Dealing with Payday Loan Companies

Focus05

Hi im just starting my battle with this and think this is the only rout for me to go down and ring fench my income

i bank with natwest this is the bank they have details for i have just today opend a co-op account

my question is natwest and co-op are the linked/owned by the same company or am i safe with the co-op

regards....

Iwillbefree_2

Hi all,

I know this is an old thread but I have read through it with interest and am looking for some advice please.

My OH and I have paid off over £4000 worth of debt in the last 12 months but recently found ourselves in the payday loan trap due to taking one out to cover expenses for an unexpected vet bill. The loan company only took the minimum repayment and one thing led to another and we borrowed again - stupid I know but the reality now is that we are in a situation where we owe about £1500 to 4 different companies and we need to get out of this trap to enable us to concentrate on our other debts. At the moment we are going round in circles stuck borrowing every month as soon as the money is taken from our account.

I bank with the Natwest, I have already applied to HSBC and as soon as the new account details come through will be moving mine and OH's wages over as well as all the DD's.

I want to make it clear I have every intention of paying each company back in full, it is just we need to stop this cycle as it is unsustainable.

I have worked out we have £600 to put towards the debt payments each month - the debts are as follows:

Payday UK - £250
Wonga - £887.90
Quickquid - £250
1 Month Loan - 292.50

I think I read somewhere that Wonga add interest at a rate of £1.50 per day for 60 days before sending to a DCA - can someone confirm this?

My plan is to clear 1 month loan and PDU this month and pay minimum amount to Quickquid. Liaise with Wonga and try to set up an arrangement over 3 months - that way I should be able to clear Quickquid next month along with part of the Wonga debt.

Does this seems like a reasonable course of action? Any advice will be gratefully received

Thanks

nikkiandmidgets

After unsuccessfully contacting Wonga via their contact us page online, I searched web and found email addresses on the CAG group website. I sent an email to these two accounts - balanceoffer@wonga.com and errol.damelin@wonga.com who I believe is high up in company and got a response back the same day from someone. I explained my circumstances, that I was unhappy that I had contacted them the moment I knew I would be unable to pay and that due to my depression\anxiety attacks I was unable to phone but that they wouldnt let me communicate this way and kept telling me that it was in my interest to phone. Anyway I have got interest frozen, a guarantee that they will not take any more money from my bank account and they offered me a payment plan over 12 months - I am a single mum and had to give up my evening\weekend job due to my childcare falling through.

I have written back to them as it doesnt appear that they have taken into account the payments taken out of my account unauthorised by them so I am now asking for interest to be frozen from the date I first tried to reach agreement with them via email, for the payments they have taken to be deducted from this balance and I have agreed to pay approx £60 a month until the balance has cleared. This means it will take less time to pay the loan off but is a figure I can manage. I have asked for them also to put this in writing and confirm again that they will not take any other payments off my bank account. They have provided their details for me to pay via standing order.

I will update this once they respond to my response to them to let others know how I get on.

nikkiandmidgets

Wonga have got back to me and agreed to freeze my interest at the amount it was when I first attempted contact. They have also deducted the £208 they deducted out of my account. They have further agreed to freeze my mums interest as it stands as due to them taking funds out of my account and to let her pay her balance over 4 months. , my paypal direct debit bounced so the then went to my second card holder which was my mums card, and took the payments from her, for which she incurred bank charges. I am now paying my account off over 8 months at the amount I agreed I could afford.

Okay I probably could have taken my case to OFT and got a more favourable deal but I wanted to see how Wonga would deal with a person and it is an outcome I am happy with as I know some of the fault lies with me. I accepted the agreement and thaned them for the help in resolving this issue/ I also said my criticisms on their process was the fact they would take random amounts out of peoples accts without establishing their financial situation and the fact my email was not passed to their department when I first contacted them as it would have saved a lot of misery.

I hope this is of help to others in a similar situation and panicking about things.

Smellthecoffee

I am worrying about payday tomorrow. I now realise what a mess Im in with payday loans. I will have wonga £1174 and quick quid £930 coming out of my account tomorrow. So all of my pay will be gone before Ive paid anything. I really need to get myself sorted now as I've come to the conclusion that this is just a vicious circle that I will never get out of. Ive been surviving on PDLs for the last 8 months and each time taken out more as Ive needed more to stay afloat (with all the interest Ive paid on top).

I started using wonga as I had a major flood, electrical damage etc in my flat. I used the cash to help me with repairs etc and because I live in a shared ownership property the buildings insurance didnt cover it. So I started off using and always paid it back on time etc....but the amounts have been creeping up & up.

I dont have time to open a new bank account but was thinking transferring my salary as soon as it hits my account at midnight & sending it to my partners bank account. Do you think that would work? At least then it would be ringfenced & they wont be able to withdraw. I can then cancel my bank account completely (its with rubbish santander anyway!) and then open a basic account with barclays or the co-op for my next month salary to go into.

I assume they cant track down my partner and start taking money from his account...but with these PD lenders you never know! They seem to be quite sneaky when it suits them.

Any advice would be much appreciated. I've been lurking on the forum for a couple of days and am pretty stressed about how Im going to make it through the month if they manage to get my cash again!

kwhitfield123

Hi all,

New member but have been reading this forum for a while. Thanks to everyone for their excellent advice.

To cut a long story short I have got into the Payday Loan spiral and have finally decided to do something about it.

I already have a COOP cashminder account so wonder if anyone could suggest another simple no frills account i could open?

My loans are as follows:

Payday Express £300
Payday UK £875
Wonga £1,456
QuickQuid £1,380
Wageday Advance £313
Microlend £780
Minicredit £192

I have now realised this is completely unsustainable and plan to write to each of the above detailing what i can afford to pay with an income and expenditure schedule.

I was after a couple of things really. Firstly, any advice as to which companies are easier to deal with than others and secondly a letter template i could use when i write to them

Any advice on this (or anything else) is greatly appreciated.

Need to get out of this spiral as it's making me ill.

K

saltnvinegar

Hi All

Thanks for posting on this thread, its great to see that you're all taking action on sorting out your debts and also tackling the payday loan trap. However could I also offer an additional piece of advice:

Please if you're having trouble with payday loan companies start a new thread rather than tagging onto this one!

You're more likely to get more help starting a new thread.

As you may have noticed I don't post much at the moment due to being very busy with work but there are plenty of other MSE'ers who can help too, its just that your post may get missed here.

Best
SnV

saltnvinegar

kwhitfield123 wrote: »

Hi all,

New member but have been reading this forum for a while. Thanks to everyone for their excellent advice.

To cut a long story short I have got into the Payday Loan spiral and have finally decided to do something about it.

I already have a COOP cashminder account so wonder if anyone could suggest another simple no frills account i could open?

My loans are as follows:

Payday Express £300
Payday UK £875
Wonga £1,456
QuickQuid £1,380
Wageday Advance £313
Microlend £780
Minicredit £192

I have now realised this is completely unsustainable and plan to write to each of the above detailing what i can afford to pay with an income and expenditure schedule.

I was after a couple of things really. Firstly, any advice as to which companies are easier to deal with than others and secondly a letter template i could use when i write to them

Any advice on this (or anything else) is greatly appreciated.

Need to get out of this spiral as it's making me ill.

K

Hi K

I have no experience of wagedayadvance, minicredit or microlend however in ascending order this is how I would rate the 'difficulty' of the others:

Payday UK - Complete @rses. Refused payment plan and handed over to their 'inhouse' DCA. Never acknowledged my DMP but after a complaint to the OFT and FOS suddenly interest was frozen and payments accepted. Now been paying them for over a year and the balance is slowly decreasing

Wonga - Lots of threats and bluster. Threatened 'close links with the metropolitan police, will treat the matter as fraud etc'. Took me harrassing them with emails and letters (and writing to Errol Damien their CEO) before they finally agreed to my DMP

Quick Quid - Immediately agreed to my DMP but would not provide bank details to set up a standing order meaning a monthly cost to send a postal order recorded delivery

Payday Express - Immediately agreed to DMP, provided bank details for standing order, have never bothered me since.

Best

SnV

rumbleready

Thanks Saltnvinegar, It was intensive reading but worth it.
My Son has been a victim of both Payday Uk and Wonga over the last 18 months. They are glorified loan sharks and nothing more.
Does anyone know how they know the money is there? Do they watch the accounts? Do they have links with the Banks?
He tried to hold on to his money, and start a DMP but it was always too late. His pay day was always the last Friday in the month but on the odd one or two occasions he got his pay early ie Thursday it was too late and all had gone to Wonga.
Payday Uk can beat all of that! My Son finally came to me and admitted the error of his ways a month ago. It was robbing Peter to Paul in the end and he was just getting swamped and nearly suicidal. I tried to deal with both Companies on his behalf. Wonga were easy. Payday Uk were a nightmare. Totally unsympathetic and they tried every way to squeeze more cash from him. His step father tried on several occasions to repay the loan in full (a total of £160) and was met with delaying tactics all the way. We think we have them beat but it was a total nightmare of an experience. Only time will tell. Isn't there anything that can be done, apart from DON'T USE THEM OF COURSE!

smittenkitten666

Does anyone know if CASHCHOICE.CO.UK have a twitter page please?

Just asking...can't find one myself to post on... SK666