A plague of loansharks... what would YOU do?

boudicca10

The last loan I had of Provident was for £500, they tell you up front that the amount you have to pay back is £835 (It was on my last time with them) The reason you get stuck is because you are paying back so much each week that there is nothing left for basics, I don't mean expensive xmas presents either.
My son is 18 now and he has never been given expensive gifts from us, the money we borrowed was for every day use-not treats.
Please don't assume that because I was borrowing money it was because I wanted it for fun, really skint people need it for bills and food. Not expensive treats. You then borrow more to cover the amount you are missing each wek-a very viscous cycle to get stuck in.
You shouldn't judge.

RAS

Well said.

It only needs the benefits to be paid late, or miscalculated, or for three bills to have to be paid out of the same pay packet or someone to go on sick pay and the whole household income goes pear-shaped.

beanielou

Creit unions may well be 12% which may well not be cheep but its sure beats Provident or Greenwood & the like.
Never judge til you have walked in someone elses shoes.

System

Interesting subject. We need credit to function, when I had my LBM I swore that I never wanted credit again and the fact that my credit score being damaged did not bother me one iota. In fact whilst the DMP was indeed my saviour back then I was warned about the effects of having an adverse credit record and I am gonna pay for that for years. Actually as it turns out, I will need credit, the world needs to be able utilise credit to make it function. So how do I take advantage of competitive interest rates in the future rather than be at the mercy of the shadier lenders? I cant get a £50 overdraft with LLoyds TSB but I can get a CC from Vanquis at 40 odd % APR :eek: . Credit Card/Loan Companies need to wise up to the signs of people struggling with debt and to talk to each other and share information on customers; this will increase their faith in the credit lending schemes and boost confidence, getting people spending again. Was that off topic???

Broken_hearted

There was a woman on TV the other night complaining about the doorstep loans she had taken out fine if she had no food or heat but no she needed the money for Christmas presents. I could have screamed if you don't need it don't borrow like Martin has said there can be some awful experiences.

nqsenile

Item on local news. Woman popped some jewelry. £100 loaned. Charge £8. for a month. Maximum loan period before jewelry sold 7 months. 8 x 7 = 56.
APR ?

ANDENA

I was guarantor for my daughter in law for a loan of £3,000 she could not pay so they took money out of my bank without telling me,she has since broke up with my son so he pays me the debt,Been very worried to have this round my neck i went to bank and got a loan to pay it off the APR was lower and i feel very relieved to get these sharks of my back i beg you dont have anything to do with them.i have put it on flm loans thread to warn people.

Gorgeous_George

The most important thing to do is to plan. No need for a fancy spreadsheet - just write down all the bills that you need to pay. It can be quite depressing seeing it all add up but it is essential.

The old adage ' look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves' is as true today as ever. Once you know how much your bills are each month, you can work out how much, if anything, is left over. Save a little, spend a little. Try to avoid taking money from the savings pot and it will mount up over time. If there is no money left over, you need to reduce your bills and/or earn more.

I know it's easier to say than do but if you can't afford the stuff that you need, you certainly can't afford to be paying interest.

Fix the problem, not the symptom.

GG

Horace

I was made redundant in 2007 and didnt get much redundancy money at all and I have been managing to survive on JSA. Its not easy but I do what my mum started to do when she got married (and still does some 50 years late) and that is to keep a little book and write everything down - bills are first, then the shopping, fripperies come last. I am the same and I have managed to pay all my bills on time. I received a small inheritance and that was used to pay off all my credit cards not that I had much debt on them in the first place.

I think that the trouble with society today is that people want everything now instead of saving up for it. I have made do with buying second hand furniture and doing it up, I sell stuff at carboots etc. More recently, I bought a new vacuum cleaner and used money that I had saved up in my £2 jar to buy it. I only buy essentials and not fripperies and will even live on baked beans and toast for a while when times are lean. I make do and mend or do without altogether.

There was an article in the Birmingham papers over the weekend about loan sharks (they are often arrested and have their assets siezed up here) as well as women whose husbands have been made redundant and there is no money coming in and how they have turned to prostitution to pay the bills.

As my old grandma used to say "never a borrower or a lender be..." I think she was right.:D

DoWhatULove-LoveWhatUDo

Prostitution, loan sharks. It's an even toss up in my view. Either way you are throwing yourself into the power of some very unpleasant people.

It's the legal loan sharks such as Provident and the Payday loans companies for whom I reserve the worst of my venom, but with seemingly reputable credit card companies raising their interest rates alarmingly and charging like the proverbial angry rhino for any tiny infraction soon it will be impossible to tell the difference between the "reputable lenders" and the loan sharks. Their modus operandi is startlingly similar, even down to the intimidation tactics.

For some reason most people seem to be more distressed by the thought that a single mother, asylums seeker or disabled person might be getting money "free" off the state than by the illegal and immoral antics of our financial institutions.

A Times columnist recently said something like "Mug someone on a street corner and you will go to Jail, but rob someone through financial sharp practice and you will get a bonus."

I would cheerfully eat baked beans for the duration of this recession if I thought that this mindset was about to change.