similar proverbial (actually worse! ) in this "market" but with the help and encouragement of the good folk here I am on my way back from the "dark side..." and generally trying to do my little bit to help others along the way....

 

On the negative side these firms are generally nightmares but if you stick to your guns and do not allow them to be bully you there is a path out of this. Your situation is further complicated by living arrangements and working for the bank who hold your account.

 

So my suggestions would be:

 

1. Deal with potential impact on living arrangements first. If your folks will be receptive to a "pre-emptive" explanation this would be best (along the lines of yes you helped me out with this before, I have a bit of problem now which I am going to sort, might get some contact from firms but please let me sort it out etc). Keeps them in the picture but does not call on them to help you again (and hopefully does not risk your continued residence there). Not sure what to suggest otherwise on this one, very tricky....
   
2. Next deal with potential implications to employment. If you are absolutely sure there will be none then ignore the rest of this point. However, often working in your sector will have tough rules in relation to any adverse credit history and you do not want to risk it. Might be worth conversation with any or all of trade union, HR or (if confidential) employee assistance programme.
   
3. As T2 says the cheques would work out cheaper in one respect and you would owe to the bank but as also said there is every chance this would be construed as misconduct by your employer. In addition, I suspect you might be at risk of committing fraud if you write the cheques to "cover" the debts in the knowledge that the funds were not available at the time (this is different to writing them for some future time which these companies trade on - they would have to prove intent to never repay). I would not recommend this as is very high risk as well as legally questionable
   
4. The path out of this is messy, time consuming and unpleasent but it can be done
   
5. First thing is a parachute account - preferably with a completely different banking group to that which you have now (in order to guard against the "right of offset"). If you do not do this they will drain your salary as soon as it arrives - many or all of those you list have proven track record of this
   
6. Next you will need to report your debit card as lost or stolen. Best to replace with simple debit card (ie no cheque guarantee facility) if possible
   
7. Next is to sit down and work out realistic repayment offer to each that you can afford. Best way to do this is via info on any of the debt charity sites (nationaldebtline, payplan or cccs). If you can work out complete I & E (even with their help) and pro-rata offers then this is what the courts would offer to them if it ever got that far. They will huff and puff and be absolutely terrible but if you do this it really is rarely going to be in their interests to continue pursuit
   
8. Now prepare for the forthcoming barrage of harrassing calls - and they will come. If you can pre-empt them with either a second line into the house that is only yours or a VOIP type service like SKYPE then all the better, If not send them the telephone harrassment letter from this site (I have thrown this together with the "doorstep visit" template for debt collection agencies). For your mobile number, set them all up with recognisable ring tone and proceed to ignore
   
9. Send your letter above together with offer letter to each of them. Your offer letter should also request that charges/interest are at suspended (you can challenge this together with alleged balances at a later point). If by post, recorded delivery. If you have email contacts then this is okay.
   
10. Whatever follows stick to what you offer - as you have worked this out to be genuinely affordable they would not get more with court action and eventually most will see this to be true and fall into line
    
11. Those that you agree a plan with, including a level of balance and charges that you are comfortable with, continue repayments and all is well.
    
12. Those that you cannot agree a plan with and/or pass to DCA. Depends on your personal preference but worth going on the offensive - CCA request, complaints (OFT, consumer direct, companies house if liscensing or other issues - ignore BCCA or FLA, they are pointless). Depending on debt level if CCA request not effective then move to SAR!
    

There are many folk here who are going through this and a whole lot worse who can offer you all the advice you ever need. General principle for me having stabilised a very wobbly ship is to focus on resolving oustanding legally owed debt whilst standing up for yourself - this will along the way bring many trials and tribulations but equally will help you to reduce your debt more quickly.

 

All the best, keep folk posted and ask away if you need anything more

[Josie8]

I was thinking (in the chat i have just had with myself ) of sending these companies a load of gauranteed cheques to clear what i owe, even though i dont have the money in the bank i know the bank will be a lot easier (and cheaper) to deal with.

 

That would be fraud and you may well find that your employer (the bank) may well sack you for Gross Misconduct

[Nuggsy]

Cheers MJC, i really wasnt expecting such a comprehensive reply. I'm busy trawling the internet now to see what i can do. i Shall keep you all updated.

 

Thanks

[Nuggsy]

MJC i'm just wondering, is it worth dealing with someone like CCCS? to let them deal with the companies on my behalf?

[mjc007.5]

You are very welcome - will always try and help (and it was a quiet night shift!)

 

Keep folk posted and best of luck

[sillygirl1]

I would take a slightly different approach to the pro rata approach, with the pro rata approach you will NEVER get anything paid off.

 

I was lucky enough to have £160 'free' to pay bills with and did my own DMP, paying the larger ones a token payment for six months, despite their huffing and puffing, and DIDN'T fill in an I&E, without a court order these are useless.

 

The companyies sometimes insist they need to know the names of your 'other' creditors, (there is no legal reason for this, they want to have it 'for their records' only).

 

After six months I had ppaid three companies completely, paying one at a time of £150 a month, so end of month two 6 debts were 5, end of month four 5 debts were four, then one company said they wanted half the amount in full and final (I got them to state they wouldn't pass any 'shortfall' onto remainder, so down to 3 debts and lo and behold two more companies wanted 'discounts' so I accepted and am now left with three debts - one of these is a recent forgotten bill so isn't a wageday type loan.

 

One of these huffed and puffed and sent letters from a bailiff company to me but I pointed out I was trying to negotiate and could they please send full statement of account, they threatened legal proceedings and then I said I would welcome the courts intervention as I could prove by my paper trail I had continually informed them of my status - they have now gone quiet and I get no letters from DCAS nor phone calls.

 

I wouldn't go the CCCS route as they were not very helpful to me, said I had too much 'surplus' income!

 

I was lucky to get a free season ticket through work which was why I knew I had a regular monthly income.

 

If you want to PM me I can give you a bit more help on this. If you can even afford £75 I'd go for the smallest loans first, then work your way up, eventually the big ones will ignore you and go for 'fresh meat'. When they do start up again you can easily get them to do a reduction.

 

At the end of the day the last thing that some of these companies want is for their terms and conditions and interest rates to be scrutined throug the UK courts, (one in particular would come a very bad cropper if they did).

[mjc007.5]

Hiya,

 

This is a very personal choice - I have used them alongside the advice I have been fortunate enough to gain from finding the wonderful people here but it really takes some time before they are taking any of the heat for you (in fact not worth doing for this alone). If you have a look around there are mixed views (primarily because very many folk seem to have experienced that they are not very receptive to people challenging their debts - general principle for them seems to be that the debt is acknowledged and paid). There is an approach around snowballing which would also work very well (smallest first, pay it off, move to next one and so on) but again it is about how much time you have to manage things and what works for the individual.

 

For me personally it has been a bit of a mixed approach which to now seems to be working well - CCCS are (at least for now) receptive to this. I have a whole pile of legally owed and enforceable debt and in this instance they are very helpful (and hold some weight with the creditors) in proposing pro-rata payments. Equally, if I had less debt (in terms of creditor numbers rather than outright value) and more time I would have managed the whole lot myself with the self-help element of their service and others (payplan, nationaldebtline and CAG). CCCS involvement has allowed me to focus my initial attentions on those that are unenforceable or otherwise flawed (the credit cards mainly and a number of from this "market") and in this instance I am have already had some success self managing these with assistance from the good people here - one balance gone completely and one actually owed me money (which went against the overdraft they helped to create!)

 

Basically combine CAG, CCCS, payplan and nationaldebtline sites for your research and advice - speak to an advisor at one of the first three if you want to talk it through. Then a bit of time and compose the plan that will work for you in sorting it all out (this seems to be working for me so far! )

[Nuggsy]

cheers MJC, although i work for a bank i am unsure as to what you mean when you say about the devt being unenforcable. Is it worth requesting CCA's from these companies? I must have read 100s of threads on here and seen it where people are requesting copies of CCA's etc, etc. What are they doing by requesting those? if a company cant get a copy of a CCA does that mean the debt is written off?

 

If by some miracle i get together the money to pay all of these off, is it worth making them offers rather than paying the full outstanding balances?

[sillygirl1]

Snowballing worked for me, Payplan didn't want to know, and as for Debtmatters (who have now sold a lot of their business onto Harrington Brooks who are insolvency practitioners....) they were as good as useless.

 

I refused to be pushed by the bigger players and stuck to my guns as I didn't have any property to be taken away (already been repossessed) and my employment wasn't in jeopardy should I get a CCJ... As stated once the smaller ones were paid off the bigger ones started playing ball again and got paid off after they decided I could have a 60% reduction - bet that woudn't have happened had I gone ahead with Payplan or Debtmatters...

[mjc007.5]

Hi,

 

You are getting into areas where I am still on a very steep learning curve myself so not the best person to give advise - worth reading a number of the stickys in the forums and threads by any members of the site team (all good stuff, to numerous to commend individually) as well as a number who helped me in my darkest hour (they know who they are ).

 

The approach that is working for me at present (and this is only what is working for me, does not mean it is right or wrong) - In most cases I will be paying back a sum owed to a creditor and acknowledge this to them. However what in most cases is not acknowledged is what that final sum will be and this is the area of further negotiation, work and if necessary dispute. If by means of an unenforceable CCA or any number of other causes (misold PPI, unfair charges, whatever else ..... and there is a long list) the amount owed has reduced (or even in one case so far ended with a cheque from them in my hand) then all the better. I suppose this my version of standing up for myself with the assistance of CAG and it is debt reduction and eventual debt elimination by a combination of repayment and standing up for yourself.

 

Very much goes back to what I suggested about personal approach - for some the above would be to moderate, the unenforceable CCA and a number of other things mentioned on this site are challengeable right the way to court process but I am not brave enough for that just yet (although I would not shy away from it now thanks to the folks here and there are countless threads of those that have and successfully ). One thing to be clear though is this is never about debt avoidance - if you borrowed it, they have legally enforceable agreements and have behaved (as they expect us to) by the rules then taking an early stance that you are going to repay it will avoid unecessary stress and potentially further costs down the road. Equally you cannot let them bully you - in a very short time I have been truly amazed at the level of at best dubious practice and at worst outright illegal practice employed against the little old "customer"

 

Keep reading, best to post the CCA and other specific questions as seperates threads on the relevant boards.

 

Best of luck

[mjc007.5]

Sillygirl 1 offers you an equally viable course of action which would in fact be better in certain circumstances (and much less of a moderate than me )

 

I think the point is that very often there is no one size fits all for these problems - take your time to decide what is right for you and what you are looking to achieve then stick to your plan

[wokingjames]

Nuggys, I work for a bank too (TSB), if its the same one as me I am quite up to speed with staff rules regarding lending.