Provident Finance - please help !

stupid-mother

Please could someone tell me if this is normal for Provident.

When I found out my daughter had borrowed money from Provident Finance at some outrageous APR, I offered to pay it off and then she could pay me back monthly instead of paying ridiculous interest on a relatively small loan.

She contacted her Provident agent for a settlement figure, who informed my daughter that if she paid cash now it would be £xxx but if she paid by cheque she would have to pay the full amount (including all interest) which works out about an extra £300. This extra £300ish would be repaid by Provident once the cheque had cleared.

If anyone has paid by cheque to clear their account, how long did it take for Provident to return the extra amount.

I would really appreciate any help - thank you.

I-need-to-make-£

Hi there, my experience of provident and any high interest lenders is do not trust anything they say! any company who lends money at that interest rate arent worthy!

The thing is you can not trust that they will definatley give that money back. Are you not able to pay the cash back?

tygar2

I would request the settlement figure in writing and it should also state how long the settlement figure is valid for. I would then pay cash and get a receipt which I would keep together with the letter.

I would also then check my credit file at some point to make sure the account is marked as settled.

I would avoid having any company owe me money as it just complicates things unneccessarily.

Hope that helps.

stupid-mother

Thanks to both of you.

I can't believe my daughter was conned by her friend (the agent) into taking out this loan - some friend.

Firstly, I am going to get my daughter to write to Provident asking for a proper settlement figure in writing including, if possible, how they arrive at the figure.

The figure(s) her agent tells her just don't seem to add up to me (I'm no financial expert BUT ...). She has paid more than she borrowed and still owes more then she borrowed. I can't get my head around that one. Well actually, looking at the interest I really shouldn't be that surprised.

I'm not really happy about paying cash, would much prefer to pay by cheque (easier to prove payment I think). But if cash is the only option I'll have to go along with it - not through the agent but at the office and get receipts plus I think I'll write a letter for them to sign as well just to be on the safe side.

josmidge

Hi,

Haven't posted for a while but in my experience and with these sort of lenders (ashamedly i still have one), the interest is accrued interest (i think it's called someone will correct me lol and i wont be offended) She should get a rebate of some of the interest i know when i pay one off early they give me some of the interest back, also they dont tell you but i'm sure you have a 14 day cooling off period which you should i think be able to pay only the original loan amount. I will check my credit agreement to make sure for you. They will try it on though, and hopefully your daughter has kept her credit agreement so you could check that to. I know provident and other providers of this type are really bad, but dont be to hard on her it's hard sometime to admit that you need a hand, i haven't got anyone to ask to lend me a bit besides i think if i did my pride would really hurt. But as my old man used to say Pride come before a fall lol

Jo