Provident - Typical APR 177% - WHAT??

[andrew1]

My neice received a flyer through the post from Provident Personal Credit, Bradford.

 

With Bank rates currently edging up at 5.75% how the Hell can someone like Provident Justify 177% APR ? Provident Personal Credit - Cash loans from £50 to £500

 

Surely this must be a case of unjust enrichment if ever there was one?.. I find even with all my own personal dealings with people on this forum with debt problems and issues that this is just abominable ... There must be someone out there who can stop this irresponsible and damaging type of lending. Talk about hitting the vulnerable when they are down. My god this appalls me.

[lindsay22]

i agree andrew these companys prey on the people with very low incomes, it should be stopped.

[treble99]

hi

i have made the mistake of taking 4 of these loans out

i had to take loans out to pay the arrears on the others

anyway i am in arrears now and the agent is not turning up at all sometimes when she does and i ask her what happens to the weekly payments she replies it gets added to the end of the loan

a manager phoned me and asked for the arrears i told her whats been going on she got rather irate and so did i

she said that the agent wouldnt do this and blamed me for tryind to wriggle out of paying so in the end i told i cant pay and i wont pay

so she said that ok im taking this further

they want to come and visit me at home

and take my payment book

can anyone advise me what i do next

[andrew1]

hi

i have made the mistake of taking 4 of these loans out

i had to take loans out to pay the arrears on the others

anyway i am in arrears now and the agent is not turning up at all sometimes when she does and i ask her what happens to the weekly payments she replies it gets added to the end of the loan

a manager phoned me and asked for the arrears i told her whats been going on she got rather irate and so did i

she said that the agent wouldnt do this and blamed me for tryind to wriggle out of paying so in the end i told i cant pay and i wont pay

so she said that ok im taking this further

they want to come and visit me at home

and take my payment book

can anyone advise me what i do next

 

 

This appalls me and I'm no expert financial advisor, but there are always other routes to take even on the sub-prime lending route if you have to borrow. Mind you, these are usually secured on property and I believe Provident prey on people without security, but at these rates how can anyone ever pay anything back? There is a debt charity cccs CCCS - Free Debt Advice from the UK's Leading Debt Charity who can talk to you about getting these parasites out of your life and it costs nothing for their help, they are very very good. I'd suggest you speak to them if you can.

 

I am sure there are many on here who can advise you better than I about Provident, but my advise if I can give any at all, is to keep talking to people and keep searching this forum and places like the cccs until you find a way of dumping these people at the first opportunity. I know it is not easy when life is tough and your needs are high, I've been there myself once, but you will never ever get out of debt all the time you are having to pay these people at these rates. There IS another way that will suit you just please take heart from this forum and keep asking until you get the answers. You can discuss all your financial needs with cccs confidentially and I know many who speak very highly of their compassion. ( & no, I don't work for them - this is purely recommendations from people I know have used them) just get Provident out of your life whatever it takes. Good luck

[stroke a badger]

I don't have any experience with this company, but what i would do is.

 

1 - Ask why they want the payment book back as with out this you wouldn't be able to pay!!

2 - Send an S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) and enclose a cheque or postal order for £10

3 - Request a copy of the Credit agreement, enclose a POSTAL order for £1 and not a cheque as your signature could find it's way onto a Incorrectly executed Agreement.

4 - Consider contacting trading standards RE: the collection agent making infrequent collections.

5- Read these forums, read them again and ask questions - we are all here to help.

6- DONT PANIC!!!!

[sequenci]

Bear in mind that the typical APR is very high, however, most loans of this nature are cleared within a few weeks/months. I'm not advocating their work mind you, I'm not a fan of the sub-prime market at all.

[andrew1]

Bear in mind that the typical APR is very high, however, most loans of this nature are cleared within a few weeks/months. I'm not advocating their work mind you, I'm not a fan of the sub-prime market at all.

 

...are you saying Sequenci that this is normal ? The flyer received quotes an example of repayments over 55 weeks for a loan. So it's not exactly short term. Now the figures used on the example quoted a £300 loan costing £495 over those 55 weeks which doesn't look to me to be 177% but it says 'typical APR 177%' in big bold type @ £9 a week (changed). Still makes me sick inside to think ANYONE would need to pay that much.

[sequenci]

Hopefully the changes in CCA 2006 with regards to "unfair relationships" will make this sort of thing history, here is hoping.

 

Consumer Credit Act 2006 (c. 14) - Statute Law Database

[lookinforinfo]

Andrew, Provident and a few other similar companies do offer short term loans

usually aimed at people who cannot borrow from anyone else because of

having a poor credit history. I am bound to say the theory eludes me that

someone who has a problem repaying a loan at say 16-17% would be a

good prospect charging them 170%.

You would expect these companies to have a higher incidence of non payers

than Barclays for example. But there are fairly few people coming on the

forum claiming problems with Provident and their like. Whether this is because the loans

are for fairly small amounts -usually in the hundreds of pounds, and for short

periods- weeks rather than months I couldn't say.

 

Also I have seen companies charging annualised rates of 360%! But I have to say that they seem nothing like as aggressive as those in the prime market

in attempting to recover unpaid amounts. I am obviously talking about the

legitimate end of the subprime lending market.

Of course it could be that the ones who have to resort to paying such

uxorious rates may well not have a ready access to the internet to compare

loan rates nor find sites such as ours to help them in their time of trouble.

[lookinforinfo]

A £300 loan for 55 weeks would work out at £9 per week, and it may be that

a collector comes round each week to receive payment, rather than the

money being sent via monthly standing order. That might partially explain the high rate as collectors would be more expensive to run than using BACS.

 

But if they are collecting weekly then if you borrowed £300, having to pay

back £9 a week later means that you have had the use of the £300 for such

a short period that the APR is inevitably going to be high.

 

PS They do make it crystal clear that the interest rate is astronomic. It is not hidden away in the small print.

[andrew1]

Hi Lookinforinfo, our paths cross again!..good to see you remain in fine fettle.

 

You are quite right of course, it is £9 and not the £15 I quoted. I meant to change it first time around. I am, to be honest quite surprised at both yours and Sequenci's general acceptance of these rates and it just demonstrates the little I know about this area of the market. I nearly died when I saw that rate. You are also right, they print the rate very boldly so there is no mistaking what is being charged and yes they send the collectors around, but I still don't find this an acceptable rate to charge people who are obviously in trouble, have either no credit history or a poor one. Nonetheless, the days of hanging, drawing and quartering are well past and this seems no better - it's out of the dark ages.

 

Just as one campaign finishes another seems to raise its' head...

 

Lets hope these outfits are hijacked out of business sooner rather than later.

[surprise]

Don't give them your book back, its your receipt. Pointless doing a SAR as there are no hidden charges with the Provident, what you see is what you pay. However, they say that the rate of interest is 177% but PeterBard actually worked it out for someone and I think it came out at about 183% making the debt unenforceable. My daughter is dealing with them and I have got to say they have accepted the token payment offered as they don't like going to Court.

If you send a CCA letter send it to Bradford address.

[caprikid]

I wish I had known about provident before I went to Log Book Loans for some cash I would rather pay 177% APR for an unsecured loan than pay the 375% I payed Log Book Loans for a loan secured on my car . Many of you that have read all the threads about Log Book Loans will know I also lost my car to them even though I never missed any payments .

 

I now have a loan with provident , I am paying them £40.00 a week and they have been good to deal with at least they do everything by the book not like those people at Log Book Loans . So if people think %177 APR is high just think of all the people that have had the misfortune to get a loan From Log Book Loans and are paying at least 375% APR and most of them get there car taken from them without warning when they fall 2 weeks behind in there payments .

[andrew1]

I have heard about this company. They do not do themselves any favours do they? I'd heard they are hard people to deal with. Has anyone found a way they might have broken the collection laws or OFT guidelines?

 

I'd like to dig a bit deeper and give them a taste of the Cabot Fan Club - we are cleaning up Cabot - maybe these guys need a little bit of that too..

[lookinforinfo]

I would have thought that extortionate credit was one angle of attack-especially as they are holding the logbook. Legally dubious too I would have

thought was the very quick repossession times. Only resolution I can see in

Caprikids case is for him to take them to Court challenging their right to take his car and see if a Judge thinks the contract is fair and equitable.

[hedgehog0045]

I have dealt with Provident several times over the years with no problems at all. They are mainly for those who need some cash short term but are unable to get it from mainstream lenders.

The agents have always been helpful and never pushed me into taking further money etc.

I agree the interest rate is high but then the loans are easy to get and I guess the extra income they get from the high interest covers the risks they take from the non paying customers.

[Hopeful1]

I have never used Provident but i have used various pay day loan companies which also have extortionate interest rates. Only yesterday i posted on my thread to say i have paid off over 1090.00 to such companies.

 

I still have outstanding loans to pay. After months of paying roll over fees, this is how i have tackled them:

 

1. Offered to pay actual loan amount i received plus 1 months rollover fee. I offered this because i have missed payments over recent months anyway. The amount to be paid over 6 months is an amount i can afford. This was accepted immediately.

 

2. Since taking out the loan i have paid back what i borrowed and more in rollover fees. I made a full and final offer (about a third of my inital loan) which i supported using CCA Section 138 related to extortionate credit bargains. I only found out about this after searching on this site. I made my payment today - another debt bites the dust.

 

When i took these loans out, it was just to see me through a sticky patch and i always intended to pay it back. Sadly that didn't happen until now. It's a vicious circle with the fees etc. I dread to think how mcuh money i've wasted.