provident agents [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

justice4agents

Bailey2508 wrote: »

Hi all fellow agents. I have just set up a twitter account for all agents to follow and tweet their opinions both good and bad on the new commission structure implemented by pfg. Please feel free to search twitter for agentssayno and start following today, tweet your views etc. Let's all get together to stop this corporate monster from taking what we have worked hard for. I am monitoring this twitter account and will be blocking other tweeters I suspect may be working for head office as this site is intended for agents only. Follow agentssayno on twitter today and spread the word to other fellow agents. Thanks. X

HELLO new person!!:wave:

Bailey2508

Hello justice

garsen

As an agent myself, i have been trawling he net for days trying to get advice on this new commision (or lack of it) scheme. The last change to commision was an organised meeting in a hotel conference room with all other agents. Makes you wonder why that on the lastest commision change we were each individually taken into the AM's office shown a computer screen, briefly shown the new rules then off you go back to work, the whole thing lasted less than 10minutes. where of course we were told there were more positives than negatives. The sheet i was given worked out that i could lose £190 that week but only gain £90? cant quite work out the positive there!
That particular week after paying out petrol phone etc etc i was left with £8.00 to live on. Glad i dont have a provident loan or i'd have to miss a payment this week!

I found an article On the House of Commons Website, an interesting statement from provident:

T[SIZE=-1]RANSPARENCY[/SIZE]
13. Home credit is almost uniquely transparent. There are no penalty charges for missed or late repayments. For instance, if a £100, 50 week loan carried a £35 charge for credit, the customer would pay nothing more than that £35, even if the loan took 60, 70 or even 80 weeks to repay. This facility holds particular appeal for customers, helping them cope with fluctuating incomes or unpredictable outgoings. It also means that, unlike some other types of credit, the customer's costs remain fixed.

14. All these characteristics mean that home credit is highly suited to those on lower than average incomes, who work to tighter budgets and may have more volatile incomes. The product design it tailored to customer needs. The majority of Provident's new customers are introduced by existing customers.

15. The Competition Commission recently commissioned research into home credit customers that reached the same conclusion:
"home credit loans were well tailored to customers' needs. The application process was uncomplicated (no long forms) and fairly easy; the payments (weekly, fortnightly or monthly) were usually affordable and manageable, and the regular collection at agreed times helped customers make sure they had the money ready and kept up with payments. There was the knowledge that if payments were missed the amount owed would not go up and that agents were usually quite reasonable about missed payments and were willing to accept less rather than miss a payment altogether. Many respondents found that paying in cash gave them a feeling of control over their budget."


QUOTE: There are no penalty charges for missed or late repayments................unless you are the agent?????

I noticed some of the comments about agents on here and really unless you walk in our shoes please refrain from commenting about things you know clearly nothing about. Yes there are agents out there that dont do their job as well/properly as others but im sure those agents are not commenting on here! Also agents do need somewhere to voice their views, i personally know of a DM who was fired for voicing their views on facebook, so we agents do also need to be very careful where we post! Watchdog here i come!

Bailey2508

Bailey2508 wrote: »

Hi all fellow agents. I have just set up a twitter account for all agents to follow and tweet their opinions both good and bad on the new commission structure implemented by pfg. Please feel free to search twitter for agentssayno and start following today, tweet your views etc. Let's all get together to stop this corporate monster from taking what we have worked hard for. I am monitoring this twitter account and will be blocking other tweeters I suspect may be working for head office as this site is intended for agents only. Follow agentssayno on twitter today and spread the word to other fellow agents. Thanks. X

This is up and running right now. Agentssayno

Bailey2508

Agents are the friendly, helpful people who make weekly visits to our customers all over the country.

There are over 11,000 self-employed agents, and many of them used to be our customers. They are friendly, local people who:

Are easy to talk to
Make decisions
Provide credit services
Collect your weekly repayments
Know what it’s like to have a Provident LoanThe majority of our agents are women who live in the communities they serve and many of them were customers before becoming agents.
Agents are paid commission on how much money they collect, not how much they lend. So it's in their interest to make sure you only borrow what you can afford to pay back.

Would you make a good agent?

Bailey2508

This is a copy and paste from pfg website. Draw your own conclusions.

taff64

to all on here , i am a dm , cant speak for all dms but most i speak to find the new structure as unfair as yourselves. To the few slagging off the dm's most work bloody hard . I average 55 hrs a week. If u want to make your point its no good complaining to the dm's . U need to get together and take it to the top. You all have the address

scooby088

How many of the agents on here are ready and willing to fall on their swords and contact watchdog with their full name address and e mail address. If you are that worried and peed off you would do it for the greater good. In a sentence put up or shut up.

teamspirit

taff64 wrote: »

to all on here , i am a dm , cant speak for all dms but most i speak to find the new structure as unfair as yourselves. To the few slagging off the dm's most work bloody hard . I average 55 hrs a week. If u want to make your point its no good complaining to the dm's . U need to get together and take it to the top. You all have the address

you are right, most dm's do work long hrs, some dont, then again some agents dont do a very good job either. Its not the dm's who brought in this scheme or the am's for that matter. Plus they get as much pressure for sales as we do, they are just passing it down the chain to the people who actually have some influence on whether those targets are acheived or not. I think some of the comments on here are out of sheer frustration at not knowing what we can do about it. So unfortunately some people are bearing the brunt of that anger and frustration. Because there seems to be a lack of support from the dm's alot of agents think they just dont care. Maybe if afew, like yourself, spoke up things would be different.

mixedupagent

taff64 wrote: »

to all on here , i am a dm , cant speak for all dms but most i speak to find the new structure as unfair as yourselves. To the few slagging off the dm's most work bloody hard . I average 55 hrs a week. If u want to make your point its no good complaining to the dm's . U need to get together and take it to the top. You all have the address

I myself am an agent at this present time, and have been for many years, but i am in the midst are resigning, but i really do not want to , as i enjoy my job and will miss my customers. Can you yourself being a DM honestly see the Company reversing their decision on this new commission scheme, only asking cos i do not know what to do.