Payday loan trap, advice welcome **

[HarleyQuinn13]

Hey, I’m new to this forum so please bare with me!

 

I’ve been reading the forums for about a week now and have gathered a lot of useful information, but thought that it was about time I bit the bullet and posted about my own problems. I, like many others on the site have fallen into the payday trap. Looking around the forum it’s good to know that I’m not the only one out there that’s gotten into this mess and that alone has made me feel a little better and spurred me to take control of my finances.

 

I first used a payday loan company last year to pay some unexpected bills, and paid it back with no problem. I then took out another loan in December with the same company, as I found myself short of cash for Christmas. Then I had my gas/electric bill through in January, which lead to me taking another loan with a different company. After paying these back I had no money to live off, so took out a third loan…

Long story short I now have four payday loans, all of which are due on 31st of this month. I cannot afford to keep rolling over all of these anymore. I know my situation may not seem as bad as some others, but it’s very quickly spiralled out of control, and it’s really starting to upset, panic and frustrate me.

 

The loans/amounts are :

WONGA : Original loan of £600, £819 after 1 months interest

QUICK QUID: Original loan of £250, £312 after 1 months interest

PAY DAY EXPRESS: £250

PAYDAY UK: £188

 

I’m just not sure where to begin. I know I need to cancel my debit card and I can do that no problem. I currently bank with Lloyds TSB, but I do have an old account with HSBC. My wages fall on odd days, it’s not a set day, but the loans are always due on the last working day of the month. For example, I’ve been paid today, and next month I get paid on 27th. Is it enough to cancel my Lloyds card and request a new one, and transfer my wages to my HSBC account, transferring it back for rent etc, or do I need to close the Lloyds account completely?

 

I’ve seen sample letters on the site so have a rough idea of what to write when I first contact the companies for a repayment plan. I’m not sure what to offer each of them when I approach them. Wonga is the real issue as that alone after interest is more than I earn! I can afford to pay them about £100 a month- is this a reasonable offer, too much, not enough?

From reading the forums I know that Quick Quid tend to only offer 3 month payment plans, and I can afford that if they accept as that again works out around £100 a month.

As for the other two, I could just about afford to pay off PDUK in full this month, along with the £200 (£100 each) I’d be sending to Wonga and QQ if they accept my offer, or should I just contact PDUK for a repayment plan too? And what should I do regarding PayDay Express? I’ve read that they’re pretty tough to deal with

 

I just need some help on where to begin, and what to follow up with when they respond, as it’s all a bit overwhelming. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated

[j1mb0b]

OK, you're certainly not the first to fall into this trap. So number one welcome, and number two please don't panic! The most important rule - and this is from someone with many more Payday Loans than you have - is to remember that the creditors are going to try hard to recover their money (by sending threatening letters, text messages, phone-calls at work etc etc) but at the end of the day you can't pay what you don't have. And any court (if it ever comes to that - which is usually after many months) will only enforce that.

 

The first thing you need to do is to cancel the cards that the Payday Loan Companies (PLC's) use to recover their money. Make sure you report them as "stolen" and not as "damaged" because otherwise I've heard the banks can continue to force through payments. Obviously, the second thing to do is to is to cancel your direct debits.

 

The second thing is to email the companies with a reasonable offer of what you can afford to pay. In other words, calculate your disposable income as your income (from whatever source) minus all your outgoings in the month (including shopping / hair / mortgage / rent etc etc).

 

Next, work out what you owe each company on a pro-rata basis. So if the first company is owed £100 and the second £200, you pay the second twice as much (from your left-over money each month) and pay it regularly. Post on here if you need to know how to do that.

 

Make sure you contact each company by email (keeping each email) and do so regularly. Remember... You can't pay what you don't have. If things ever escalate, this will count very strongly in your favour.

 

I've got PDL's with Wonga and QQ and they both accepted my offer. Make sure you make reasonable payments and - if at all possible - don't take on more debt to pay off the others. That includes paying the interest each month, or doing a roll-over to improve the amount of money the PDL will give you!

 

Whatever these companies might say, they do (genuinely) have a high proportion of customers who don't pay in full each month so you're really - really - not the first and don't be scared. You have friends here so feel free to post away.

[HarleyQuinn13]

Next, work out what you owe each company on a pro-rata basis. So if the first company is owed £100 and the second £200, you pay the second twice as much (from your left-over money each month) and pay it regularly. Post on here if you need to know how to do that.

 

Firstly, thanks for the welcome and for the kind, reassuring words

 

I've never thought of it like that, I just thought I'd pay QQ £100 a month to pay it off in the three months they usually push for, so that it's dealt with quickly. If I offer to pay both QQ & Wonga £100 a month, I'd still have enough money to live without struggling, and once QQ is paid off, I'd obviously have £100 extra each month so certainly wouldn't struggle.

 

Would it be better to calculate it on a pro-rota basis, and offer QQ and PDE less than Wonga then? PDUK isn't really an issue as I'll pay that one off straight away.

[ihateyes]

hi and welcome. i had 9loans, and now oly owe to 4....

 

 

Here goes....

Wonga - send the same email to [email protected] - [email protected], [email protected]

 

they will respond quite quick. stop and freeze interest. do this right away. they may ask you to call. anyay if your looking for a 6mth plan adv this, and ask for sort code/bank acc and reference number as you will now make payments via bank transfer,

 

PDUK are generally ok for plans, but expect you to default first....

 

QQ cant be annoying..

 

 

If possible id pay the PDE as they are the most awkward ***** in this business.

[HarleyQuinn13]

Wonga is the one that's causing me the most problems, I've cancelled my debit card today so will email them tonight. I have a draft of what to say. I've explained why my circumstances have changed, outlined my repayment plan, asked them to freeze interest, asked for their bank details and asked for future communication to be via email. Is there anything I've missed?!

I'll also get in touch with QQ tonight. The others I can repay one this month, then contact the other, just need to decide which will be more understanding and the lesser of two evils =P

[HarleyQuinn13]

Okay, so I did something silly and have rolled over these loans again

 

I left it too late to sort out my bank account. I want to make sure I have what money I do have secured before I contact anyone. I reported my debit card as lost/stolen and requested a new one, but after reading stories of PDL companies wiping accounts, I am now wondering if this will be enough?

 

I know what I need to do regarding contacting the companies, it's this part that I need a bit more guidance on as I'm not sure what's the best option. I'm a bit clueless on this part.

 

I've banked with Lloyds TSB since I was a teenager and ideally don't want to lose my account with them. I've read that if I get a new debit card, and set up standing orders to repay the PDLs, they cant take any more money from my account than I have authorised. Is this right? Wont they still have my bank details though? This is the bit I dont understand as you have to give them your sort code and account no when you apply, and even if you get a new card those are still the same.

 

I am looking at setting up a Halifax Easycash account as that's the one that seems to be recommended on this forum. I'd get my wages paid into there, get my rent and bills taken from that account etc. Then I'll transfer money into my old Lloyds account to pay back the PDLs. They cant take money that isn't in the account, so if I only put money into the Lloyds account for the repayments, does this seem like the best option? Also, would it be safe to go back to using the Lloyds account once everything is paid off?

 

As I say, from reading the forums I know exactly how to approach the companies, what to say and how to work out how much to offer them. I have draft emails written out for each company ready to go, I just want to sort out bank accounts first and I'm really not sure what's the best thing to do. Is it okay to just continue using my account now I have a new debit card, and set up SO's with the companies, or should I get a new account to ensure my wages are safe?

 

Thanks guys, sorry, I know I've done wrong by rolling these over; it's absolutely the last time, but I need to sort this first.

[Jamie Kingston]

in short, if you by standing order you are fine. i have found that cancelling the card is fine and just make sure that any DD you set up are not set up again by the companies, that should keep you totally safe and avoid opening a new account.

[HarleyQuinn13]

Great, thanks for that, I think I'm just panicking over nothing really having heard so many people say that these kind of companies have taken money from their accounts.

[ims21]

Hi there

 

Standing orders will be fine

 

SO are controlled by the payer, DDR are called by the payee.

 

With an SO you are in full control.

 

ims