Complete Disaster Area

[barafear799]

Hi

 

I have many many payday loans - I don't know how I got accepted for so many.

For the last few months - I have merely been taking out new loans to pay the interest on existing loans.

I have reached the point where I need to sort them out and I am looking for some advice. I have posted a single post on another thread stating that Lending Stream managed to get £200 from my account despite there being no funds available. I have read elsewhere that regardless of closing the account or cancelling the card, these companies can still claim payment? Given my rather lengthy rant with my bank (LTSB) about "how could they pay if the funds were not available" - suspicions may be raised if I claim my card is lost or stolen.

 

Anyway - I have loans with Wonga, QQ, PD Express, Lending Stream, Cash Choice, Cash Genie, Money Shop, Tower and maybe a couple of others I have forgotten!! Oh yes, Pounds Til Payday (I have cancelled their DD)

 

It is not a pretty situation.

 

One of my main questions is:

 

If I merely state that I have been stupid in running up so much debt and am in no position to even repay the interest on a monthly basis, will this suffice?

 

I have not lost my job or suffered a drop in income; I have no "special" circumstance - basically I have run up far too much in PDL debt -

 

please advise.

 

Many thanks

[stateofmind]

Hi there

 

First of all, don't panic - you're honestly not the only one in this situation - I've got 12 loans!

 

I was paying the interest off all of them every month, or settling then reloaning the same day and I have now finally reached the point where it's become ridiculous - 700 a month in interest is just madness.

 

My advice would be to first of all take control of the situation and cancel your DD's and debit card - make sure it's properly blocked by the bank though as a partial block will still allow them to push payments through. Once you've done this, you're in the driving seat.

 

The thing you've got to remember is that you did borrow the money so you do have to pay it back - so the problem will be with you for a while yet, but just more manageable. EMail all of the companies and tell them you've got financial difficulties and you'd like to make payment arrangments to clear the debt. Most of them will be ok and freeze the interest as long as you make reasonable payments to them.

 

It's horrible for the first few days with the texts, constant phone calls on the mobile and work lines but you've got to ride the storm, just put the phone down on them - always get everything in writing over email. Be realistic with your offers and most importantly DO NOT give them any of your bank details or card details - tell them the bank have taken back your debit card because you're so overdrawn or something and insist on paying by standing order. Remember, these people share your details with other lenders!

 

From my experience, QQ will threaten and threaten and then send the debt to Mackenzie Hall, who are dreadful to deal with so I would treat this one as a priority - MK Hall will hassle the hell out of you at work and at home. I've also heard terrible things about Cash Genie, but if you're upfront with them they might be ok? Tower Capital were actually really reasonable with me and have stuck to the arrangment and was easy to setup. Lending Stream will offer you a payment plan, although they are terrible at getting back to you and will hassle a bit on the phone, but that soon calms down. PTPD I believe will send the debt to Clarity DCA who are easier to deal with - I'm not too sure about the others, sorry!

 

You don't have to tell them anything, jst say you're in financial hardship due to unforeseen circumstances and stand your ground - please don't let these people bully you with their threats and harassment.

 

I've just had a total nightmare with Capital Finance One breaking a payment arrangement with me because I stupidly gave them my card details - they took £430 instead of £75 and won't give it back, so I am currently speaking to the News of the World about this and will push as hard as I can to get some national exposure about how these companies operate. Wish me luck!

 

Best of luck mate, I hope it all goes well - you'll feel much better when your wages go in on payday and stay there!

[robjam1969]

A great reply above. It will be hard to start with but you have to draw a line and take control. I would suggest a new bank account is a must when you have so many loans- great for peace of mind as well. Most of these companies have computer systems to continually try and access your account.

 

Be firm with them and make small monthly offers providing they freeze all interest. No agreement means they get nothing.

 

If you keep the same bank account you will have to watch your account like a hawk.

 

Time to take control - good luck.

[robjam1969]

A great reply above. It will be hard to start with but you have to draw a line and take control. I would suggest a new bank account is a must when you have so many loans- great for peace of mind as well. Most of these companies have computer systems to continually try and access your account.

 

Be firm with them and make small monthly offers providing they freeze all interest. No agreement means they get nothing.

 

If you keep the same bank account you will have to watch your account like a hawk.

 

Time to take control - good luck.

[barafear799]

Thank you for the replies.

I am almost at an agreement with Cash Genie (altho that is the smallest amt) - but even still they've chucked on £39 worth of charges (on a £150+£45 interest loan) - and have offered me 6 months@39 to repay.

 

However, I have had nightmares with Lendingstream - they are the company who "forced" through 4 separate payments on BH Monday - over £200 - even though I had no available funds in my account. They also sent me a "friend request" on Facebook!!!!! (I ignored that - maybe that's why they raided my bank account)

 

I have just defaulted on Wonga - they sent me quite a stroppy email.

 

The others are coming up for default!!

[sillygirl1]

One thing to remember when cancelling your debit card is to write a confirming letter to your bank clearly stating that all agreements entered into on that card have come to an end, that way if anyone tries to pull a fast one you have backup to get your money back via bank errors.

 

Halifax have a good online account where they don't do credit checks (but that is to say they don't get somebody else to do them on their behalf, they refused to answer that question when asked....) so that could be an alternative account to use, one thing to remember is they now state that all monies for direct debits need to be in the account THE DAY BEFORE they are due as they take the debits out at MIDNIGHT instead of 3pm, very sneaky really....

[barafear799]

thanks for the advice - I am very close to having a new bank account (co-op) - but I am still worried that various lenders will still push payments thru my old account - it would appear that cancelling your card, reporting it lost or stolen etc etc does NOT WORK - the bank have advised me that once a company has a continuous payment authority they can claim any amount of payment any time they want - and then it is up to me to prove that I did not "authorise" that payment - if the companies claim that I owe them money - then I will not be able to prove that.

[Stupid1]

I have a Natwest Step Account with no Overdraft facility, I have cancelled my card, is it likely they will still try for payment, and will it be authorised by my bank. all the fund I have in that account is 0.01p ?

[jellycubes]

When i reported my card stolen i said that someone had keyhacked my computer and they didnt get a penny as they put a full block on the card when you report it stolen. The advice from sillygirl is good, write or cll your bank and tell them all contracts have come to an end and you will hold them liable if they let monies go out. Though to be fair depending on which bank your with reporting it lost and stolen is enough but then keep an eye out for them trying to put direct debits on your account. This is where online banking comes in handy because you see what there upto and also you get to just zap em off

[jellycubes]

Barafear i have experience with cash choice and they to be fair were ok. They set up an arrangement without too much hassle. Thank the lordy you dont have one with capital one finance hun

[barafear799]

Latest "disaster" is as follows:

 

I am still waiting for the final pieces before my new bank account is up and running - in the meantime I am having to make do with LTSB current account - if you read above, you will see that already 4 payments were taken from my debit card despite insufficient funds - however, in order to try to "protect" my money, I also have a savings a/c with LTSB - so when my wages went in - I transferred them to my savings account almost immediately - however, given that I owe LTSB arrears on a credit card - that is not a failsafe mechanism as they can still use the offsetting rule on that - anyway - yesterday I needed to take some cash out - as I needed to pay some rent by cash - I went to the cash machine - and used my mobile to t/fer some money from savings account (I cannot withdraw from that accout other than by t/f to current account - no card or anything) to my current account - I had checked my available balance on my current account already - and there were no payments "waiting in the wings" - anyway - £80 t/fer over - stick my card in the machine - and transaction not authorised - I put card in again to check available balance - and there was just over £80 available - so I tried again - same message - as I turned around - the bloke in the Q behind me said that the prev customer could not get any money either - so no cash in ATM - anyway - I drive to the nearest cashpoint - about 10 min drive - put my card in - available balance £10.07 - in that 10 mins 2 transactions (£20 and £50.07) had been taken from my account!! I phoned LTSB - they said there were a further 3 attempts to take money - for varying amts between £23 and £67 - they were rejected due to lack of funds - once again I got into an indepth discussion with the lady from LTSB - I explained I needed ALL TRANSACTIONS TO BE BLOCKED on my debit card - she said that that was NOT POSSIBLE - even if the account was closed - the companies could still take money from the card - and the debt would be mine (not the banks) - I pleaded with this woman to request a method to stop this "raiding of my account" whilst I was trying to reach agreements with them - her answer was pretty clear - there is no way.

 

She said if I had a dispute over a payment taken - I could raise a dispute with the bank's debit card dispute team - I indicated that that would/could be a lengthy process - and how could I prove that I did not owe these companies money? Esp. if there are "wrangles" over their exorbitant fees that they chuck on top of their 25-30% interest rates!

 

So I am still struggling

Problem with reaching agreements is that most of them just ignore your emails or letters - so whilst they are ignoring them - they can then raid your account -

 

Ok I know - I borrowed the money - I need to repay the money. But the debit card "guaranteed payment" seems to be weighted so heavily against the consumer!!!!

[robjam1969]

Sorry to hear the problems your having. A little unlucky as cancelling card normally works. At least your new account will leave you safe. This is the only totally secure method of protecting your funds.