Payday Loan Fiasco!!

[lingylulu]

Hello All,

 

firstly I would like to say what a helpful site this is, nice to find people that are not totally judgemental about debt issues

 

Since March I have got myself into a mess with payday loans, I have not defaulted yet but unfotunately I now have to (on Tuesday). As much as I have been trying to find a way out of the situation, I cannot see one. I have loans with 5 different companies, they are as follows:

 

Uncle Buck - £455.00 (inc interest)

1ML - £390.00 (inc interest)

Cash Genie - £195.00 (inc interest)

Tower Capital - £310.00 (inc interest)

THL Direct - £279.50 (inc interest)

 

Please could you direct me to some of the template e-mails? Unfortunately I am in such a financial mess this month that I cannot pay them anything untill october payday. I'm sure that will go down like a lead balloon. On top of this I think I will have about £200 spare every month to pay this back (aswell as some other hefty debts that I have to pay). What is the likely hood that some of these are going to accept smaller payments?

 

I'm also really worried about being hounded at work (I sit opposite my boss and in the line of work i'm in (Treasury) this kind of thing will be frowned upon). I'm assuming if I e-mail them all and answer my mobile when they call they won't try work.

 

I have seen feedback on all of the above accept THL Direct, anyone got any ideas about these?

 

Thanks for any help available!!

 

Lingylulu

[postggj]

morning and welcome to cag

first thing is dont panic

 

ive been exactly in your posistion in the past so to begin with send the harrasment letter by recorded delievery to eah of the payday companies

 

no more phone calls then at work or home

 

everything in writing

 

its very rare for a payday loan company to default you or issue a claim in the county court.

 

try explaning the very high apr to a judge

 

they just try and intimidate you

 

with the template include a letter asking for a freeze on interest and say you will pay xyz per month.

you can only afford that as there are other payday companies

 

they will prob say the want there pound of flesh now but keep at it and dont take know for an answer

 

they will agree in the end

 

Your Street

Town

City

Postcode

 

 

DATE HERE

Company Name

Road

Town

City / County

Postcode

 

Re: Harassment by telephone

 

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX

 

Dear Sirs

 

I am writing in relation to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company, which I deem to be personally harassing.

 

I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls. (Delete if necessary)

 

I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only.

 

I am of the view that your continued harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

 

If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine.

 

Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company will be recorded. (**Even if you don‘t yet have recording equipment!!**)

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

 

[NAME HERE]

[lingylulu]

Hiya,

 

thanks for coming back to me. This is the e-mail that I have sent out to Tower Capital and Uncle Buck so far:

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to inform you that I will not have the funds to pay my payday loan off tomorrow (£105.00 to roll over). The total loan is for £455.00 (Inc interest), unfortunately due to debts spiralling out of control it will be literally impossible for me to pay this in one go. I apologise for this and propose that you freeze the interest on my account and let me pay you back at a rate of £50.00 per month (starting this month) that I will quite possibly be able to raise in January.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could send me an e-mail by return to inform me if you agree with my proposal. Unfortunately even if you don’t I cannot afford anymore than this. I have stopped my debit card so no transactions can go through and I would appreciate it if you could give me your bank details and a reference to quote when sending payment through to you.

Again, I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and I request that all contact from you be made through e-mail or post in writing and not by telephone.

Many Thanks

Do you think this is ok and says everything it needs to?

Again Thanks for your help!!

[robjam1969]

Hi Lingylulu

 

Looks fine to me.

 

Both of these companies will probably refuse your offer to start off with (judging by their track record). Stick to your guns and keep a close eye on your bank account.

 

Uncle Buck invariably will threaten you with Meritforce Collections. They tell MF what they want each month and if impossible MF will pass back to Uncle Buck. We can deal with this later if MF contact you.

 

Tower Capital have issued proceeding against one person on this forum albeit probably hoping to win by default. A court would not have any sympathy with them if you can demonstrate you have made reasonable offers to pay.

 

Keep going

[robjam1969]

Sorry I forgot

 

Be careful with Uncle Buck as they will try and set up direct debit without your permission. They have tried this with several on this forum.

 

Rob

[lingylulu]

FYI, this is the reponse I got back from uncle Buck (surprisingly quickly!).

 

[We cannot accept your proposal of £50 per month, however if you can clear the balance in a maximum period of six months, we will freeze any further interest on your account for this period. The monthly repayments would be £75.83 commencing tomorrow

If you wish to accept this proposal, we can forward our bank details to your mobile phone if you confirm the number.

I may accept and offer one month loan £30 a month - I hear they are easier to make agreements with

 

Cheers!

[mjc007.5]

:)Hello Lingylulu and welcome to CAG,

 

Nothing wrong with your approach so far as an opening salvo - You have been honest, reasonable and polite. Unfortunately experience suggests this will not be reciprocated by most of these firms!

 

Do be prepared for the barrage of contact and harrasing behaviour that is likely to follow. As a result in most cases your next communications should be at least of the type outlined by postggj (I have combined a telephone harrasment and doorstep letter in one) with confirmation of what you are offering because you know what you can afford to pay. Depending on how they respond you can CCA request them - replies are usually quite interesting! You should maintain all times (even if it seems to be going well) an inherent distrust of these firms - even when they have agreed a "repayment plan" with you there is still every prospect of them trying to dip into your account for more! Uncle Buck are one of the worst (although I see from their reply to you and a couple of others lately they are "mellowing" a little )

 

I can see why many folk want to keep their bank account (or have reason why they cannot change) but for me once these firms have you account details the only way to be sure they cannot inflict perpetual misery on you is a parachute account. If you are staying put your bank (if not already) need to be put on absolute notice that you do not authorise any further payments to any of these firms via either card or direct debit. If they have "security cheques" (and you have the numbers) cancel them (the bank will charge you for this but much less than if they are presented and either clear or "bounce"). They will still try and present them anyway! :mad:

 

I can understand why you might accept Uncle Bucks offer as they are tougher to deal with. However, this relies on your other creditors in the list agreeing to repayment proposal which will probably get lower as you use up the amount you said would be available to repay them and continues to be them telling you what to pay thereby keeping control from you.

 

I think you have only three sensible approaches to the repayment (disptuting the debts, charges etc aside) - 1. Snowballing (which usually involves minimal payments to all but the smallest debt paying them as much as possible. When they are paid off move up to the next one and so on) 2. Pro-rata repayment (once you have budgeted for all your essential expenditure) - plenty of info to do this yourself (As well as CAG, moneysavingexpert there are the debt charities sites - nationaldebtline.co.uk, cccs.co.uk, payplan.com) 3. Everbody gets an equal share of the "surplus" - your first post suggests around £200 free (although possibly this has other debts to pay as well?). If you have that amount, amongst the list of five creditors then obviously everybody gets £40 per month.

 

I would work out what you can afford, decide on an approach above that suits your best, make them an offer of payment (and start to pay it - ideally by standing order). As many have said as long as you are making a fair and realistic offer of repayment which they are getting then despite the threats and harrassment they cannot get any more!

 

Keep going, you will sort it out

[lingylulu]

Here is a reply from Tower Capital, they have whacked £90 on the balance but overall a surprisingly positive response:

 

Thank you for your email, the contents of which have been duly noted.

Taking into account your circumstances we can accept payment of £50 per month, as your pay day loan is due tomorrow we will expect the first payment tomorrow. Please confirm when we will receive payment each month?

As advised in your terms and conditions we can charge 24% for every month you are in arrears, however as you have advised us before your payment is due we will agree to freeze your balance at £400 providing that payments are received on time.

The bank details for the standing order are:

Tower Capital Limited

Sort Code: 40-25-33

Account Number: 81415360

Please put ********* as your reference so that we can easily trace your payments. If you have any problems please do not hesitate to contact us either by return email or on 01202 203 180 so that we can assist you.

Thanks for all your positive response - I am paying Cash Genie off in full (didn't fancy letters to my neighbours houses) so only 2 more to go now Yippee!!

[mjc007.5]

Hello Lingylulu,

 

Good for you, must be catching some folk on a good day! (rare indeed in this sector)

 

The extra charges and overall balance going vertical the second you tell any of these firms you might have a problem and how to deal with it is a personal choice (and may even be best judged case by case). The preferable thing is to dispute it if you have time and energy because ultimately even if the charges, interest etc is in the "contract" does not make them reasonable, fair or in some cases even legal (and would likely be challengeable all the way to court as a result). However it may be that if there a number of creditors or if time/energy are limited you would choose (at least initially) to accept what is on the table. I have (or will) mainly dispute most of mine but a couple who were very reasonble straight away have not been disputed and if they carry on being reasonable probably will be left that way (to many are being unreasonable to worry about the minority who have been fair!! )

 

Keep going, sounds like you have maid a good start (still do not trust them though!)

[aine6]

Hi Lingylulu

 

I have some of the same creditors as yourselve and am having similar issues please read my thread, but i do have uncle bucks bank details if you would like them so even if you decide not to accept there offer you can still pay them something which shows your willing to pay if you would like these pm me.

 

Aine

[lingylulu]

Hello! Sorry to revive this thread but unfortunately some of the amounts I offered to pay back (which I have been doing monthly and on time) I can no longer afford.

 

I wrote to Uncle buck and let them know on the 15th that I would not be paying them £50 but only £20 - They basically said "No Way". Shall I just carry on paying them the £20 I can? They said they will either pass on to Debt Collectors or legal action.

 

I have also now have to default on Cash Genie, It is due on 15th of December and I wrote to them 6 days ago to let them know I would not be able to pay off the loan and offering them a repayment plan, they have not got back to me although I have re-sent the e-mail twice asking for a response. I'm thinking as long as I have proof of letting them know (well before the default date) they can't come back as heavy handed as they normally would?? (maybe that's just wishful thinking ).

 

Tower Capital and Capital Finance one are also ignoring my e-mails, should I just pay what I have offered as I don't really want to call them. (although I'm not easily bullied into paying things I cannot afford).

 

Any advice welcome... Thank You x

[robjam1969]

Hi Lingy

 

Watch out for Cash Genie as they have been known to write to your neighbours about your debt. They will threaten and harrass to get paid and are probably the worst in this sector. There are things you can do after the event but doesn't help in the short term. Lots of threads on them!!

 

As for the others just pay what you can afford and make sure that you only pay by standing order (assume they don't have your card details).

 

From experience CFO will accept low monthly figures whereas Tower are will on occasions but are quite happy to take you to court (not that I have seen them win one yet if defended)

 

Good luck.