Provident

jackie_w

Hello,

My Mum has a loan from Provident, shes had it for a while. I think the loan was for about £3000. She started struggling with the payments, as she was meant to be paying £20 per week (I think), so, she spoke to her collecting agent, and asked if she could reduce the payments to £10 per week. The agent said that was fine, she could just pay what she could. Shes been doing that for a year, and yesterday she got a letter from Provident Head Office saying they have been trying to contact her by letter and by phone. They are now saying she has to pay the full balance of £1700, or they will send the debt to debt collectors, and they will arrange for balliffs to visit her at home, and they will arrange to take posession of things in her home!!!!!

She has never received any letter from them (except the one she received yesterday), and she hasnt had any phone calls from them.
She contacted them today, it turns out they had the wrong telephone number for her.

Shes really worried about this now, shes a pensioner and has a heart problem, and really doesnt need these threats.

She cant afford to pay any more than the £10 per week. Im not willing to help her out with this, as I cleared off her last Provident loan of £1000, her credit card of £650, and her catalogue of £200, and when I cleared that lot of debt for her, she said she would never take out any debt again!!!

Can Provident do this? I thought the would have had to go to court to arrange for balliffs to come out to visit her home!

Jackie

CLAPTON

they would indeed need to go to court to get a CCJ.
The judge would decide how much your mother should pay. Only if she didn't pay the amount the judge decided would they be able to get an enforcement order (bailiffs).

Morglin

Let Provident take your mum to court.;)

She will be asked to fill out a statement of income and means, and the court will decide what amount she should pay per month.

Chances are it will be less than £10 per week.

If debt collectors try it on with her before all this, then contact them and tell them to desist or you will contact the OFT.

After the CCJ, providing the monthly amounts are paid, they are not allowed to contact her again.

As a side issue, I'd like to see the day when "loan sharks" like Provident, who specifically target those with low incomes and no credit rating, and then charge them extortionate rates of interest driven out of business by the likes of Credit Unions.:mad:

Lin

dexters_mum_2

One of my friends is heavily in debt with provident and they took her to court, and she was paying £40 per week off and the court gave her her first CCJ and she pays £5 per month now and is now nearly finished 3-4 years on thanks to some over payment. They look at all your income/expenditures and someone will help you come to an agreement in what your Mum should pay, according to her means.

I think the court was quite sympathetic (I didn't go that time) and he/she commented on these high APR loan sharks.

Alternatively, your Mum may like to contact one of the debt management agencies, like CCCS or PayPlan and try to enter into a debt management plan and they will deal with Provident on her behalf.

She could also write to the Debt collectors offering a £10 per week payment, if she is sure she could continue this in the longer term and pay an offer of a payment arrangement? Not sure what the legalities in this are, so it may be worth waiting for someone who knows about these things to post here.

You say you cannot help your Mum out, but you have done her a huge favour by posting this here and you sound like a fantastic daughter.

Bakeybadoo

Well we aren't in debt with Provident BUT we are paying ours off and near the end, thank god!

I can tell you that my husband and I each borrowed £250 and are paying back £12.50 per week, each.

A total rip off, as some credit can be but they take the biscuit. We only went with them as we were desperate and the loan paid our rent one month.

Our collection agent is gonna love us tonight, she is getting just £25 from both of us, we are 2 weeks behind. Some her fault, she never turns up when she's meant to and some ours, we spent said money since then but anyway, yeah, we will definitely be glad to see the back of them.

As for your mum, good luck with what the above posters have said. I hope she gets it sorted out.

dexters_mum_2

A girl who was at Uni with me, but has now left used to work for Provident and her manager was terrible, he'd encourage her NOT to call on clients and then demand X amount of weeks when she did visit, thanks to advice from someone on here who was also an agent, she went to her area manager (I think) and complained about the way the manager was advising her to conduct the business. She got her notice soon after....

What scared me is that she didn't call herself a provident rep or collection agent, her job title was 'Debt Collector'!

I know there was a provident agent on the forum or on the loans forum a while ago, so they also may be able to help.

jackie_w

Thank you everyone for your replies.

Ive spoken to my Mum today, and have spoken to her about her debts. She only had her Provident Loan, no other debts.
Ive told her to reduce her payments if she is struggling to pay the £10 per week, but, she said she can manage this okay, but, cant afford to pay anymore.

If she gets another letter from them, ive told her to give me the letter and I will phone them and give them what for.
Do you know what the B****** at Provident said to her " I see you are a pensioner, do you have any of your heating allowance that you can pay towards the debt" !!!!!!:mad:

Anyway, shes not worried about this anymore, cos ive shown her the replies on here from all you good people, so shes a bit more relaxed about it.

Once again, thank you very much, heres a virtual beer/glass of wine for you all:beer:

Enjoy


Jackie

Megatimbo

Hello All my wife is; a member of a credit union,they have given a table of payments etc based on £100 loan this gives an idea of costs etc.

1/ Shopacheck amount borrowed £100, interest charged £59,weekly payment of £5.30p over 32 weeks

2/ provident interest £55, weekly payment £5 over 32 weeks

3/ Telebank interest £20.82p weekly payment £3.90p over 31 weeks

4/ local credit union interest £3.58p weekly payment £3.35p over 31 weeks

no contest really :0

regards M

carolwat

hi jackie

i am the provident agent that another poster mentioned and maybe i can help. the letter your mother has received is actually from westcotts, this company deals with provident arrears customer now and i agree they are awful. it infuriates me to see the provident logo on their letters as its not from provident but wescots. what your mother needs to do is to get her agent to get her manager to put an agreed rate on the computer of £10 per week. so long as she makes that agreed payment all phonecalls and letters should stop. if the agent refuses to help and says she wont do it then contact her manager who im sure will do it as it is in his best interests to do it for your mother. the letter she has received is standard and it wont result in her being sent to court or the bailiffs coming in. is the manager was concerned he would have been and visited but from the sounds of it she makes the regular payment and therefore the manager wont waste his time and will rather visit someone who just wont pay. theres a difference between cant pay and wont pay customers, its clear who your mother is and this makes a difference. get that agreed rate on her account and she neednt worry. i wouldnt recommend letting provident take your mother to court as someone helpfully suggested. that would be more stress and worry for your mother when she can afford to pay £10 per week. sadly you arent in my area or i would make sure it was sorted for you. i will help all i can with advice though and if you want any further advice just yell.

im not going to even comment on the other posts where they do the usual and slate people like myself. i have been called some nasty things on here for my job but at the end of the day i try to help my customers and its not in my interests to rip people off. i love my job and my customers and all it takes is one crap agent or manager to ruin it for people like me. as for the job title of debt collector, well i assure you that is not the official job title provident give us but obviously one that that particular ex agent decided to call herself. we are plain and simple provident agent.

goodluck in sorting this out and i hope your mother can go back to her £10 pe week payment and wescotts leave her alone. if they continue to ring her tell her to tell them to go away. this is what i adviser my customers, a little stronger of course but there are sensors on here

Carol

jackie_w

Many Thanks for your reply Carol.

My Mums normal Provident Agent is coming out on Monday for her normal collection, so, she will show her the letter, and explain that she has called them.

I will tell her to say to her agent that she has to speak to her manager, and make a note that a payment of £10 has to be made every week.

Once again thank you.

Jackie x

carolwat

Hi Jackie

I have been unwell all this week and havnt had chance to get on here but I was wondering how your mother got on with getting that agreed rate put on her account on the computer. If the agent is not much use then call the number that should be on the front of the payment book and speak to the local office. It is necessary to get the agreed rate on otherwise the calls and letters will not stop.

Goodluck
Carol