Minicredit help! £80 loan, 28 days late = £381!

Tixy

Its odd isn't it that many of those satisfied customers (with English sounding names) seem to have the same grasp of sentence construction as the company itself. Maybe they are all yoda fans?

ssswww

Here is the breakdown of charges I have been sent

1) You took out the loan for £100.00 on the 3rd of May and chose the due date to be the 2nd of June 2011
2) The first penalty of £ was added on the 3rd of June 2011
3) The second penalty of £55 was added on the 5th of June 2011
4) Interest is 1% of the loan amount per day in total £58
5) Attempt fees (when our system attempts to receive the funds from Your debit card) £3.00 per every empty attempt in total £141.00
We have received part payment £100.00 on the 24th of June 2011 and the remaining £279.00 on the 30th of June 2011
In total amount paid £379.00


Anything I can do about that?

skintandscared_2

They attempted to take funds from your account FORTY SEVEN TIMES?!!!! OMG who are these sharks?!

Maybe one penalty for late payment is justifiable, but I presume the daily interest is on top of that, and what is the second penalty payment for, on 5th June?

I'd want to tell them to shove the "attempt" fees and the second penalty for starters....

RichGold

"Man takes loan from Pizza shop then fails to repay as agreed shock."

Its not something you can discuss/argue later. You signed up to their rubbish when you borrowed their money. I mean come on, you handed a fifth of your loan back to them as a transfer fee without even seeing it.
That cant strike you as a good way to borrow money can it?

See if this makes sense:
You cant drive onto a petrol forecourt, fill up with petrol and then go inside and debate what you'd like to pay for it. You've already accepted the price by filling up.

Was the pizza shop Pizza-A-Gogo?

skintandscared_2

I agree these places are unbelievable and I honestly don't know what possesses people to use them. There is desperate, then there is the abyss! And how a website suddenly looks dodgy after the event, but didn't when the OP was signing up for the loan is a complete mystery to me...

BUT ... it surely can't be okay for a company like this to set up and just charge whatever the heck they feel like charging? Surely they must be regulated by some financial legislation?

£1 a day interest I could live with, plus a fee for paying late. But I can't actually believe it's legal to try and take money from an account 47 times, let alone charge the OP £3 a pop! And what's the justification for another £55 penalty just 2 days after the first one? Just ridiculous.

RichGold

skintandscared wrote: »

what's the justification for another £55 penalty just 2 days after the first one

2 days after the first penalty he still hadn't paid?

Just a guess, but I think that would do it.

Tinks74

skintandscared wrote: »

They attempted to take funds from your account FORTY SEVEN TIMES?!!!! OMG who are these sharks?!

Maybe one penalty for late payment is justifiable, but I presume the daily interest is on top of that, and what is the second penalty payment for, on 5th June?

I'd want to tell them to shove the "attempt" fees and the second penalty for starters....

Exactly, how reasonable is it to attempt to take a payment 47 times in a maximum of 29 days (2/06 to 29/06)????
At a push I'd think once a day, i.e. 29 times, would be verging on the far side of acceptable, but more than once a day is absolutely ridiculous.

ssswww

ssswww wrote: »

Here is the breakdown of charges I have been sent

1) You took out the loan for £100.00 on the 3rd of May and chose the due date to be the 2nd of June 2011
2) The first penalty of £ was added on the 3rd of June 2011
3) The second penalty of £55 was added on the 5th of June 2011
4) Interest is 1% of the loan amount per day in total £58
5) Attempt fees (when our system attempts to receive the funds from Your debit card) £3.00 per every empty attempt in total £141.00
We have received part payment £100.00 on the 24th of June 2011 and the remaining £279.00 on the 30th of June 2011
In total amount paid £379.00


Anything I can do about that?

I have written to Minicredit stating which charges I believe are unfair (the £55 charge and £141 attempt charges) asking for them to be refunded.
I don't expect them to refund the charges, but I want to submit a complaint about them to the ombudsman and I have to complain to the company direct first so we'll see how it goes.

Thanks for the help from everyone on here

Oldfatgrumpy

I doubt if they could attempt to take a payment at the weekend as the system goes into suspended animation, so that means they've attempted to take payment 47 times over 21 working days?!

fozmcfc

Looking at the website, the only fee information I can find is in there website terms "You agree that if you register with us and sign Loan Agreement Microcredit Ltd may charge the following fees to your card registered with us; loan application processing fee, account set up and monthly account services fee"

Not even a mention of the £20 they charge in the first place off the £100.

Most payday loan company website I have looked at, at least in the T&C's shows the fees upfront on their website.

Unless there is a list of charges payable at anytime during the process, you could well have a strong case. I wouldn't let it go if I was you, you have nothing to lose. I would challenge them and tell them unless you get a satisfactory responsible you will be writing to the ombusman.

If there is a list of charges and you have checked accept them then your case might not be so strong, but I still say the charges are extremely ridiculous, so would still pursue it.

Do let us know how you get on, even if it is a few months down the line.