Money Shop Loan - Sick with worry;

SimIsOnTheUp

Hi,

I am so worried, that I haven't been able to sleep because of this.

I owe The Money Shop £500 (a Cash 'Til Payday Loan).

When I applied for the loan I stupidly fibbed and told them I was working (gave them my old employment details from a job I lost last November).

Embarrassing to admit, but I am a recovering alcoholic, have been very depressed, fell off the wagon and subsequently took out the loan.

I have been 'rolling over' the loan by paying The Money Shop £80 per month for the last two months.

The whole time, even though they assume I was / am working, I've been on Employment and Support Allowance.

My tum is turning over, worrying that if they find out, they'll take me to Court and convict me of Fraud.

Not only that, I can no longer afford to pay them £80 each month AND clear the loan.

The cheques are due to be presented next Monday - Friday (5 x seperate cheques for £100 each), and so I'll need to pay them another £80 just to 'roll them over' for another month.

I get my ESA money this Friday, but I really can't afford to pay this when I have my rent / bills to pay.

Am really trying my hardest to find a job asap (have an interview today), but the worry of this Money Shop debt is making me ill again, and I need to stay calm and sober.

As I have other debts totalling around £12,000, I'm seriously considering going for a Debt Relief Order.

However, I'm also worried that this will prevent me going for this job (credit check)!

I might have to go for a DRO though, and start afresh as this is all making me ill.

I have read on here, and on other forums, that people are sometimes reporting their cards as lost to their bank / letting The Money Shop present the cheques, which will bounce / defaulting on the loan, and then dealing with the debt collection Agency, and treating it as a seperate debt.

However, as my cheques were 'guaranteed' with my Alliance & Leicester Visa Debit / Cheque Guarantee card (5 x seperate £100 cheques 2 months back, on the same day), I'm worried that even if I do cancel my card with the A&L, the Money Shop will still cash the cheques - then I could end up owing the Money Shop AND the A&L bank

What on earth do I do?

Any help would be most appreciated as this is getting me very low. The last thing I want is to end up in Prison.

Also, I really would rather not lose my A&L bank account, as it was the first 'proper' bank account I've had in ages (got it when I was in work last year). Would rather try and keep this as some damage limitation of my credit file.

However, if there is no choice, I do also have a 'basic account' with the Co-op.

Any ideas guys please?

Many Thanks,

Sim.

saltnvinegar

Hi Sim

Sorry to hear that things didn't work out the way you wanted to the last time you posted.

Please stop worrying about being taken to court for fraud. There is more chance of Liverpool winning the Premiership this year than that happening.

Consumer debt is a matter for the civil courts. For Money Shop to prove fraud would be difficult and expensive. Its highly unlikely that they are going to do this for the sake of a £500 loan. And you had every intention of repaying the debt.

If, if, if, if it happened a lawyer would walk all over them anyway.

You are not going to go to jail - think about it. When there are only 80,000 spaces in jails in this country, which are not enough as it is, do you think that a judge is going to send down someone who took out a £500 loan, when they were vunerable and depressed, from a loan company charging 1500%+ APR who failed to carry out basic identity checks and proof of income before lending the money?

The important thing for you to do now is damage limitation.

The good news for you is that your income is going into your bank account on Friday and the cheques are not due to clear until Monday.

Its vital that you ringfence this money to pay for vital living expenses. So when that money goes into your A&L account on Friday you MUST withdraw all of it and deposit it into your Co-Op account.

Best will in the world - It is likely you are going to have to give up your A&L account. They are part of Santander (who are one of the worst banks in the world in my opinion) so you are better off without them anyway.

And what is a 'proper' bank account anyway? As long as you can have you wages paid into it, and have a debit card you really don't need anything more.

Once you're back on your feet and things have settled down after a little while you can speak to the Co-Op and look at 'upgrading' your account.

Have you contacted one of the debt charities yet? If not do it today! Speak to the CCCS, Payplan or contact National Debt Line http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/

You MUST do this so you can get impartial FREE advice on the best debt management options for you.

You could try contacting A&L to see if you can get the cheques stopped? Not sure how successful that would be though.

Worst case scenario is the cheques are going to clear, you will go overdrawn with A&L, and you will deal with that overdraft in the same way as all your other unsecured debt.

I make no apologies for repeating this - you must go and seek professional, free, impartial advice on your options.

But in the meantime - ringfence that income so you can live next month and get that money into your CO-OP account and ensure that your ESA money is paid into this CO-OP account in the future.

BTW - good luck with your job interview today. Hope it works out for you.

Best

SnV

podperson

Hi Sim,

Unfortunately if you have used a cheque guarantee card for the cheques then the bank should honour them. This will clear you with the Money Shop and transfer the debt to an unauthorised overdraft with A+L. As SnV says make sure you take all your wage out and transfer it to your basic account so that you have money to live on.
Then contact one of the debt charities and get some advice on what would be the best option for you, eg dmp or dro. The money you'll now owe to A+L will be included in this. It does look like you will lose this account but you have another one and maybe it will work out better since I imagine your basic one doesn't have a cheque guarantee card so is removing temptation to use these companies again.
Also if you haven't already then please see your gp about getting some help or support with your illness/alcoholism. Sounds like you have been really strong and beaten this once but there is nothing wrong with sometimes needing some extra help. Good luck with it x

Toe-Jam

If you are seriously considering a debt relief order, then I think your best course of action is, to Open a new bank account asap with a bank not connected with Santander.

You can then allow your cheques to be cleared, effectively transferring the bad debt from Moneyshop to A&L.

If it is costing you £80 a month just to roll the cheques over, it is logically better to bounce them (guarenteed payment) with the bank.

You will be charged for each cheque you bounce, and then a monthly overdraft fee.

Once you've done this, you can then call the collections department and explain that your in financial difficulty, and they may refund some of the initial charges, and will most likely freeze your account and set up a repayment plan over 6 months or a year until you have it paid off. which is why you must set up a new bank account before your credit score is damaged by the AP (arrangement to pay) marker on your credit file. They are quite approachable with this sort of thing. unless the rest of their departments.

Its only money , no point making yourself ill about it. Sir Fred Goodwin is sunning himself in Barbados, i don't think he is even a little bit worried about running RBS into the ground and running off with our money. So you shouldn't either.

Good luck, bite the bullet, Its true what they say, until you start to tackle it , it just gets bigger.

SimIsOnTheUp

Thanks so much guys.

I'll reply to you individually later.

Been physically sick about this, this morning. Sorry, too much info :-/

I've decided to bite the bullet, and let the cheques go through as £80 a month is unsustainable while I'm not working.

My worry is that ok, the debt will be transferred to A&L instead of Moneyshop, and I'd rather deal with A&L as I think anyone would..

BUT, won't A&L deem this as fraud too? ie - they'll see that I wrote £500 worth of cheques when no salary was going into the account.

Surely they could take further action against me, for writing the cheques.

That's the only thing stopping me really.

I just want to go for a Debt Relief Order, find a job and move on from all this stress.

Many Thanks,

Sim.

SimIsOnTheUp

PS -

Also, my other worry is that only *some* of the cheques will be honoured by A&L.

Then, I'll end up owing both A&L AND Moneyshop :-/

This is getting me so low.

PPS - I already have a Co-op basic account, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Moneyshop took those card details too, months back, although I could be imagining this.

Thank You for your help guys,

Sim.

Toe-Jam

SimIsOnTheUp wrote: »

PS -

Also, my other worry is that only *some* of the cheques will be honoured by A&L.

Then, I'll end up owing both A&L AND Moneyshop :-/

This is getting me so low.

PPS - I already have a Co-op basic account, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Moneyshop took those card details too, months back, although I could be imagining this.

Thank You for your help guys,

Sim.

Cancel all cards immediately, report them "lost" so you get a new card number. If you've ever used your card in store or over the phone with them , they will keep the details of it. And a clause in the terms and conditions you signed means they can use it whenever they want.

Fiddlestick

SimIsOnTheUp wrote: »

Embarrassing to admit, but I am a recovering alcoholic, have been very depressed, fell off the wagon and subsequently took out the loan.

I don't have any advice, but I remember reading one of your threads a while back where you were doing well.

Sorry to hear you fell off the wagon - I have a friend who is a recovering alcoholic atm and he finds antabuse to be a real help for him.

Anyway, I hope you get things sorted.

SimIsOnTheUp

Good Morning all.

So down about this.

So annoyed with myself for wasting so much money two weeks ago (about £700 - about £500 over two weeks on drink..bonkers..If I hadn't have drank, I could've paid this debt off. So angry with myself), which was meant to be used to pay this Moneyshop debt off :-/

Keep to'ing and fro'ing between "I can't afford £80 a month, just to roll this over. Let it default and go for a DRO for all my debts. Concentrate on my health and start afresh." to "I need to do the right thing and pay it off. I can just about afford the £80 roll over fee tomorrow, which'll give me a month's grace.. then get a job, then pay off the £500 asap. Really want to keep the A&L bank account too and avoid any fraud investigation"

I really don't know, but the worry of this is making me more ill.

Cheers,

Sim x

SimIsOnTheUp

Can't sleep because of this Moneyshop debt, because of my other debts, because of my stupidity, because of my addiction.

Can't see a way out.

:-/

saltnvinegar

Hi Sim

Sorry to hear you're having a tough time of it at the moment.

I know you're seeking help for the drinking and I would suggest you keep sticking with that help and assistance with that and keep plugging away and I know you'll come through it.

Try not to worry about the finances at the moment (I know its easier said than done) but you have more important things to focus on. Don't let that sap your energy and positivity.

Keep going Sim, you're obviously recognising you need to do something otherwise you wouldn't be posting here.

Don't give up on the people helping you with the addiction, the money side of things are secondary to that.

Best

SnV