Payday loans getting worse every month. Personal loan a viable option?

[paydayidiot]

That idiot is of course me.

 

About a year ago (last august) I needed some money, so I took out a payday loan. Over the year due to rolling over the loan and taking out other loans to pay down interest I now owe a lot more to about 5 different companies.

 

I owe roughly £1500 between these five companies. I have not yet defaulted on any of the loans. Today I got paid and did the usual reshuffling of the loans hoping to end up with enough cash left to last me until next payday. Anyway, to cut a long story short I'm now stuck with almost no cash and four weeks until my next payday.

 

I've read some of the other threads about purposely defaulting on loans and working out payment plans. I would much prefer not to do this. If I can get rid of these payday loans I could easily afford to pay up to £150 a month on a "proper" loan and be left with enough to live on. So basically I was hoping to get a personal unsecured loan to pay these off but I don't want to get taken in by brokers who charge a fee then leave you with no actual loan. I can't get a loan from my bank due to my bad credit.

 

Is finding a personal loan to pay these off even possible with my bad credit.

[sillygirl1]

Yes, it is totally the wrong road to go down.

 

List the companies and the amounts owed and the number of times you have rolled the loans over on here and we can help you get a payment plan.

 

As you can afford £150 the way to go would be snowballing, ie you pay the smallest one off, and pay the rest a token payment, then as you go along they start offering you discounts, then you can haggle.

[paydayidiot]

24/7 moneybox - £150

Wonga - £594

Quickquid - £500

1monthloan - £104

Cash Genie - £130

 

total - £1478

[sillygirl1]

Right, can you pay 1MonthLoan and CashGenie off entirely this month and roll the others over.... that would free up their fees and give you a bit of a breathing space...

 

Wonga and QQ are complete pains to deal with so if you default on them you will have hassle for a brief period before they both pass onto other companies.

 

Have you got an alternative bank account to get your income paid into... because if you default now the liklehood of Wonga AND QQ raiding your bank account is high.

 

Halifax, Co-op and Metro Bank all have good basic bank accounts with online facilities and debit cards. Get that set up asap and get your next months income transferred. That way you will be fairly safe.

 

By paying off the two smaller amounts this month then 24/7 Moneybox next month you then have the two worst companies to deal with and can pre-empt their main line of attack.

 

If you speak nicely to Cash Genie and 1MonthLoan you can ask if they will accept that you have rolled over the loans several times and can afford to pay them back only if they cut the interest payment out... if not you will have to default.

 

Keep everything by email and if they ring email them with confirmation of the telephone call, that way you have a record of what is happening in case they try for court. Cash Genie have been known to take people to court very quickly after defaulting.

 

Wonga and QQ daren't go near a court with their high interest rates.

 

How long have you been rolling over these loans?

[paydayidiot]

I've been paying off/rolling over these loans since last August. It started with one loan and started spiraling out of control.

 

The problem now is that I can't pay off any loans this month because it was payday today and after rolling over the loans I now have around £50 to last me until next payday, which is 4 weeks away.

 

I can't get another bank account. I'm already on a basic lloyds account which I switched to when I defaulted on my bank of scotland account a couple of years ago. I only just recently finished paying off my debt to bank of scotland.

[sillygirl1]

Then you have your plan for the next month - take these steps.

 

Get a new bank account and have next months money paid into it.

 

Start emailing the companies you owe the smallest amounts to and ask if you can pay them back minus the interest fee at the end of the month, otherwise they will end up receiving £10 a month until you get sorted out... they won't like it but if you start emailing now you have a trail that you tried to negotiate and repay before they started defaulting you.

 

You can email Wonga and QQ but make sure you have the alternative bank account set up FIRST. They will huff and puff and threat but if you state you want to pay them £100 at the end of the following month each and then £200 each to get the debt paid back in a short period there is little they can do. If they take you to court (which is unlikely but possible) you have a good case that you tried to negotiate and they were unreasonable.