Dealings With Payday Loans Diary

Super_Daz

First post here but been lurking for a while

I (like many here unfortunately) have managed to fall into the payday loan trap. I'm not going into details of how & why as its a familiar story. Also if you are just here to write sarcastic & holier than thou comments please move on - you dont help people in situations like this.

Anyway, if you are still reading - I finally decided enough was enough - my payday loans were spiraling out of control & so this month I opened a new bank account & got my wages paid into that instead. My loans were due out yesterday & of course they all failed to go through. I spoke to them all (well most of them - some just said they cant do anything until today) & explained that I no longer had enough money to continue paying them each month (I was paying just interest & getting no-where).

I decided today to keep a diary on here to document my progress in dealing with these companies & expose which ones are a pain to deal with & which ones are more reasonable.

Any help or comments from anyone here are of course most welcome. So far I have offered £20 a month to each payday loan company (our monthly income has decreased recently & this is about what I can afford).

Ok here is what I owe & who to:-

Pounds2Pocket - Owe £162.64 - normal monthly payment £86
Payday Express - Owe £390 - normal monthly payment £90
Wonga - Owe £487.36
Purple Payday - Owe £390 - normal monthly payment £90
Wageday Advance - Owe £300 - normal monthly payment £52
Money Shop - Owe £375 - normal monthly payment £75
Minicredit - Owe £266
Lending Stream - Owe £350
1 Month Loan - Owe £350 - normal monthly payment of £75

As you can see its quite a mess.

Whats happenned so far:-
Phone calls to my mobile from most of the above started at 11:05 yesterday until 9:30 last night & then resumed at 10:00 this morning. Received around 40 phone calls in total (I couldnt answer most of the time due to being at work.

Received about 30 emails.

Received about 30 texts too including around 3am from Minicredit.

Somehow Purple Payday got hold of my work number & started calling at work (reception put them through).

Minicredit have charged me £80 default fees & will continue to charge £55 per day (no response to my email asking for payment plan).

1 Month Loan ignored my request to reduce payments & instead want £190 per month now although they will freeze interest if I agree to that.

Pounds2pocket say they cannot accept payment in any form other than a debit card (ie they wont give me their bank details, wont accept a cheque or postal order etc).

Also yesterday I put enough in my old bank account to be able to pay each one £20 - I was going to call them to transfer but between the time I deposited the money & the time it took me to exit the bank & check their cashpoint Payday Express & Wageday Advance had cleaned me out (Less than 2 minutes!). So now any payments to the others are in trouble although I can probably borrow enough from family to give it another go.

I'll update a few times each day as things develop. I'm going to try contacting each of them again later when I get a few minutes spare.

kimminess

Hi Daz,

Glad to hear you are feeling strong & motivated about dealing with the loans

I can't offer much advice other than the basics (Which you have probably already done!) which is don't answer the phone to them Put everything in writing so you have proof of what you have offered and whats been said.

Posting a SOA might help the folks on here give you advice on how to cut back on your spending?

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Kimberley x

Super_Daz

Thanks for the support Kimminess - I'll do a SOA later today.
I called Purple Payday (aka Payday UK) & they want £108 per month for 3 months to clear the account.

Super_Daz

Spoke to Pounds2Pocket next & they want £34.66 by 16th February. Actually thats quite reasonable & they were also very pleasant & professional to deal with.

Cant seem to get in touch with Wonga - will keep trying (might have to find a different number for them).

kimminess

Hmm - That's a bit of a jump from £20 a month!

Keep at it, they can't legally reject any offer of money that you give them. As long as you are paying what you can afford they have to accept it.

Alternatively, if the others accept £20 a month, once you have posted the SOA it might be possible to cut back enough to "make" £88 a month (Possibly being optimistic here) - If so you could accept the offer and then one of the bigger creditors bites the dust

From what I've read on other threads, it seems to be more motivating to get rid of the smaller creditors first so you feel like you have less to deal with. In this case they would be Pounds2Pocket. They say they won't accept cheques but I bet my bottom dollar if you sent them a cheque they'd cash it!

I have a friend who is getting into the spiral of payday loan doom but despite my help and nagging she just won't do anything about it! She has totally stuck her head in the sand, thinking "Everything will be alright!". So I'd much rather spend my efforts supporting someone like you :T

Super_Daz

I know how your friend feels Kimminess - until recently it was my head in the sand but it gets to the point where the interest alone from these lenders eats up so much of you monthly wage that the only way to survive through the rest of the month is to take out another payday loan.
I think you are right with tackling the smaller ones first - plus when they are out of the way I'll have more left to pay the rest. The only one I'm worried about at the moment is Minicredit. They seem to be based in India & are completely unwilling to accept anything other than full payment - & adding £55 a day seems grossly unfair.

kimminess

Its difficult.. I want to help her so much, I've sat down with her and we've written out her SOA, I helped her sort out one Wonga loan which was £100 more than her wages for the month(!) but until she has her light bulb moment and wants to sort it out for herself (Not just because she knows she needs to) there is no point.. So I am leaving her to it

If worst came to worst you could consider going on a DMP - Assuming the creditors agree to it, it would mean all the charges are frozen. If you sent a SAR (Subject Access Request which costs £10.00 + postage) it will let you see the breakdown of your loan vs the charges they have put on.. You're right, it is very unfair.

Chin up - This IS manageable

Boris_Allen

You need to find out what the representative APRs are. It's no good paying off the smaller creditor first, or the one you owe most to. APRs are what count. Pay the highest off first.

Super_Daz

Wonga have agreed to £40 a month for 3 months (to be reviewed afterwards).

Hi Boris - thanks for your reply. Normally I would agree but at this stage I am asking these companies to freeze the interest. If (and its a big if) I manage to get them all to agree the original APR will not be relevent.

Super_Daz

Money Shop doesnt want to know - just said that they have added £25 to my balance which will become due in full by 29th Feb.

eyeopener2

I don't think APR's make much difference in this situation.

If it was me doing this I would divide up what I have to pay them all by the number of creditors and every single one gets the same till its clear. Write to them all, showing all the balances of all the accounts and the time frame for paying each back. You then pay them that amount, by standing order (not through your card or DD or your old bank) each month till they are clear. I'm not sure negotiating each one seperatly gets you anything but stress.

I went into a DMP through CCCS and once the payday scum know your serious and won't take the bullying !!!! then they calm down and accept your proposals. I had a tremdous fight with PayDay UK and they eventually sent me to Mackenzie Hall and I didn't pay them a penny more than I said I would. Even with all the threats, phonecalls, fake solicitors (in the same office as PDUK I found out) and general nastyness.

Good luck but be careful of these clowns, as you have already had your account cleared you can see they cannot be trusted at all.

E2