Beware of Cheque Centre

pet_owner

Help, Im looking for advice and also to warn about a company called Cheque Centre.
I took out a paydayloan with this company,and unfortunately have got myself into a bit of a mess financially,and cant pay them it all back. I owe them £880 00.

I missed one payment and they were threatening legal action,and arresting my wages. This person from their legal dept phoned me to say that if I could pay them £500.00 they would write the debt off.
I said that I would have to see if I could raise the money and would phone back the following day. I was told to send them a payment of £55.00 they would withhold legal action. I sent the money the same day.

When I phoned the following morning I was told the ammount to clear the loan had now gone up to £750.00 to clear off the account,and the interest would keep being addded on a daily basis.
I was also told that they were not witholding legal action against me.

I was also informed that once they got an earings arrestment against me, I would probably lose my job,and they only way I could stop this from happening is leave my job.

They have never sent out a default notice to me,and today I received a summons for this to go to court,they havev told me they will not accept a time to pay direction from the court,only a wages arrestment will do for them.

I am looking for advice from anyone who knows what to do Im at my wits end worrying about it. Yes I know I should never have borrowed money from them. Can someone advise me please.

pink_princess

Are you in Scotland ? If not they can t wage arrest.Have you changed address ? I don t believe they didn t make contact as they are known for making contact attempts many times a day every day.


EDIT : Is this a Pay day loan or Installment loan as you mention you missed one payment ?

pet_owner

Yes Im in Scotland,and it is a Payday Loan. They did contact me only to say the would accept a Payment of £55.00 per month,then after I paid this as agreed they then said they were not going to accept this ammount any more. I have contacted them in writing several times but they refuse to reply to me. They have never served me with a default notice either,but aas i said yesterday a court summons arrived. The first figure I was given to clear the account was £500.00,when I phoned the following day it had increased to £750.00.and now Im told the figure is £880.00.

As I said in my last post their legal dept threatened me with losing my job if they got a wages arresetment against me. Surely there must be laws against the tactics this crowd of loan sharks are using. I know i should not have got involved with them, so let it be a lesson to everyone not to deal with this Company.

Their Head office is listed as being in Edinburgh.

Any help anyone can suggest I would be most grateful for

northerngirl30_2

have you tried talking to one of the debt charities (CAB, payplan, CCCS etc)? they will know what they can and can't do?

I don't live in scotland so don't understand the wages arrestment thing, but how can they make you loose your job? surely thats your employers decision not theirs?

pet_owner

I have contacted my employer and they are very angry that this company even suggested such a thing as being sacked because of an arrestment. Cheque Centres legal dept are nothing but a load of lying bullies,their Staff are not nice people to deal with.

I am trying to get an appointment with CAB. I have been told that as they have not served a default notice on me that they have not complied with the Consumer CredIt Act.

I would appreciate other people opinion on this mess im in?

northerngirl30_2

thats ok, they are obv just trying to scare you! Well if they have done things wrong, the court surely will tell them to go away!

CAB will be able to tell you exactly what they can and can't do, what you need to do is find someone to negotiate an acceptable repayment scheme on your behalf, CAB will be able to help with this too!

pet_owner

Cheque Centre are not interested in coming to an agreement on a repayment they said as much on the telephone all they want is a earnings arrestement I was told thats all they wilL accept.

Does anyone know what official bodies I can complain to about their tactics?

northerngirl30_2

they always say that! if you can get someone like CAB on your side they will back down and agree a repayment scheme as they will realise you won't be scared into it, also if they do go for the earnings arrestment, you will have help! Do they mean they will request to take the full amount from one months wage? or over a few months? if they won't agree a repayment and will def do this, can you put aside the money you would have paid on repayment scheme to cover what they take? because I'm sure something like that would take a few months to go through?

cheque centre should be covered by the Office of fair trading, if you look on their website there is a link to email in a complaint, if they aren't the right people they will give you contact for who is! I've had similar problems with cash genie, pounds2day and poundstilpayday, all g*ts who think I'm just lying about not repaying, but as soon as I sorted my DMP with payplan out they've backed off with court threats etc and have stopped pretending they won't agree a repayment scheme!

eyeopener2

One more thing to add to Northern Lass

Don't speak to them on the phone, they lie.

Conduct everything in writing, make your offer in writing and keep all the responses for any court action they may bring. I bet they will not say any of the threats in writing that they do over the phone.

Oh and complain to the Financial Ombudsman about the bullying behaviour.

E2

pet_owner

Thanks to northerngirl and eyeopener2 for your advice. I have written to Cheque Centre but as you would expect they didnt answer my letter. I phoned them and was told they dont have to reply to my letters. I will now do as you say and contact both OFT. and Ombudsman,and anyone else that will listen I cant get an appointment with the person who deals with debt at my local CAB till middle of January as she is very busy. I have certainly learned my lesson with payday loan companies and wish I never heard of any of them. Someone should tighten up the law about these companies,and yes I know its my own fault getting caught in their trap So please no lectures about its my own fault. Cheque Centre are legalised loan sharks so beware!

bottleofred

Hi Petowner,

I got into a few problems with a cheque cashing service about 6 years ago and they are horrible to deal with. I know it seems like there is no way out at the moment, but once you do eventually clear the debt with them, it'll be a huge relief and indeed I often wonder why I ever used them. However, like everyone else who needs money, I did what I had to do at the time to survive. I hope you get everything resolved soon and definitely only communicate with them in writing. If they do telephone you, tell them this and hang up.

Good luck