Provident Financial secrets revealed

Bob_Jones_2

I have worked in this industry on and off for years.

Some facts:

Most companies pay 6-10% to agents for collecting the money. They may offer incentives if they are looking to recruit new customers.
It is illegal it canvas (door knocking) for cash loans. Thats why they offer vouchers, products etc
APR is an awful measure of these loans. Competition Commission stated in their April 2006 Final Report on Home Credit that.

“the APR is a particularly difficult measure to interpret, and may be more so in the context of home credit, where APRs are often very high and are not a good basis for comparison of loans.”

Personally total interest is a better measure but it depends on the circumstances/purpose of the loan.
There are A LOT of alternatives to Provident and Greenwoods:
Shopacheck (were part of Welcome so get tarred with the same brush)
Local Loans (examples on their website are cheaper than PF)
Flex Finance (ditto)
Eccles (Manchester area) - couldnt find a website
Ealing Trading (London/Herts)
Short Term Finance (Brum)
KDS (North East)

and thats just the ones Ive heard of.

Provident are often a target as they by far the biggest but there are are tonnes of, often cheaper, alternatives out there.

It doesnt look like the govt are serious about building up credit unions as they have been saying for years. Apparently there are less now than 10 years ago. So the private companies will have to fill the void.

sarah1773

I have found out that Provident are the same company as Vanquis. Unfortunately I owe money to both but am struggling to pay due to separating from my husband and being a single mum. I wanted to pay off my Provident loan as I only have £60 remaining (my parents have offered to pay this) as I find the agent very intimidating whereas I owe Vanquis £600 which I cannot pay at the minute and have told them I am struggling financially.
I was just wondering, will Vanquis find out that I've paid off all my Provident loan and demand I pay off my Vanquis account too? As surely they will see it as if I have £60 to pay off provident then I should have £60 to pay them as well?
Thanks

Just want to add, my first agent from provident was lovely, like most of them probably are, just my current agent will not take no for an answer and I find his presence intimidating and makes me feel very uncomfortable, this is no reflection on the rest of the agents

whichwhydoIturn

Hi, sorry about your worries at the moment.These 2 companies are seperate to each other i would have thought as you would have signed two different credit agreements,i would have thought that when you called them(vanquis) to expalin your circumstance that if they knew about your provident account they would have said something.there will be some one along shortly i'd have thought that knows more about this than me,bt i didnt want to read and run if you know what i mean.things will get better x

scooby088

My mother was a provident agent for about 15 years and she was friends with nearly all the customers, but i do agree that provident are very high with the interest they charge, it stood me in good stead not to have a provident loan for anything.

tea690

i have a loan with provident and greenwood..both my agents are fantastic people who have never egged me to have loan and always check my finances very carefully before letting me have one to ensure i can afford it

yeah they are not ideal and the apr is high but in an ideal world noone would be in debt and everyone would have perfect credit and places like this forum would not exist lol

pifflepyramid

Hi, i'm actually a provident agent and thought i would set a few facts straight about some of things being said on this thread. Firstly about sarah1773 owing money

I was just wondering, will Vanquis find out that I've paid off all my Provident loan and demand I pay off my Vanquis account too? As surely they will see it as if I have £60 to pay off provident then I should have £60 to pay them as well?

Just contact vanquis and ask to pay off the debt at a rate you both agree to. They will be happy to do this.

Just want to add, my first agent from provident was lovely, like most of them probably are, just my current agent will not take no for an answer and I find his presence intimidating and makes me feel very uncomfortable, this is no reflection on the rest of the agents

Contact Provident Head Office and complain, its as simple as that. An agent should not be threatening a customer in any way. The agent may well be known to the local office for doing this sort of thing. You will probably be transfered to a better agent.

To all those who do not like provident, just don't use them. They offer a monetary service at high interest because they will lend to ANYBODY. Even previous customers who did not pay!! This is why it is high interest! And it is fixed interest not cumulative so what you owe is fixed and doesnt increase. Also no charges are made for missed payments unlike many bank loans. I would say having companies like provident is a blessing for many many people. If these companies did not exist the void left would be filled by illegal loan sharks - then many people would be in real real trouble dealing with cumulative interest, extra charges, threats and violence.

Regarding provident preying on the vulnerable, I personally do not take advantage of customers and am always straight and fair and honest with them. But yes, i agree provident as a company - and also some agents - do sometimes take advantage of vulnerable people but we live in a capitalist society and unfortunately this means vulnerable people will be taken advantage of if a company can get away with it. Its not nice but thats the truth. Big Banks and many other businesses will lie and cheat and pull the wool over your eyes to get a sale or a loan or persuade you their product is better than others just because, for example, a famous footballer pretends to like it. Are they not taking advantage of vulnerable people? In ultra capitalist britain, I think most commercial operations are looking to take advantage of you. My advice is to get clued up about these things so you will not get taken advantage of - maybe moneysavingexpert.com is a good place to start!:)

needs_a_new_job

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

Provident aren't loan sharks, they just target a particularly vulnerable group of people, thos eon low incomes, who are likely to be more tempted to borrow more than they can realistically afford. There should be more onus on companies like provident to protect the customer but sadly companies are only interested in making money, within the regulations set through the OFT etc.

Not necessarily people who are either vulnerable or on low incomes Provident is high risk lending for people with poor credit history. As such the charge for credit is high because not all of the customers will pay back what they owe, therefore those that do, pay for those that don't!

Those that do will improve thier credit rating and perhaps be able to move on to a cheaper lender those that don't will have cut off thier last option.

MRS_SPIKE

Hello new member here,but long time reader.

Just a small point re the matter of Provident not buying outside debts...ie acting as DCA's.

I have right before me,a letter from Provident personal credit,stating that they have bought a debt from JD Williams,and are offering a reduction of the balance,to be paid in weekly installments at 0% apr...

So,it would appear that they have branched out in the field..

They are planning on sending a field agent to discuss payment plan.....the alleged account is already being disputed with original creditor,hence I think is the reason it has been sold on...no proof provided the account belongs to me,so cannot enforce collection.

MRS_SPIKE

Oh,just a quick addition.....my apologies for posting to a topic 6 month dormant,I only just now noticed the date of last response.

chanz4

did you order from jdwilliams?