Beware of Cheque Centre

kev.s

as far as i remember your wages can be arrested in scotland, i had this done to me around 15yr ago. but one things for sure you certainly won't lose your job, they are scare mongering.
don't agree with these pay day loans etc, they are not a solution

pet_owner

I had a phone call from the Legal Department of Cheque Centre yesterday demading to know what I was going to do about the Court Summons they served on me.Was told that they had to be told by law what I was going to do about it. I told them that I was not prepared to discuss it with them and put the phone down on them.

tallyhoh

pet_owner wrote: »

I had a phone call from the Legal Department of Cheque Centre yesterday demading to know what I was going to do about the Court Summons they served on me.Was told that they had to be told by law what I was going to do about it. I told them that I was not prepared to discuss it with them and put the phone down on them.

Cant understand why they asked such a question after serving a court summons! Surely the decision is with the court not you.

What idiots!

It is a real court summons?

pet_owner

hi yes it is a real Court Summons served by Sheriff Officers. Cheque Centre have said they will not accept any offfer of payment but will go for a wages arrestment.
I spoke to someone from CAB and they have said this company are murder to deal with they think they can do as they like. Is it worth complaining to Financial Ombudsman?

Any advice would be great.

andy.m_2

Good luck, your situation sounds dreadful.

Spogg

Hello,

I'm sorry you fell for this company and I know how easy it is to do when times get hard. I got my first loan with them when I was 19 and was offered £80 only due to my training course in college which increased to £600 over a period a time of repayments. I finished my college course in December 2010 and I have only just finished repaying the entire loan 2 weeks ago.

They have caused many problems for me, especially a few months ago. I've been owing them £600 for a little while and one day I was paid my wages into my bank at around 4am and by 8am, they wiped my account clean. Yes, they left me with nothing, this caused problems with rent. I got a text message through just before 8am saying they have the majority of the loan repayments. Of course I panicked, checked my account online and the next thing was, I was in tears. Yes, I was a poor student, yes I'm a guy and when things like this happen, you don't know what to do. I felt my life had collapsed. Never felt so empty in my life.

Anyway, the best way around Cheque Centre is to be a nice as you can and hope for the best that they become very friendly with you. I've been to two different branches, one in South Shields (Newcastle) and one in Barnsley. I got very friendly with the employees in South Shields and they started to get to know me on a more personal note. When times got tough, they gave me a bit of leeway PROVIDING I paid the roll-over fee within 48 hours. Yes, it should be paid straight away to avoid charges being added onto the debt. They stopped this, so in this sense, it helped me out.

Despite the debt spiralling out of control, I never received any letters from them, they just told me verbally that the debt collectors could pay me a visit and I think one day, two blokes were at my door in blue shirts. Now thankfully I could see out but they couldn't see in. They tried to open the door, luckily it was locked from the night before. It sure got my heart raising, especially when they knock on your door at 8am. So yes, they are able to send debt collectors. Just in case, keep your doors locked, I think they have the right to attempt entry for a debt settlement.

If you have broken the "agreement" to repay a sum every month, it could affect you by them refusing repayment and making it spiral out of control, for your circumstance, wage arrest. I have no idea what the laws are in Scotland for this, you'll have to look this up.

Oh, the people in the branch in Barnsley were vile. The old woman looked over her glasses at me (this was when they wiped my account clean and I was visiting a friend in Elsecar) and said it was MY FAULT. Nothing could be done, I wanted to punch her in the face, literally.

With my account, it was passed onto head office and I no longer received phone calls from local branch only to find head office calling me! My way to solve the issue? I changed my mobile number!!

I'm 21 years old now, only just repaid the loan so there is hope. Try not to think about it too much, I did and it got me depressed and I was losing the world to live. Hang in there, there is a chance you can get yourself out of this mess and that you're not the only one who is dealing with this issue, I'm sure they're loads out there being scammed like this.

Final words? NEVER GO TO CHEQUE CENTRE FOR A PAYDAY LOAN AND IF POSSIBLE, TRY TO AVOID GETTING PAYDAY LOANS FROM OTHER LENDERS. They all work the same way nearly and it will ruin you again. If you have to, take the smallest amount needed.

pet_owner

Im bringing you up to speed about my fight with Cheque Centre.
They did serve a court summons on me,I applied for a time to pay direction as advised by CAB. When I contacted the Court I was told this was opposed by the Cheque Centre,I new it would be.The case called in court on 11 March. To cuta long story short I went to ccourt and put my side of the story to the Sheriff, and he listened to me. Cheque Centre got their decree,but I was given my time to pay direction,so it wasnt completely a waste of time. Here is now the interesting part. When I contacted Cheque Centre I was told that they were not going to accept the time to pay direction and would go for an arrestment, I told them the Sheriff said as long as I kept up the payments there was nothing they could do,of course they were not happy to say the least. I had a phone call from them yesterday to say that theyu have now received the court papers and that I was telling lies and no such time to pay direction was given, I told them that they were the ones telling lies. I contacted the Court and it appears that
Kilmarnock Sheriff Court have sent them the wrong papers,and they were going to rectify this immediately.
What I would like to find out is does anyone know who I can complain to if Cheque Centre do try for an arrestment,when they are not legally entitled to now because of the Sheriffs decision. And do I have a claim against Kilmarnock Sheriff Court,because they have admitted they sent out the wrong legal papers.

Please help anyone have any ideas and advice.:eek:

RAS

Please ring the Scottish section of national Debt line. Very few people on here know anything about Scottish law.

Wee_Pilsbury

Hi there

One thing I do know about Scottish law (previous life and all that) is that the Cheque Centre will bloody well do as the Sheriff tells them :mad:. They can ask all they like for a wages arrestment but if the Sheriff orders a payment arrangement then that's it! And I wouldn't like to be in their legal team's shoes if they dared go back to the Sheriff and tell him the same rubbish they are spounting to you - quite likely to end up in Contempt of Court. Our Sheriffs can be quite prickly up here .

Again from a previous life, my experience is that if a debtor is making payments regularly and can demonstrate that this is all they can afford, then the Sheriff will order a reasonable payment arrangement. I would sit tight, contact CAB and the court if you have to to make sure everything is in order and then keep proof of every payment made to this shower.

Good luck

fozmcfc

Is there no way you can get family and friends to help with the repayment.

Failing that sell stuff you might have, live on bread and water for a few months etc.

You seem to have gone through a lot of hassle for not exactly a fortune.

The warning/lesson here seems to be don't take loan money you can't afford to pay back with these people, or unlike others who threaten action they actually will act.

EDIT...One final thought, your boss doesn't seem to unsympathetic can you not get an advance on your salary and pay your company/boss back over a year or so.