Flipping Money Shop

Secretdebts

Ok- Long story so if you read to the end, congratulations. I have a long standing money shop loan - ie I pay it back every month and then have to retake it to survive the month (bad I know but I have no other option at the moment and should be out of this debt cycle in a few months). To cut a longish story a bit shorter the payment was due to come out of my bank on the 29th of July, they rang me on the 28th and said the automated system was down and could I pay by card. i told them that as I didn't get paid until the 29th they would have to ring me back then if the system was still down and I would pay. They rang on the 29th and i rang them back (to make sure it was legitimate and not a con - you lot have me paranoid lol) and paid them. Went to the cashpoint today and there was no money available - I rang my bank to find out what had happened to be told I was £200 over my overdraft limit - it turns out that money shop had taken my card payment but it had also gone through the automated service so they ha taken it twice. I go down to the money shop and they hae said that the automatic payment had been declined. I then rang the bank for a seond time to be told that the payment had been authorised but not collected and therefore it would be held for 4 working days and meanwhile my direct debits would continue to bounce - costing me £28 each - plus an over the overdraft limit of £28 - running up to approx £250 of charges because of this money now being in 'no-mans land'. Now to my mind this is 'money shops fault and so is there anything I can do to recover the charges that they have caused me - plus the 4 hours i have had to take out of my business in sorting this complete !!!! up out!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so stressed and have been in tears all afternoon since! I'm trying to work myself out of my debt mess but cannot cope with these charges on top of all my other repayments.

timbstoke

OK, here's what you do:

- Calm down. You'll get your money back, although it may take some effort.
- Call your bank, explain your situation, throw yourself at their mercy. Ask if they can extend your overdraft until the funds are available again so that your debits don't bounce. If they already bounced, ask if there's any way they can waive the charges under the circumstances. If you generally have pretty good standing, they may be able to help you out. Be nice to them though - it's not their fault, after all.
- If you don't get anywhere phoning them, write to them outlining the situation. Letters are often read by different staff who don't spend all day getting it in the neck from irate customers - they may be more sympathetic. Come back if you need us to look over your letter.
- If you still need money urgently in the meantime, go back into the Moneyshop and speak to the manager. Explain that you're now in financial trouble as a result of their faulty systems, and you need to know what they intend to do about it. Tell him you're in talks with your bank to try and keep costs down, but you expect them to refund any charges which you incur as a result of the problem with their systems. If you need money to survive on, tell him you need an interest free short term loan to tide you over until their systems release your own money back to you. Be polite but assertive - it's them who got you in this mess, they need to get you out of it.
- If you don't get anything off the bank and the Moneyshop refuse to help, you still don't need to worry. Document ALL charges you've incurred as a result of the fault - ask your bank for a breakdown of what they've charged you, and if you incurred a late payment fee from anyone else as a result of a bounced DD, ask them for details in writing too. Then write to Moneyshop's head office with photocopies of your evidence and tell them that you expect them to refund all charges, or you will commence proceedings in the small claims court for recovery of your losses.

Keep us informed and we'll help you out along the way. Moneyshop got you into this mess, and if you went to court, you'll almost certainly be awarded the full amount of all fees you've been charged. They know this so they probably won't let it get that far.

Secretdebts

Thank you so much for your reply. I'll get on to the bank straight away and see what they say. I'm not sure that they'll up the overdraft as I'm currently on a plan to reduce it by £50 per month but I can always try. I'll let you know how I go.

Secretdebts

Sticks her head above the parapet and asks if the scary person's gone??

bottleofred

Hi folks,

I have reported the moneyshop post as spam.

Secretdebts

Is there anyway I can find out if they're gone? Don't like the thought of them seeing all my other debts and finding out who I am. I feel a bit stalked lol.

bottleofred

When the green light is on in the bottom left hand corner in the box where the post is, they are online. When the red light is on, they are off line. There's nothing to stop them viewing posts though at anytime. I've reported their post as spam and am not sure if they have permission to post.

timbstoke

Don't worry about them - they won't be able to identify you from your post here, and even if they do, all it'll tell them is that you're getting advice and won't be messed around. There are some 'official' representatives from companies that are allowed to post here - that particular account isn't one of them, so that post will probably be deleted soon, and replaced with a post by someone from a mod saying more or less the same thing :-)

In fairness to the poster though, the advice may not be that bad. Their entire business model is based on dealing with people who simply don't have money to just put aside while they sort their systems out - if their entire payment system went down, you almost certainly won't be the only person affected, and they may already have a procedure for dealing with it. It may be worth giving them a call to see what they say - just don't allow yourself to be talked down to or fobbed off.

Secretdebts

Hi. I spent nearly 3 hours talking to them and the bank. The Money Shop are saying that the payment was declined (I had over £1000 available in the account at the time) but the bank say that it was authorized and so must have been a problem with the Money Shop system. Money shop say all the others that had duplicate payments taken were refunded in cash but that my payment was declined. I feel like I'm going round in circles!!