Minicredit NIGHTMARE!

[ktan49]

Hi guys. Just in need of some advise.. Took out a £100 loan with minicredit couple months ago, due to change in circumstances I was unable to pay it back. They are not accepting any offers from Clark Richards ( the debt management company in charge of my accounts ) Had a letter through to day from them, saying total balance due £801.

 

I need serious answers now guys, Is it possible to take this evil company to court? There is no chance I am paying back £700 extra!

 

Many Thanks

Karl

[renegadeimp]

They could try to take you to court, but a simple defense against their claim would see them running off pretty damn fast.

 

Can you give more details? such as original loan amount plus interest, date taken out, date defaulted etc.

[ktan49]

Just checked my account on their website

 

Loan was due to be paid back 30/03/2012

 

Original loan amount £100

 

Current balance £831.00

 

Status : Debt Collection

 

I believe the Original amount plus one months interest would have been £129 give or take a £1.

[renegadeimp]

I would be inclined to email or write and ask them for a complete breakdown of the debt. Minicredit have a very bad habit of inventing reasons to add charges to an account and also adding charges that the OFT say a very big NO to.

 

When did you take the loan out? Because if they tried to take you to court, a judge would be very interested in their reasons to how the debt has risen 700% in just a few months.

[ktan49]

Ok have emailed them, will update you as soon as I get a reply from them.

 

Cheers

[ktan49]

Right, I have had a think.. is it worth me phoning minicredit directly to arrange a payment plan, is there anyway I can knock off some of that £830? Still awaiting email response from breakdown of charges.

[sillygirl1]

Do not phone them unless you can record the call, they will tell porkies.

 

You do not owe £830, the contract with them has ended and you owe what the contract says, your original loan amount and interest.

 

If they tried court they would be in trouble.

 

Let the OFT know that you are having problems with them, they are investigating this murky market, also contact MP Stella Creasey and let her know what problems you are having with lack of communication from them.

[ktan49]

Thank you for the reply,

 

I sent another email, as they did not respond before

 

Dear MiniCredit

 

I would like to arrange a settlement plan, could you please forward me a full breakdown of the charges on my account. I look forward to a response from you via e-mail as i do not wish to discuss this matter over the phone.

 

Kind Regards

Karl

 

 

What will happen when It's passed onto a 3rd party debt collector?

 

Thank you so much for you help

 

Karl

[Welshy27]

The general advice on here is to never speak to a PDL on the phone but to always have all communication in writing. Minicredit will not accept any kind of payment plan schedule but you can make partial payments or try to come to an agreed settlement figure. I did call them earlier this week to discuss how I wanted my account to be passed on to a DCA because I no longer wanted to deal with them. I do think phoning them sped up this process because otherwise they wouldn't have dealt with it and they then did confirm immediately afterwards by email that my account will be passed on.

 

When it gets passed on to a DCA, it will either go to a company called OPOS or Mackenzie Hall. I'm hoping mine will go to OPOS because they have already agreed to support me in my suggested repayment plan. Just state what you can afford to pay each month and don't negotiate. People on benefits can pay just £1 per month if they wish because it is classed as low priority debt and the courts would support this. If extra extortionate charges have been added on then you can dispute them with the DCA who might wipe them so that you only pay back the original loan & interest.

[sillygirl1]

Why are you paying the DMP when there are free services, you are throwing money away here that could be used against your creditors - and as you have found out the DMP doesn't deal with all of your creditors either!

 

This is from Clark Richards terms and conditions.....

 

5 How we will be paid

5.1 Unless we agree otherwise with you we will take from each monthly payment under the debt management programme a fee equal to 14.9% of the periodic payment under the debt management programme. Subject to a minimum of £30 and a maximum of £90. If in accordance with our records you have conducted your debt management programme satisfactorily we may, at our discretion, waiver the last 6 months management fee.

5.2 Because most of our work will be done at the start of the Period, we will charge an initial fee based on your programme payment. The initial fee will not exceed the equivalent of 2 months’ payments to your Debt Management Programme. The fee will be collected as follows; 100% of the first payment and 100% of the second payment. NO further administration charges will be applied to the initial fee.

[sillygirl1]

Wrong approach, try this one

 

Dear Minitwits

 

I am experiencing financial hardship and wish to repay the original loan and interest at a rate of x amount over x period.

 

I will not be able to fill in an accurate I&E form as my finances are very unstable. I cannot be telephoned as I cannot afford a phone and I will only be contactable by email.

 

I will need your bank details in order to make the payments to you as I do not have an account with debit card facilities.

 

 

Keep it short and let them know that YOU are now in charge.

[ktan49]

Ok thank you very much for that

 

Any idea which e-mail address for them would get me through faster?

 

tried sending it to them via their website, then got a reply in my hotmail inbox saying this

 

Dear Karl ******

 

Please forward Your request to claims at minicredit.co.uk

 

 

Kind regards

MiniCredit

Client Support Team

 

I have sent it to that claims address, just a waiting game now?

 

Cheers

Karl

[sillygirl1]

Yes, sit back and forget about this lot for a while, they are a low priority creditor.

[sequenci]

Hello there, is your income fluctuating?

[ktan49]

What do I do if I do not get a reply in the next day or two? What would be the next step?

 

@Sequenci ; Income differs slightly each month.

 

Thank you

[sequenci]

Hi there. Standard practice is to supply a comprehensive budget where possible, this will reinforce the fact that the offer you're making would be fair and reasonable given the circumstances. For those in receipt of state benefits it's usually going to be a token offer. Have you other debts?

[ktan49]

Mobile phone bills, aswell as other payday lenders, a total of about £1900

[sequenci]

If you live in rented accomodation and have very little in the way of assets you might be interested in a Debt Relief Order:

 

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=37_debt_relief_orders

[manontheweb]

its best not to worry about it too much, the worst they can do is take you to court and even then you just fill in the papers supplying your income/expenditure and your suggested repayment and the judge will just agree that and as long as you then pay that amount each month its fine. i have about 8 or 9 PDL's outstanding over the last 6 months or so and only 2 have gone to court, both repayments were about the £10 a month mark on a balance of around £700, so really its in your favour if it goes to court as then they cannot argue anymore. the others keep sending letters and phoning but as none of them reply to my oringal emails asking for a payment plan i have just been ignoring them!!

 

they do like to make you feel like you have committed a massive crime but its only cos they want their money back, i guess we would be the same if it was the other way around.

[sillygirl1]

Manontheweb can I ask did you defend the 2 pdls who went to court, who were they and how much were they claiming?

 

We certainly haven't seen you on this site before so I am querying this because it could be useful information for us.

 

Did you just get judgement by default on them?

[ktan49]

It's gone up to £856 for MiniCredit now. They still haven't replied to my emails. What do I do now?.. how can they add charges when they don't reply??

 

Would the court make you pay the whole amount of just original loan & interest?

 

Thank you

[renegadeimp]

Why ar eyou thinking about court? Thats a LONG way off. IF it even happens.

[sillygirl1]

Complain to the OFT about their lack of communication, and about them adding on charges above and beyond reason, the OFT are aware of this company.

 

http://www.oft.gov.uk for the Office of Fair Trading

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk for Trading Standards

[ktan49]

Still had no reply from MiniCredit. Am I ok to just carry on leaving this? Charges being added daily but they do not respond to their online contact form or email address?

[renegadeimp]

Send them one message a week with your repayment plan. Every time they decline it, send them the same offer right back to them. If they dont reply and they keep escalating the debt, then you must get trading standards and especially the OFT involved.

 

Make sure you keep a full and complete paper trail so IF they ever take you to court, you can easily show a judge their attitude.