Payday loan spiral - tipping point. Advice please

Stupid_and_need_help

Hi all, hope someone can give me some advice on where is best to go to get my situation sorted out and get me a good nights sleep.

Situation is - I like a fool started using wonga last year, started off with a couple of hundred and that soon grew. My first stupid act

When that started getting out of control I then went to the cheque centre and they were happy to give me another payday loan which I took. Yes the 2nd stupid act.

Currently I owe wonga approx 1400 at the end of the month, I don't owe the cheque centre anything but like the last few months I am currently out of cash and there are 4 weeks till my next pay so will probably be borrowing off them again.

I am £1000 into my overdraft and have an old loan with my bank with about 500 left on it.

I've been living in my rented flat for 4 years and been with my bank for 15 years+. No CCJ's, no really bad credit history but about 2-3 missed payments in the last 2 years, last of which was 9 months ago.

I am paying over £400 a month on interest and just keeping my head above water but I really have woken up to the fact that I am at tipping point and need to sort myself out now.

I believe my best solution is to try to get a loan of £2000 to £3000 over 3 years, end the payday loan cycle and get myself back on track before its too late.

I understand the missed payments last year might affect the % rate I will get but to be honest I will accept that as a stupidity tax.

Advice from anyone about where I can get the help I need would be gratefully received.

WestonDave

Go over to the Debt Free part of the site, post a SOA (links to templates available over there) and in the nicest possible way they will go through your spending and finances in more detail than the average forensic scientist. If there are savings to be made and ways out of this, they will be the ones to point you in the right direction. However to solve this you may have to sacrifice a few holy cows so be prepared to be told to cut back your Sky TV subs and downgrade your phone contracts amongst other things.

DCFC79

If you were to get the loan of 2k to 3k what would stop you from falling by the wayside again and again ?

Maybe you should contact cccs and as dave says get over to the debt free board

ihateyes

ok... email collections@wonga.com
advise them you have had a change in financial circumstances... and cant afford to pay interest only never mind full loan. offer them a 12mth installment.

now for the IMPORTANT part.

ask for bank details and reference numer so you can pay by bill payment. this lets you control the payments, not wonga. soe companies agree payment plan but then till clean you out..... btw cancel your lost card!!

Poosmate

Ihateyes, if he's going to follow your advice then he needs to close his current bank account and open a new one with a bank completely unaffiliated to his current bank. Cancelling the card will not stop the PDL's from taking money from your account.

I would second WestonDave's suggestion and say you really need to be completely honest with how and why you have got to this point. Latest mobile phone? Out on the lash almost every night? Clothes? All the packages Sky/Virgin can offer? If you're relying on Wonky loans then you are most likely living beyond your means and you need to reign in your spending and get more money savvy.

You may even be able to cut your costs down enough to be able to keep a credit record that isn't shot to shoite.

Poo

Mara69

Getting yet another loan will be your third stupid act. Thankfully for you, no one will lend to you other than pay day lenders. As advised, close your bank account, open a new one and make a realistic offer of payment.

Stupid_and_need_help

Thanks for all the replies.
Ihatyes - Would contacting them and trying to agree a payment plan affect my credit rating ? I'm assuming yes.

For info Poosmate- I've cancelled my mobile last September, I have freeview tv only, shop for clothes only when really needed for work. go out once a month if I'm lucky and eat as cheaply as I can. I've got rid of my car, cycle to work, cut my own hair and put the heating on only when I can see my own breath in the house. I have a basic landline and broadband is my only "luxury".

The borrowing started after my girlfriend left me with no notice and my bills doubled, all overtime at work was stopped and my t&c's were changed giving me a lower take home pay - company wide to prevent mass redundancy. . At the same time my car gave up the ghost and I threw good money after bad trying to get it fixed. I used to live a comfortably but hardly living life throwing money about. I even had savings at one point not in the too distant past. Yet another sob story maybe but I'm not looking for sympathy, worse things have happened to better people than me.

I'm not trying to blame these companies or get out of what I have agreed to, just looking for the best way to pay them what I owe them while not ruining my future ability to get a mortgage etc when I am able to afford to.

While I understand that borrowing more is never recommended it is the interest payments of £400 plus a month (probably over 500) that are killing me. If I could get rid of them I believe I could comfortable afford to consolidate and pay back a "normal" longer term loan while having some quality of life again. Is that really not an option with any lender ?

Thanks for the replies anyway guys, appreciate your time.

Poosmate

Ok so you have made a lot of adjustments to your life already but as push is rapidly becoming shove you may have to do more. Have you actually sat down and done a SOA (Statement of Affairs)? Use this link:

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

You don't have to post it if you don't want to obviously but you really have to be honest with yourself when you do it.

Do you have anything to sell? Or anything of value that you could pawn to get you through the payments (obviously with a view to buying back when you can)? I've never used Pawn Brokers so would it be cheaper to do that then pay the interest on the PDLs?

How much longer till your loan is paid off? And how much extra cash will you have when it's paid off?

The only other thing I can think of is for you to sell your body to science and get yourself on some medical trials for some pretty good money. Though the last poster I suggested do that we haven't heard from since - OOPS!! Seriously though, medical trials can be a very good way of getting out of debt. I plan on doing it myself in the future (have commitments atm).

Hope you sort it out.

Poo

KingElvis

^^^^^^ Jesus wept, sell yourself for medical experiments to pay off grubby payday loans....the world's gone mad, completely.

Poosmate

KingElvis wrote: »

^^^^^^ Jesus wept, sell yourself for medical experiments to pay off grubby payday loans....the world's gone mad, completely.

I don't have any payday loans and I would absolutely be on medical trials rather than take out a pay day loan. Its good money and non taxable - it's classed as expenses rather than income.

Medical trials are not all about taking pills and jabs of dubious substances. There are all sorts of non invasive studies and trials. The lowest paid will be those offered by students at Uni and for the more desperate, yes you can test new drugs, be they creams, pills or jabs. I started a thread about it on the "Up Your Income" board and got a few positive responses from people who had actually done this. The only negatives were from those who were not open to the idea. Don't rule it out, read up about it and get a more informed opinion.

Poo

wacko911

Poosmate wrote: »

I don't have any payday loans and I would absolutely be on medical trials rather than take out a pay day loan. Its good money and non taxable - it's classed as expenses rather than income.

Hmm, are you sure about this? I was told it was taxable, how could an income be classes as an expense?

Also does it not void any and all critical illness/life insurance?

I get that your not taking any jabs, but after seeing the 'elephant man' teenager who's life is now totally screwed for '3k' I think I'll pass. (was on a C4 documenty) YOU GET NOTHING WHEN IT ALL GOES TITS UP!