lots of pdls

[minjara]

You;'ve twisted my arm, sorry I'm a born worrier. 3 of 6 agreed, 2 being pains n one never heard from

[renegadeimp]

Don't worry. The main tactic of most PDL's is to stall repayments by people in difficulty, hike up the debts with unfair charges then start a campaign of threats. Then after a while, they back down, remove some of the unfair charges to make it seem like they are giving a good deal. The very sad thing is that a LOT of people (we are talking about thousands, if not tens of thousands of people here) fall for this trick, simply because they do not know their rights. This results in massive profits for them. As an example, last year one of the PDL owners paid himself almost 2 million GBP in salary and bonuses.

 

It's a reason why they are referred to as "Legal Loan Sharks".

 

The upside of it all is they very very rarely take people to court, but when they actually do, when they see a defence filed, they try their hardest to settle out of court.

[asmilecostsnothing]

 

 

??????

 

Also got this one back from Payday Express who seem incompetent. Again feedback?

 

Thank you for your recent contact.

 

Unfortunately we are unable to continue with your repayment plan application.

 

Our accepted criteria for a repayment plan is proof of one of the following

 

• Significant Loss of income

• Unexpected change in personal circumstance, e.g. Long term sickness

• Severe Disability or illness (including close family members)

• Terminal illness or Mental illness (including close family members)

• Deceased (including close family members)

• Redundancy or Reduced hours (contractual hours reduced by company)

 

Although we are unable to accept your payment offer arrangements to assist you, please contact our Financial Difficulties Team on 0115 908 1163 so we can discuss alternatives in assisting you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Payday Express

 

My partner is long term disabled and it is because of him we can't pay this back cause he has had major reductions in his benefits. So in essence, personal circumstance too.. Feedback?

 

 

Yes mention partner - There is evidence elsewhere which is also rather public they do and can take this situation into account, one rule for 1 must go for all I'd say!, (I'll try and find it for you) and nobody got anywhere in not asking - the same thinking could apply to the FOS in my opinion it comes down to how the companies conduct themselves being (horrid telephone conversations, badly written letters or not even responding yes that did use to happen) and the part we play in helping or not helping ourselves - people who go to the FOS at the very outset without battling it out first or attempting any payment are of course not going to get the answer they would like

[renegadeimp]

Make sure you deal with the PDL's calmly and professionally when filing complaints. NEVER name call or start throwing abuse around. It WILL come back on you.

[asmilecostsnothing]

Make sure you deal with the PDL's calmly and professionally when filing complaints. NEVER name call or start throwing abuse around. It WILL come back on you.

 

Oh I did, thank-you, they say the truth hurts

I even had the time to listen to a Payday Lender's solicitor believe it or not (yes they do exist) - calmly, was treated with the greatest of respects and it actually helped enormously, it is part of the reason I've reined myself in, gone and got professional debt help AND only give my experience (which I'm still free to do as anybody is entitled to)

 

So it is ok for you to throw the abuse round on these 'companies', have opinion and somewhat misguide, yes but evidently not others who have lived through it, you need not worry I intend this to be my last post

[renegadeimp]

Was that aimed at me? Beause ive been though it and so has my sister. Myself personally altogether i had 12 creditors, through loans and bank overdrafts etc. The reason i say not to name call directly is because it will come back on you. I can say that from personal experience. However, when talking from the sidelines anyone and everyone is free to comment how they like. Thats why people of all types can comment as they see fit, but i and other people always tell debtors to deal with their creditors calmly. If they start to get threatening towards you, then you can use their words against them.

[minjara]

After receiving the automated threat letter from them of, if you don't pay within 30 days we will send it to a doorstop collector and may get legal action against you, I told them to stop making threats and respond to my email. I have no got this.....Thoughts?

 

A MiniCredit Claims Department member has replied to your claim, with the following response:

 

The Following Response is being sent to You according to the Formal Complaints Procedure.

 

Microcredit Ltd has provided You all the options that we are able to offer. We are reminding You to settle this account under the terms that are written in the Loan Agreement that You electronically signed and accepted. Unfortunately You have refused all the offers that have been provided to You.

 

We are able to decrease the payment plan balance from GBP425 to GBP380 waving all of the failed debit attempt fees of GBP45. The amount of GBP380 consists of the loan principal, interest until the default date and the two penalties of GBP80 of breaking the Loan Agreement. This can either be settled under a settlement plan within 100 days or with our Debt Collection partner during a longer period of time but when we send the account off to our Debt Collection partner the default will be immediately marked on Your credit file.

 

Please let me know what You decide considering the above latest by the 31st of July 2012 because if You wish to set up a payment plan we need to send Your account to our debt recovery partner from the beginning of August 2012.

 

We hope this response has sufficiently answered your questions. If not, please do not send another email. Instead, reply to this email.

 

Kind regards,

Minicredit Claims Department

[minjara]

Random thought, can they through these charges on willy nilly when they aren't outlined in their loan agreement

 

KEY FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Credit Limit: £1000.00

Each time you borrow from us, you must make one repayment, which is to be made 1 to 42 days

after the day on which you receive the loan from us. The amount of your repayment depends upon

the amount you borrow from us.

If you make your required repayment, there will be no other repayments you will need to make. We

may vary the amount of your repayment and your repayment date, on written notice, to reflect any

extension of the due date for repayment.

*APR: 4144% pa

*APR is the total cost of the credit to you including all interest, fees and charges, expressed as an

annual percentage of the amount of credit granted.

OTHER FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Total Charge for Credit: The 'Total Charge' for Credit depends upon the amount you borrow from us.

The following shows the total Charge for Credit you will pay for the different amounts that you can

borrow what depends of loan amounts:

1) Interest charges: 1% per day of loan amount.

2) Fast Advance Transmission Fee £19.50, repayable in advance (optional).

3) Loan request charge £1 if made by text message, online request is free.

4) Subsequent repeated online requests maybe chargeable if previous one declined.

Advance payments: £0.01 (being an initial

registration fee which is

payable once only)

The 'Total Charge' for the Credit shown above is the only charge and there are no other charges for

the Credit under this Agreement.

The 'Total Charge' for the Credit

is made up of the following parts: Interest charges 1% per day

depending on how much you

borrow; and Loan request fee of £1.00

(payable each time you

borrow an amount from us

under this Agreement by text

message, first online request is free)

and

Fast Advance Transmission

Fee £19.50, repay-

able in advance (optional).

Fast Advance Transmission fee is applicable to all loan applications if not notified in written form at

least three days before sending loan application. If your bank account you have provided does not

support faster payments scheme we may still charge £19.50 Fast Advance Transmission and

handling Fee £19.50.

Rate of interest on the Credit to be provided

under this Agreement: 365%

The rate of interest on the Credit to be provided under this Agreement is fixed.

Interest charges have been pre-computed at the commencement of this Agreement. Interest charges

are applied and calculated under this Agreement on the date which repayment falls due, being 1 to

42 days after the day on which you receive each amount borrowed under this Agreement.

KEY INFORMATION

If you break this Agreement, we will charge you if we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on

the due date for repayment. A fee of £25 will be charged on the day that your missed payment was

due. If we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on the due date, we will attempt to obtain

repayment a second time 2 days later, and if we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on this

second occasion we will charge you a further amount of £55. If we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain

repayment we may charge up to £5.

Interest on any sum in arrears will be charged at the contractual rate, both before and after judgment,

until payment. Also, you must pay us all other reasonable costs and expenses we incur (including

any legal costs on a full indemnity basis) in tracing you, or enforcing, or attempting to enforce, our

rights under this Agreement.

MISSING PAYMENTS

Missing payments could have severe consequences and make obtaining credit more difficult.

IMPORTANT - YOU SHOULD READ THIS CAREFULLY ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS

The Consumer Credit Act 1974 lays down certain requirements for your protection which should have

been completed when the agreement was made. If they were not, we cannot enforce the agreement

without getting a court order.

The Act also gives you a number of rights. You can settle this Agreement at any time by giving notice

in writing and paying off the amount you owe under this Agreement.

If you would like to know more about your rights under the Act, contact either your local Trading

Standards Department or your nearest Citizens' Advice Bureau.This is a Credit Agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Sign it only if you

want to be legally bound by its terms.

This Credit Agreement can only be signed by you electronically. Once you have done so, we

will send a pdf copy of the agreement to the e-mail address you have nominated and agreed

we can use to send documents to you under this Agreement.

IMPORTANT - USE OF YOUR INFORMATION

You have a right to know how we will use your personal information. It is important that you should

read clause 14 overleaf entitled 'Use of Your Information' before you sign.

We may send you information about products of ours and others which may be of interest to you. We

may pass your details to other selected businesses to send you information about their products. You

have a right at any time to stop us from contacting you or giving your details to others for these

purposes. You may write to us at 30 Borough High Street, London SE1 1XU, or contact us at

http://www.minicredit.co.uk/contact if you wish us to stop.

LOAN CONDITIONS

Application of these Loan Conditions

1. These Loan Conditions will apply to the Credit Agreement entered into by you and us ('the

Agreement').

Warranty

2. You warrant that you are at least 18 years old and that the information provided by you to us prior

to entering into this Agreement is correct and you authorise us to undertake such investigation or

enquiry about you that we may wish to make. Also you warrant that the bank account and the card

details you provided during the registration process are registered on your name and address.

Registration and PIN

3. When you register and apply with us ('Registration'), we will, at our discretion, provide you with a

unique Personal Identification Number ('PIN') which is personal to you and which will enable you to

make a request to us to borrow the sum from £100.00 to £1000 from us ('Request').

4. Registration costs the sum of £0.01. This sum shall be paid by debit card. This sum reflects the

administrative costs we incur in processing your Registration. As such, this Registration cost is nonrefundable, regardless of whether you make a Request subsequent to Registration. However if you

cancel this Agreement in accordance with the Financial Services (Distance Marketing) Regulations

2004 (see paragraphs 13 to 15 below), we will refund this Registration cost.

Request

5. Upon receiving a Request from you, we will, at our discretion, loan you the sum you have

requested by crediting your bank account, using the bank account details you provided to us duringRegistration. To make a Request you need to send us a text message from the mobile phone

number you provided to us during Registration and in accordance with the Request instructions

published on our website, http://www.minicredit.co.uk ('our website') from time to time. Alternative request

can be done online during registration and from secure client account by logging in at our website. If

we decline first request then subsequent request may incur charge up to £2.50. All other service

charges are published on our website and/or secure client account.

One Loan at a Time Only

6. We will only loan you one amount, of up to £1000.00, at any one time. Once you repay a loan in

full (together with payment in full of any other amounts you owe under this Agreement), you can

make another Request and we will, at our discretion, loan you a further amount of up to £1000.00 on

the same terms.

Loan extensions

7. Repayment of each loan and interest at the contractual rate is due 1 to 42 days after the day you

receive the loan in your account. At our discretion you can extend any given due date for repayment

by making an extension request ('Extension Request'). An Extension Request must be:

(i) in accordance with the Extension Request instructions and fees published on our website from

time to time; and

(ii) received by us no later than one day prior to the relevant due date for repayment.

Repayment, Default and Recovery

8. You agree to make all payments to us under this Agreement at the proper time. We will collect

payments by debiting your bank account using the debit card details you have registered with us up

to three times per day. You authorise us to debit your bank account to collect payments due under

this Agreement. If we are unsuccessful in collecting payment, we may try to debit your bank account

again at a later stage until we have successfully collected payment. If you have provided us with

details of a second debit card and we are unsuccessful in collecting payment from the first debit card,

you authorise us to seek payment via the second debit card in the same way as you authorise us to

seek payment via the first debit card. You must give us new valid debit card details when you cancel,

lose or your debit card(s) registered with us become(s) invalid when you have unpaid loan with us.

9. If you fail to make any payment by the due date, we may, after serving any default notice required

by law and after the period for remedying any default has passed, end this Agreement. In such

cases, you must pay any balance of the amount you owe us under this Agreement.

10. Interest on any sum in arrears will be charged at the contractual rate, both before and after

judgment, until payment. Also, you must pay us all other reasonable costs and expenses we incur

(including any legal costs on a full indemnity basis) in tracing you, or enforcing, or attempting to

enforce, our rights under this Agreement.

Cancellation

11. You have the right to cancel this Agreement under the Financial Services (Distance Marketing)

Regulations 2004 ('the Distance Regulations'). You will have 14 days from the date this Agreement

is made to cancel the Agreement 'the Cancellation Period'). The Cancellation Period commences

on the day that you receive an electronic copy of this Agreement at the e-mail address provided by

you, which you agree we may deliver this Agreement to in electronic pdf form. If you wish to cancel

this Agreement, please write to [email protected] and tell us that you wish to cancel. You

may also give us notice of cancellation by: http://www.minicredit.co.uk/contact (i) leaving a written cancellation notice, addressed to us, at our address;

(ii) posting a written cancellation notice, addressed to us, to our address; or

(iii) sending a written cancellation notice to us by facsimile on 020 7138 2919.

12. If you cancel this Agreement, this Agreement will be terminated at the time which your

cancellation notice is given, however you will have to repay any money lent to you as soon as

possible and in any event not later than 30 calendar days of giving us notice of cancellation. Where

you have borrowed money from us and you cancel this Agreement, we may charge you £1.00 per

day for every £100.00 you have borrowed from us, with such charge commencing on the day that

you receive the relevant £100.00 from us and ending on the day your cancellation notice is given.

13. Apart from your right to cancel the Agreement under the Distance Regulations, described above,

there is no other right of cancellation. If you do not exercise your right to cancel under the Distance

Regulations, you will be bound by the terms of the Agreement.

Use of Your Information

14. In considering your application we will search your record at credit reference agencies. They will

add to your record details of our search and your application and this will be seen by other

organisations that make searches. Information held about you by the credit reference agencies may

already be linked to records relating to one or more of your partners. For the purposes of this

application you may be treated as financially linked and your application will be assessed with

reference to any 'associated' records.

We will use a credit scoring or other automated decision making system when assessing your

application.

We will also add to your record with the credit reference agencies details of your agreement with us

any default or failure to keep to its terms and any change of address you fail to tell us about where a

payment is overdue. It is important that you give us accurate information. We will check your details

with fraud prevention agencies and if you give us false or inaccurate information and we suspect

fraud, we will record this.

These records will be shared with other organisations and used by us and them to:

· Help make decisions about credit and credit related services such as insurance for you and

members of your household;

· Race debtors, recover debt, prevent money laundering and fraud, and to manage your accounts.

For these purposes we or they make further searches. Although these searches will be added to your

record, they will not be shared with others.

We may also use information about you to carry out market research.

Fraud prevention agency records will also be shared with other organisations to help make decisions

on motor, household, credit, life and other insurance proposals and insurance claims, for you and

members of your household.

Please contact us at (http://www.minicredit.co.uk/contact) if you want to have details of those credit

reference and fraud prevention agencies from whom we obtain and to whom we pass information

about you. You have a legal right to these details.

You have a right to receive a copy of the information we hold about you if you apply in writing. A feewill be payable.

General

15. No relaxation or indulgence granted by us shall affect our rights under this Agreement.

16. You will notify us if you change address.

17. We may assign our rights and obligations under this Agreement.

18. You may not assign your rights and obligations under this Agreement without our prior written

consent.

19. We are a Data Controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998. We draw your

attention to our Privacy Policy which explains how we use any information you provide to us during

your use of our website.

20. Any notices given to you in relation to this Agreement shall be sent via by e-mail to the e-mail

address you have provided to us during Registration ('your e-mail address'). You agree that we may

send a copy of this Agreement in pdf form, as well as any notices given to you in relation to this

Agreement, to your e-mail address. At our discretion, we may also serve any notice or demand on

you personally, or leave it or send it by prepaid envelope addressed to you at your last known

address. You may serve any written notices on us by first class post to our registered address or

contact us at http://www.minicredit.co.uk/contact

21. Any waiver by either party of a breach of any provision of these Loan Conditions and/or this

Agreement shall not be considered to be a waiver of any subsequent breach of the same, or any

other, provision.

22. A person who is not a party to this Agreement has no right to benefit under or to enforce any term

of this Agreement.

23. This Agreement is governed by English Law

 

Anything else at fault in this agreement?

[renegadeimp]

They can only add on charges when they are legitimate and they can show that the charges reflect what they are meant for.

 

For example: £19.50 for a "fast transaction fee" is unenforceable and wont stand up in court as its a false charge.

 

If you break this Agreement, we will charge you if we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on

the due date for repayment. A fee of £25 will be charged on the day that your missed payment was

due. If we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on the due date, we will attempt to obtain

repayment a second time 2 days later, and if we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on this

second occasion we will charge you a further amount of £55. If we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain

repayment we may charge up to £5.

 

 

Nope. again, completely unfair charges and unenforceable.

 

Also, you must pay us all other reasonable costs and expenses we incur (including

any legal costs on a full indemnity basis) in tracing you, or enforcing, or attempting to enforce, our

rights under this Agreement.

 

Nope. This is up to a judge in court and is also open to negotiation in any defence.

 

 

 

On a side note:

 

You have a right to know how we will use your personal information. It is important that you should

read clause 14 overleaf entitled 'Use of Your Information' before you sign.

We may send you information about products of ours and others which may be of interest to you. We

may pass your details to other selected businesses to send you information about their products. You

have a right at any time to stop us from contacting you or giving your details to others for these

purposes. You may write to us at 30 Borough High Street, London SE1 1XU, or contact us at

http://www.minicredit.co.uk/contact if you wish us to stop.

 

 

You shouldnt have to write to them or make contact. They should have an opt out box on the application/agreement form

 

18. You may not assign your rights and obligations under this Agreement without our prior written

consent.

 

 

Umm.. yea you can. All the debtor has to do is write in and say they have legally assigned control or representation of the debt to another person. Get it signed and witnessed by someone in high standing and theres sweet FA they can do.

 

We will use a credit scoring or other automated decision making system when assessing your

application.

 

Yea... no. They dont. I know someone who took a loan of £500 with minicredit. He was in a 16 hour a week job and his credit rating was completely destroyed before making the application. He still got accepted. No search was ever recorded on any of the 3 agencies.

 

We will collect

payments by debiting your bank account using the debit card details you have registered with us up

to three times per day. You authorise us to debit your bank account to collect payments due under

this Agreement. If we are unsuccessful in collecting payment, we may try to debit your bank account

again at a later stage until we have successfully collected payment. If you have provided us with

details of a second debit card and we are unsuccessful in collecting payment from the first debit card,

you authorise us to seek payment via the second debit card in the same way as you authorise us to

seek payment via the first debit card. You must give us new valid debit card details when you cancel,

lose or your debit card(s) registered with us become(s) invalid when you have unpaid loan with us.

9. If you fail to make any payment by the due date, we may, after serving any default notice required

by law and after the period for remedying any default has passed, end this Agreement. In such

cases, you must pay any balance of the amount you owe us under this Agreement.

10. Interest on any sum in arrears will be charged at the contractual rate, both before and after

judgment, until payment. Also, you must pay us all other reasonable costs and expenses we incur

(including any legal costs on a full indemnity basis) in tracing you, or enforcing, or attempting to

enforce, our rights under this Agreement.

Cancellation

 

I'd love to see them try and enforce this in court.

[minjara]

The Following Response is being sent to You according to the Formal Complaints Procedure.

 

Microcredit Ltd has provided You all the options that we are able to offer. We are reminding You to settle this account under the terms that are written in the Loan Agreement that You electronically signed and accepted. Unfortunately You have refused all the offers that have been provided to You.

 

We are able to decrease the payment plan balance from GBP425 to GBP380 waving all of the failed debit attempt fees of GBP45. The amount of GBP380 consists of the loan principal, interest until the default date and the two penalties of GBP80 of breaking the Loan Agreement. This can either be settled under a settlement plan within 100 days or with our Debt Collection partner during a longer period of time but when we send the account off to our Debt Collection partner the default will be immediately marked on Your credit file.

 

Please let me know what You decide considering the above latest by the 31st of July 2012 because if You wish to set up a payment plan we need to send Your account to our debt recovery partner from the beginning of August 2012.

 

We hope this response has sufficiently answered your questions. If not, please do not send another email. Instead, reply to this email.

 

Kind regards,

Minicredit Claims Department

 

What should I tell them???

[renegadeimp]

Remind them of the OFT guidance on debt collection since they seem to be oblivious to it. The simple fact that they have offered a reduction proves that the debt is made up of unfair charges. They are also not allowed to add the 2 penalty fees of £80 to the debt either. They are also threatening you. They can add a default to your credit file, as you havent paid the debt as agreed. However, they are NOT allowed to threaten or blackmail you into paying as they are in that letter.

[minjara]

Lol their threaty email.

 

We would like to remind you that your MiniCredit overdue loan balance is £420.00.

>If we are unable to recover full amount within next 10 days we'll send Your account to THE DOORSTEP COLLECTOR and You will incur extra costs.

>We may also start legal action against You. We also report the status of Your outstanding account to Credit reference agencies. All this process affects your credit score adversely and ability to receive credit in the future.

>Best regards

[minjara]

Result!!! Still being hampered by Minicredit, but Payday Express, after constant calls, I wrote to them on the 27th with this.

 

Dear Payday Express.

 

You say on the phone and on here that it has to be to do with my own personal circumstances, yet on the email below as well you mention long term illness for a partner. My partner is long term ill and because of reductions in his DLA, ESA and IIB this is why I cannot pay this in full and I have tried time and time again to sort out a repayment plan. For you to say this cannot be done is rubbish as I have done my digging online and one of the people I speak to has been set up on a repayment plan with you because her dad is long term ill and she is now having to look after him as well. So is it now one rule for one person and one for another.

 

As I have said on the phone to you as well you have an obligation and OFT guidelines to follow as a lender...

 

2.2 In general terms, businesses:

 

• treat debtors fairly – debtors should not be subjected to aggressive practices, inappropriate coercion, or conduct which is deceitful, oppressive, unfair or improper, whether unlawful or not.

 

• be transparent in their dealings with debtors and others – information provided should be clear and should not be confusing or misleading

 

• exercise forbearance and consideration – in particular towards debtors experiencing difficulty - we would expect businesses to work with debtors with a view to providing them with reasonable time and opportunity to repay debts and, where appropriate, to signpost them to sources of free independent debt advice

 

• act proportionately when seeking to recover debts, taking into account debtors' circumstances - actions taken in respect of arrears or default should give proper consideration to available options and the likely effect of such actions on the debtor18

• establish and implement clear, effective and appropriate policies and procedures for engaging with debtors and other relevant parties, including having appropriate mechanisms for responding to reasonably queried and disputed debt.

 

• establish and implement clear, appropriate and effective policies and procedures for identifying and dealing with particularly vulnerable debtors.

 

 

3 UNFAIR OR IMPROPER BUSINESS PRACTICES

 

3.1 This chapter identifies matters that the OFT considers to be unfair or improper business practices for the purposes of section 25(2A)(e) of the Act. These are set out under the following sub-headings:

• Communication: businesses should communicate in a clear, accurate and transparent manner

 

• Physical/psychological harassment: businesses should not engage in physical or psychological harassment of debtors, or relevant third parties

 

• Deceptive and/or unfair methods: businesses should be truthful and fair in their dealings with debtors and others

 

• Charging for debt recovery: charges should not be levied inappropriately or unfairly

 

• Debt collection visits: those visiting debtors must not act in a threatening or unclear manner

 

• Statute barred debt: businesses should not use unfair methods (including misrepresenting the legal position) if seeking to recover statute barred debt

 

 

i. pressurising debtors to pay more than they can reasonably afford32 without experiencing undue difficulty33

failing to allow for alternative, affordable, repayment amounts when a reasonable proposal is made by a debtor or a third party representative acting on his behalf (for example, a debt adviser)

 

 

Charging for debt recovery

 

3.10 Charges should not be levied inappropriately or unfairly.

 

3.11 Examples of unfair or improper practices are as follows:

a. misleading debtors into believing they are legally liable to pay recovery charges when this is not the case

b. claiming recovery costs from a debtor in the absence of express contractual provision to be able to do so

For example, where there is no provision in the credit agreement that expressly allows for such charges to be levied.

c. not giving a clear indication in credit agreements of the amount of any charges payable on default

d. applying unreasonable charges.

 

In In the OFT's view, creditors should consider reducing or stopping interest and charges where a borrower evidences that he is in financial difficulty and is unable to meet repayments as they fall due or when he can only make ‘token’ repayments such that his level of debt would continue to increase if interest and charges continue to be applied

52 An 'unreasonable charge' in this context would be a charge, the level of which, is not based on the recovery of actual and necessary costs

 

So in view of you not adhering to OFT guidelines, can I please have your address to send a formal letter of complaint to yourself and to the OFT, hereby giving you 8 weeks before I contact the FOS.

 

Got a singular call this morning from someone called Nicholas, to which I just said I am dealing with this by email, goodbye.

 

Turns out I got an email from him just 9 minutes later saying this:

 

We thank you for your email, the contents of which have been noted.

 

We write to inform you that we will accept your offer of repayment. We would ask that you provide the dates and means of the payments you will be making.

 

Please direct all your queries to Nicholas Krauspe, so I can help you with going forward.

 

 

Regards,

 

Payday Express

 

So after all the crap they have put me through they have decided they can accept whats happened and accept my offer.....HALLELUJAH BREAK THROUGH MOMENT!!!!

 

So they will be getting money from the end of this month.

 

Thats now 4 of 6 getting paid on a monthly basis. Just Lending Stream who has still not contacted me, and Minicredit chomping at the bit.

 

Woohoo, I feel great.

 

Loz

[Jamie Kingston]

well played! result!

[renegadeimp]

Nice o ne. Looks like they thought they were on to a cash cow. Bet they didnt see your email coming

[minjara]

Minicredit make me so angry. Just been sent this

 

The Following Response is being sent to You according to the Formal Complaints Procedure.

 

The first contact You made with our Company regarding the current outstanding loan was on the 20th of June 2012 when You e-mailed us asking for a payment plan. We activated the hardship form on Your online account so that You could apply for a payment plan. You have refused to follow the instructions because You do not wish to provide us with the information regarding Your other creditors. Microcredit Ltd has the right to have this information in order to see Your income and expenditure sheet and take into consideration Your other financial obligations. We also need supportive documentation to see that the loss in the household income was unforeseen and unknown for You at the time of applying for the loan. Without supportive documentation to prove that the difficulties were unforeseen or if several other short-term loans (5 or more is considered fraudulent borrowing) were taken from other Creditors we are unable to provide You with a payment plan without Legal proceedings. Please follow the Procedure set for Customers who need a payment plan.

 

The overdue penalties You have also disputed are in accordance with the Loan Agreement and legally justified. We are unable to waive the penalties from Your outstanding balance.

 

The following information has been taken from the Loan Agreement:

 

KEY INFORMATION

If you break this Agreement, we will charge you if we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on the due date for repayment. A fee of £25 will be charged on the day that your missed payment was due. If we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on the due date, we will attempt to obtain repayment a second time 2 days later, and if we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on this second occasion we will charge you a further amount of £55. If we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment we may charge up to £5.

 

Interest on any sum in arrears will be charged at the contractual rate, both before and after judgment, until payment. Also, you must pay us all other reasonable costs and expenses we incur (including any legal costs on a full indemnity basis) in tracing you, or enforcing, or attempting to enforce, our rights under this Agreement.

 

 

Once we have received the hardship form back and the payment plan is agreed to be set up the account will be allocated to our debt recovery partner. Please be aware that the Hardship team member will also contact You by phone to discuss the balance and send You a written confirmation of the agreed offer before the account is sent to the third party debt recovery agency.

 

Microcredit Ltd is able to provide our Hardship customers three possibilities:

 

The first option is a settlement. The settlement means that when You contact our Customer support we are able to reduce the current outstanding balance and waive some of the failed debit attempt fees. The settlement must be paid over the phone during the phone-call with a debit/credit card.

 

The second option we are able to provide You is a settlement plan. We provide all our clients 120 days from the due date to make payments of any amount towards their outstanding balance. You would need to make at least one payment a month towards the balance. Before the 120th comes days You would need to make a full and final settlement offer. Microcredit Ltd will then overlook all the payments we have received and they will be taken into consideration while calculating the settlement. The reasonable settlement amount must cover the daily interest for every day our funds have been used, the loan principal and the two penalties for breaking the Loan agreement. The interest is 1% of the Loan principal per day. We are able to decrease some of the failed debit attempt fees.

 

Microcredit does not provide You the dates nor the amounts when You need to make the payments. The partial payments possibility is available 24/7 on Your http://www.minicredit.co.uk online account under "Repayment" section. The most important part is that at least once a month a payment of any amount must be made. The loan should be cleared latest by the 120th overdue day.

 

The settlement can be discussed at any point when You have a larger amount available to offer as a full and final settlement.

 

The third option is a payment plan. The payment plan means that we will add the default date interest to the loan principal, the two penalties for breaking the Loan agreement (£80) and the decreased debit attempt fees and forward the account to our debt recovery partner from the beginning of the next month. The default is marked on the credit reference but You will be able to make the payments on a monthly basis to clear the balance.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Kristel Martinson

MiniCredit Claims Department

 

0871 890 3015

Fax 020 71382919

http://www.minicredit.co.uk

[email protected]

 

 

What now?? Also first contact was on the 10th june, then 16th then the 20th when they finally decided to respond.

 

What should I say to them now?

 

Loz x

[renegadeimp]

It's the same crap they send everyone. Ignore it and make sure your bank is secure. Keep a copy of the email/letter so if they try and take you to court, you will have a very good defence against them.

[minjara]

Ok what do I do now, do i contact them re "by the way u are telling porkies, bring it on" or what do I do.

 

Got the infamous "pay the whole amount now or we are going to send our people round to yours" doorstop collection notice, oh n the amount owed is now £522.00, plus £100 for them dropping by.

 

Thank u in advance

 

Loz x

[renegadeimp]

You tell them to sod off if they come around or the police will be called. They also cannot charge you for them coming.

[minjara]

Cheers RenegadeImp, thought that would be the case, lol. Its ok our flat complex is like fort knox. The postie has a key to get in and out, and its a microchip. without them u can't get in, and once u are in the block u can't get any further than that unless someone answers to u.

[minjara]

The minicredit saga continues......what now??

 

The Following Response is being sent to You according to the Formal Complaints Procedure.

 

As I understand correctly You are not able to settle the account with a full and final settlement payment or settlement plan.

 

The only option to settle the balance is by setting up a payment plan. Although we do understand that You are going through financial difficulties at the moment, we are not in a position to freeze the interest until the 1st of November 2012 when the Loan is defaulted. We are still able to waive the total amount of debit attempt fees and the debt recovery fee from the outstanding balance.

 

The interest cannot be frozen due to the fact that Microcredit Ltd has provided the funds to You for 30 days only, but You broke this agreement and are to use our fund a lot longer.

 

The overdue penalties of £25 and £55 are considered payable for breaking the Loan Agreement and cannot be waived from the balance.

 

The total outstanding balance £691.40 from the date of issuing (4th of June 2012) until today thee the 15th of August 2012 consists of the following:

 

1. Loan principal £120

2. Interest in total £86.40 (1% of the Principal per day)

3. Overdue penalty £25 (was added on the 1st day overdue)

4. Overdue penalty £55 (was added on the 3rd day overdue)

5. Debt Recovery fee £100 (was added on the 30th day overdue)

6. Debit Attempt fees in total £305 (every unsuccessful attempt to receive the repayment costs up to £5).

 

The following information has been taken from the Loan Agreement:

KEY INFORMATION

If you break this Agreement, we will charge you if we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on the due date for repayment. A fee of £25 will be charged on the day that your missed payment was due. If we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on the due date, we will attempt to obtain repayment a second time 2 days later, and if we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on this second occasion we will charge you a further amount of £55. If we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment we may charge up to £5.

 

Interest on any sum in arrears will be charged at the contractual rate, both before and after judgment, until payment. Also, you must pay us all other reasonable costs and expenses we incur (including any legal costs on a full indemnity basis) in tracing you, or enforcing, or attempting to enforce, our rights under this Agreement.

 

Repayment, Default and Recovery

8. You agree to make all payments to us under this Agreement at the proper time. We will collect payments by debiting your bank account using the debit card details you have registered with us up to three times per day. You authorise us to debit your bank account to collect payments due under this Agreement. If we are unsuccessful in collecting payment, we may try to debit your bank account again at a later stage until we have successfully collected payment. If you have provided us with details of a second debit card and we are unsuccessful in collecting payment from the first debit card, you authorise us to seek payment via the second debit card in the same way as you authorise us to seek payment via the first debit card. You must give us new valid debit card details when you cancel, lose or your debit card(s) registered with us become(s) invalid when you have unpaid loan with us.

 

We are willing to deduct the total amount of debit attempt fees £305 and the debt recovery fee £100 from the outstanding balance and accept a lower amount as the full and final settlement.

 

We are able to accept the amount of £380 as a full and final settlement repayable under a payment plan through our debt recovery partner. The settlement balance consists of the original due date repayment amount £156, interest up to 01/11/2012 £144 and the overdue penalties of £80. The contractual interest rate is 1% of the principal per day from the date of issuing until default date. The above described overdue charges and interest is added in accordance with the Loan Agreement attached to the current e-mail.

 

We will forward the account over to one of our debt recovery partners in the beginning of September 2012 who will contact You shortly after to set up a payment arrangement with affordable monthly payment amounts.

 

Kind regards,

 

Kristel Martinson

MiniCredit Head of Customer Support

and Claims Department

 

0871 890 3015

Fax 020 71382919

http://www.minicredit.co.uk

[azzadle]

Apologies if you've answered already but how much have you paid towaeds this debt already? That includes any 'rollover fees'.

[azzadle]

And wtf at their settlement offer? Adding interest until november 1st when its august 19th, surely thats breaking a lot of rules? If the date hasnt passed you cant add interest like that!

[renegadeimp]

The interest cannot be frozen due to the fact that Microcredit Ltd has provided the funds to You for 30 days only, but You broke this agreement and are to use our fund a lot longer.

 

That makes zero sense at all

 

The overdue penalties of £25 and £55 are considered payable for breaking the Loan Agreement and cannot be waived from the balance.

 

Penalty fees are unenforceable and reclaimable

 

6. Debit Attempt fees in total £305 (every unsuccessful attempt to receive the repayment costs up to £5).

 

Good luck trying to enforce that if it gets contested, minimuppets.

 

If we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on the due date, we will attempt to obtain repayment a second time 2 days later, and if we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment on this second occasion we will charge you a further amount of £55. If we unsuccessfully attempt to obtain repayment we may charge up to £5.

 

Yay for breaching OFT guidance and also trying to ignore your statutory rights.

 

Interest on any sum in arrears will be charged at the contractual rate, both before and after judgment, until payment.

 

Yea.. no. The contract ended after the original 30 days. Minicredit already admitted that. Plus they would never get the high rate of interest continued in court after a judgement, especially if you defend and prove you have financial difficulties, which minicredit already acknowledged at the start of their letter. Normal interest post judgement is 8% PA.

 

You agree to make all payments to us under this Agreement at the proper time. We will collect payments by debiting your bank account using the debit card details you have registered with us up to three times per day. You authorise us to debit your bank account to collect payments due under this Agreement. If we are unsuccessful in collecting payment, we may try to debit your bank account again at a later stage until we have successfully collected payment. If you have provided us with details of a second debit card and we are unsuccessful in collecting payment from the first debit card, you authorise us to seek payment via the second debit card in the same way as you authorise us to seek payment via the first debit card. You must give us new valid debit card details when you cancel, lose or your debit card(s) registered with us become(s) invalid when you have unpaid loan with us.

 

"Blah blah we're breaking guidance and law cos we can". Meaning if you revoke their permission to debit the account, then any future attempts by them would be considered fraudulant use of account details and/or theft. Again, their terms and conditions cannot override your statutory rights, no matter what they say. That clause would be ignored and wiped by any judge.

 

We are able to accept the amount of £380 as a full and final settlement repayable under a payment plan through our debt recovery partner. The settlement balance consists of the original due date repayment amount £156, interest up to 01/11/2012 £144 and the overdue penalties of £80. The contractual interest rate is 1% of the principal per day from the date of issuing until default date. The above described overdue charges and interest is added in accordance with the Loan Agreement attached to the current e-mail.

 

You have No reason to deal with their recovery partner. Their DCA has no legal rights or remit to deal with the case, and you have no reason to deal with them. All payments are to be made direct to the OC whether they like it or not.

[minjara]

So what should I tell them now?