Cheque Centres

[Kitten1]

Hi all,

 

I thought I would start a new thread about this particular company as it is becoming a bit of a headache and I need specific advice if anyone can help me. I already have a thread about my payday loan nightmare within this section.

 

Basically, I defaulted on the loan about two months ago now. I have tried to come to an arrangement to pay them back in installments but I keep getting stonewalled. I asked for all communication to be in writing, which they refused. I kept getting phonecalls which were basically threats about how they can do this and that, such as earnings arrestment etc.

 

Yesterday, I recieved this letter:

 

dated 9th Nov

 

Dear Mrs XX

 

Customer Number: XXXX

 

Loan Account: XXX

 

Outstanding balance: £XXX.xx

 

We refer to your above mentioned Pay Day Advance account and in particular to the outstanding balance that is now overdue for payment.

 

You are aware that we may take the following enforcement actions to recover the debt:

 

Arrestment or attachment of earnings

Freezing of bank accounts

Enforcement of bankruptcy and sale of assets to repay the debt

 

We are willing to offer the following resolution

 

We have managed to obtain approval to repay the outstanding balance in installments. To take advantage of this please contact us on 0131 442 7080. Our favoured method of repayment is by debit card, however if you do not have this facility, you will be required to make your payment at your local Cheque Centre branch. Please confirm, by telephone, the date and time that you will be making your payment.

 

You must contact this office within 10 days of the date of this letter to take up this offer. Failure to contact us may leave us with little option but to instruct our solicitors to take the appropriate legal action.

 

Our opening hours are Monday - Thursday 9am-8pm, Friday 9am-5.30pm and Saturday 9am-5pm.

 

We look forward to hearing from you by return.

 

___________________________________________________________________________

 

Ok, fair enough. But the letter is dated the 9th Nov, I recieve it on the 17th!! They are trying their best to get me to phone them!! I have already written to them offering a, what I feel is reasonable, repayment plan and they are choosing to ignore it. I intend to email them (now I have an email address) reiterating what I can afford and the full plan to repay them. But surely, if the letter was to offer me a resolution, why not simply put it in writing?!?! Their office is based in Scotland. Does this have any bearing on how they deal with my issue?

 

But it gets better..................

[Kitten1]

Today, I recieved this letter:

 

17th Nov,

 

Outstanding balance: £XXX.xx

FAILURE TO RESPOND TO THIS LETTER MAY RESULT IN LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

 

As detailed in the disclaimer which you have signed, you will be aware that you are held liable to pay us the full amount of any cheque or debit card loan which is subsequently unpaid for any reason, together with the costs and interest if legal action is required or taken.

 

Enclosed is a Notice of Default which I intend to enforce unless you repay the outstanding balance on this account within 14 days or alternatively contact me immediately with your proposals for payment.

 

If you still fail to contact me I will have no alternative but to obtain a Court Decree (Judgement) against you.

 

Should you fail to make payments under the Decree (Judgement) I will apply for an enforcement. There are various means open to me, including applying for an arrestment of earnings whereby payments are deducted from your salary or wage by your employers.

 

I am sure you would agree that the situation has now become very serious. To avoid the above action, please telephone 0131 442 7080 immediately.

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

I mean, jeez!! Give me chance to even read the previous letter!! In with this missive is a DN. It is dated the 17th Nov and states that I have until the 1st Dec to pay the full balance. The wording on the DN at the bottom makes it sound like it is a document from the court!! 'IF YOU HAVE DEFAULT IN PAYING ANY SUM OWING UNDER THE AGREEMENT OR TAKING ANY OTHER ACTION REQUIRED BY THIS NOTICE YOU CAN APPLY TO THE COURT WHICH MAY MAKE AN ORDER ALLOWING YOU MORE TIME. IF YOU ARE NOT SURE WHAT TO DO, YOU SHOULD GET HELP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. blah blah,.

 

The whole DN has irritated me simply because its littered with typos and spelling mistakes for a start!! But, my questions regarding this DN are:

1) surely it is invalid as the letter accompanying it state it won't be actioned unless I don't pay them in 14 days?

2) isn't it illegal for any company to imply that this is a court document?

 

I'm going to email them now with my payment proposals again but does anyone have any ideas of how I'm best to tackle this lot?

[Willo53]

Hi,

 

I had loan of £750 which defaulted with the cheque centre.Finished off paying it after 14 months and my account manager Stuart was actually quite decent and would be ok if you missed a month. Then all of a sudden Stuart had 'moved to another part' of the company and I believe John was my account number.

 

What an absolute grade a w****ker he was.He would phone me constantly at work and even used my card and did an illegal transaction on it after they had stored my details from the previous months payment. Not very nice man and he was just plain rude on the phone when I used to speak to him too!

 

I would hold your ground and send them the template letters and e-mails about all communication needing to bein writing.

[Kitten1]

They have finally agreed to my repayment plan! All done via email too!! Wonders will never cease!!

 

Thanks for your message Willo xx

[JO1010]

hope all works out for you

[spamo]

Hi, I'm just wondering how you went about repaying the cheque centre - I have a payday advance with them, which I have had for about 3 years now and simply cannot afford to pay it off or pay the fee every month, so was wanting to offer them repayments, but did you approach them first and say that you couldn't afford it and wanted a repayment plan, or did you cancel your card/ cheque etc and then approach them?? Am very worried about doing it, but it's the bain of my life at the moment and it's draining my finances (my own fault for getting it in the first place..). Thanks.

[baileysmammy]

Does anyone have an email address for them to try sort out a payment plan? this ones for a friend lol

[Willo53]

You're best checking their website.

[vikki.white]

[email protected]