Payday loan nightmare...and I mean nightmare!

[Guest mikeypaddon]

Right, where to start? About 3 years ago I took a payday loan of £200 from PDUK which I was happily paying off every now and again when I needed. However, about six months ago I split with my girlfriend of 11 years and went slightly off the rails and got another couple of payday loans. I then needed to take out more to cover these, to the point that I now have 12 payday loans (I know, absolutely ridiculous) that I have just been paying the interest off each month and I am left with no money at all. If I had to pay all these 12 off tomorrow, it would be about 3.5k and I am now at the point where I have to get out of this vicious circle once and for all and get my life back on track. I have cancelled my debit card, direct debits and transferred my wage instructions to another bank. My current bank account at Santander, where all these payday loans take their money from, has absolutely no overdraft facility at all as it is a bog standard visa electron account. I take home £1425 a month. I just need some advice as to what to do next and what will happen? I have also thought about going to a company such as Payplan or debt-line.org.uk and paying them £30 a month to sort out payments for all of them, has anybody got any experience of them and how successful they are? Or I would I be better dealing with them myself, and if so, what should I write in my correspondence to them? Also how long to they take to generally accept a payment plan, days, weeks, months?

 

I have listed my loans below and they are due to be taken from my Santander account on 28th February. I have listed them with the interest that will be applicable on that date.

 

Wonga £386.66

Swift Sterling £532.92

Mini Credit £127

Tower Capital £124

Quick Quid £323.75

Pay Day UK £237.50

24/7 Moneybox £188.50

1 Month Loan £260

Tooth Fairy Finance £408

Wage Day Advance £250

Cash Genie £195

Capital Finance One £382.25

Edited February 9, 2011 by mikeypaddon

[foxtrotoscar]

it sounds like you have got the first thing done which is to get a new account! From my experiance i would personally email all them an offer of which you can afford and stick to that offer. (the loan and 1 months interest) stick to that and dont budge.... they should give in. pay them all by standing order and not with the card! email them everyday untill you get a response.

[foxtrotoscar]

in regards to the payplan etc i would advise not to go that route as you can do it yourself

[ihateyes]

be honest in your emails, and dont seem to be agressive. i wouldnt mention interest etc in first email, just offer a 6mth plan.

I recenty contacted 10companies and set up payment plans and had trouble with 2, but the majority were reasonable.

[Guest mikeypaddon]

So, should I contact these companies before their payments are due on 28th Feb or wait till past that date, thanks.

[Cait116]

Some of them will tell you to wait until you default anyway before they can come to an agreement but it shows willing if you contact them beforehand. I contacted all of mine about 4 days before I defaulted and managed (after a couple of weeks) to come to an agreement with 2 of them. (I have 3 more who have yet to agree). Keep emailing them, keep everything in writing and be firm but fair. Work out what you can actually afford to pay to each one and stick to your guns. Good Luck x

[foxtrotoscar]

i would yes, tell them that you are unable to pay the full amount and you want a payment plan that you can afford. i would e-mail them straight away and everyday untill they accept. Some of the companies will say they dont accept plans and that interest and charges will still be applied...... DO NOT FOOL for there bully tactics and stick to your first offer.... 1 months interest and the loan borrowed... let me know how you get on

[s4ddys]

Contact them now, some will set up payment plans now, others will wait until you default (to add more charges).

 

The main thing is you are addressing the issue and making headway. No payday loan company in the world would take you to court if you had made a reasonable offer of payment, so really they havent got a leg to stand on.

 

I have been to court and lost, and also been to court and won, but in the first instance I was daft and just thought I could get away with not paying them. This is not the case.

 

I was in the same position as you with payday loans with every company that would give me a loan (about 11 in total). It has taken time but I am now paying most of them back by standing order installments.

 

Keep your head up and I would be tempted to send them all an edited version of the 'stop phone calls' letter from the templates library, changing the amount of phone calls section to the fact that receiving phone calls at work would cause embarrasment. Hopefully this should reduce the amount of calls you will receive, but prepare for some companies to contact you at work trying it on.

 

If you need anymore info or have anymore questions feel free to post.

[StartingOutSlowly]

Hi,

 

I would say:

 

1. Get a new bank account (Coop and Halifax offer basic accounts that should cover most needs) and report your current card lost or stolen.

2. Make sure your company gets the new bank details.

3. Approach your lenders before due date, and in writing (email should be fine). You can find template letters on this site.

4. Attach an Income & Expenditure sheet.

5. Make reasonable offers.

6. Answer your phone.

 

Most of these companies are willing to come to some sort of agreement.

Also, write down your offers and stick to them.

 

Good luck:-)

[crm84]

Whatever you do, if you can just pay off mini credit off in full if you can, as they will point blank refuse to do payment plans and many on here will agree with me before the end of the month is out the debt doubles so please when working out your priotites just pay this mopb off as i found them horrendous! they just go straight for court, good luck

[foxtrotoscar]

Yes pay minicredit crm84 is correct they will not set up plans get them paid of asap

[louloubelle0195]

Hi,

 

6. Answer your phone.

 

QUOTE]

 

I would never recommend people to deal with creditors and/or DCAs by telephone. It is a good idea to state that you will only communicate in writing. Bear in mind, that many DCA agents will deliberately try to "wind you up" to increase the pressure and stress upon you. There is a template in the letters library which you can send to creditors stating that all communication must be in writing. Good luck in resolving this situation.

[Cait116]

.......on the other hand knowledge is power and YOU could have fun winding them up

[louloubelle0195]

Very true However, still better to correspond in writing, then there is a clear audit trail and by seeing their feeble arguments thrown out of Court, you will wind them up even more, by costing them money!!

[patsy100]

Hi there,

 

I have four outstanding, and am considering a debt management plan to sort it out for me, i see you used tooth fairy did you have many problems with them?

 

I wish this payday loan thing was banned as it becomes addictive and should be up there with class a drugs because of the mess it causes.

 

Any advice welcome

[Jamie Kingston]

dmp - waste of money, deal with the lenders directly and that's it.

[Erica11 - Swift]

Right, where to start? About 3 years ago I took a payday loan of £200 from PDUK which I was happily paying off every now and again when I needed. However, about six months ago I split with my girlfriend of 11 years and went slightly off the rails and got another couple of payday loans. I then needed to take out more to cover these, to the point that I now have 12 payday loans (I know, absolutely ridiculous) that I have just been paying the interest off each month and I am left with no money at all. If I had to pay all these 12 off tomorrow, it would be about 3.5k and I am now at the point where I have to get out of this vicious circle once and for all and get my life back on track. I have cancelled my debit card, direct debits and transferred my wage instructions to another bank. My current bank account at Santander, where all these payday loans take their money from, has absolutely no overdraft facility at all as it is a bog standard visa electron account. I take home £1425 a month. I just need some advice as to what to do next and what will happen? I have also thought about going to a company such as Payplan or debt-line.org.uk and paying them £30 a month to sort out payments for all of them, has anybody got any experience of them and how successful they are? Or I would I be better dealing with them myself, and if so, what should I write in my correspondence to them? Also how long to they take to generally accept a payment plan, days, weeks, months?

 

I have listed my loans below and they are due to be taken from my Santander account on 28th February. I have listed them with the interest that will be applicable on that date.

 

Wonga £386.66

Swift Sterling £532.92

Mini Credit £127

Tower Capital £124

Quick Quid £323.75

Pay Day UK £237.50

24/7 Moneybox £188.50

1 Month Loan £260

Tooth Fairy Finance £408

Wage Day Advance £250

Cash Genie £195

Capital Finance One £382.25

 

Hi Everyone,We encourage anyone who is still experiencing financial difficulties to get in touch with the Customer Relations department at Swift Sterling as soon as possible. We will do our best to assist you in resolving any queries or questions you may have.Whilst we cannot post our contact details directly here, we encourage you to look us up and contact us via our live chat service, email address and our free phone number.Kindest Regards,Customer Relations