Advice needed please on Payday Loan

tjw77

I took out a loan with a lender on 27 May for £200 (£187.50) was paid into my account.

I was unable to make payment/rollover the loan when they requested as this was before my actual paydate. The full loan therefore became due which I was unable to afford. The loan as at today's date stands at over £800! I have made them an offer over 2 weeks ago of £350.00 (the original loan plus interest at 1% per day, to date as in their terms and conditions) but they have refused this. They refuse to enter into any repayment plans and are threatening to contact my employer and send 'The Doorstep Collector' to my home and charge an addtional £100 per visit. I have contacted the Financial Ombudsman, but I am aware that they can take some time to investigate, which I don't have as the balance is ever increasing. I also tried looking for help from the OFT, in respect of unfair charges, but they cannot help me as an individual. I am therefore asking for any advice on if there is anything else I can do - I would rather that this now go to court so at least I could try to dispute the amount, and get some kind of formal payment set up, but I suspect that the payday lender do not yet want to go down that route, until they have added as much charges as possible

Please help:(

FireWyrm

Your first stop should be to the bank. You need to close you existing account and move all your money and normal bills' to a new account unafiliated with your old one. This is because PDL companies are notorious for attempting to collect the full amount from your account whether you have it to spare or not. Potentially, if you have an overdraft, they could clean you out and leave you in an even worse predicament. Do this today before they get their ducks in a row and try it.

Second, you need to draft a letter to your creditors, including your PDLs advising them that you are experiencing unforseen financial difficulties and you will therefore be paying a token £1 per month until you are ready. Most normal creditors will bend over backwards to help you, but PDL's will get nasty at this point, hence step 1 above. There isnt really anything you can do to stop the charges mounting, but they know that the next step is going to be a DMP from one of the debt charities and they will only get paid small amounts, so probably a Full and Final is your next step after this. You do realise that unless you pay off your PDL's you are going to get a default on your credit score dont you? You need to be prepared for this. There is nothing inherently 'unfair' about PDL charges at all, the debtor is fully informed of them from the outset of the agreement, so from this point of view, you dont have very much leverage if it does goes to court. You're only leverage as such is a 'hardship' situation which wont get you out of your obligation, but it might stop it getting very much worse. Try the debt management charities for help, their letters carry more weight than yours, but only just. PDLs work on the premise that you will default and it's in their interests that you do, as you have seen. You're only recourse is to pay them off as fast as possible and never get into the situation again.

fatbelly

The classic thread is here (Dealing with Payday loan companies):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2735257