Advice Needed / Support Offered

DaveK1971

Hi all. This is my first post and I'm just looking for some advice or if I'm honest support more than advice.

I've not exactly been great with money at any point in my life but my real problems started when I got divorced forteen years or so ago and ended up living off credit for three years to pay a mortgage for my ex and rent for myself. In those days despite earning a pitance getting credit was easy and I just kind of stumbled along worrying about each month at a time until suddenly realising I owed £46k and was struggling!!

Slowly I started to sort things and over the last eight years or so reduced my debt to about £7k but then two years ago I made the biggest mistake of my life and... took out a payday loan. With hindsight I hate myself for this, am embarrased and ashamed that I was stupid enough to go there but at the time we wanted to move house (rental) and the payday loan was to pay the deposit on the new place until I got my deposit back from the previous house which I could use to repay the payday loan. Seemed reasonable but then our old letting agency refused to pay back our deposit (which they hadn't protected in a scheme) and swiftly went into liquidation leaving me in a cycle of taking payday loan to pay off payday loan and adding extra debt when the car needed repairing etc.

The last two years have been hell and every month I have found myself visiting payday websites just after payday each month to try and find a way of covering bills etc. Finally after failing to find a consolidation loan at a non extortionate rate (78% apr over 10 years was the best I could find) I have somehow summoned the strentgh to ask for help and have just entered into a DMP with Stepchange owing about £12k.

I am worried about taking such drastic action and although I'm sleeping a bit better than a few weeks ago I figured speaking to like minded folk on here can only be a good thing. In one way I feel slightly immoral for going down the DMP route as I am the one responsible for my debts and it somehow feels like cheating but then on the other hand most if not all of my creditors have made an absolute fortune from me over the years that I have been paying the minimum and rolling over payday loans etc and I have kept things ticking along for as long as I can but December would have been the tipping point were I would have had no option but to default.

I have a few questions if anybody out there could advise:

1) I am not afraid of confronting my creditors but I am worried about them ringing me in work, especially the payday type companies such as Quickquid, Payday UK and Lending Stream. Has anybody had dealings with these companies whilst on a DMP and have they been reasonable?

2) As I have obviously had quite a few loans over the years I may be entitled to PPI compensation. Am I correct in thinking though that I would be best to avoid this whilst on a DMP with companies I would be trying to claim from? Same with bank charges as I have been charged a fortune over the years despite on occasions pleading with my bank to waive or delay fees of £35 for going £2 or so overdrawn due to financial hardship.

3) Years ago it was easy to get credit and one instance of irresponsible lending that springs to mind is that my bank on two occasions sent me an online banking message saying that I was approved for a loan of £20k (which I had not applied for) and that if I clicked accept they would send out a loan agreement and credit my account. I accept that I am responsible for accepting and taking on the loan but this particular instance does annoy me as I was earning about £15k at the time and getting a message to say you can have £20k without even filling a form in or asking for it just seems wrong, especially as now that times have changed my bank have been quick to preach responsible lending! I assume there is nothing I can do about their method of luring me in as at the end of the day I signed the agreement but thought I'd ask for your thoughts and get it off my chest!!

4) Not a question but a statement. Up until two years ago I was dealing with my debts and was actually quite proud at having gone from owing £46k to £7k but payday loans have ruined my life! It has been hell trying to juggle things this last few years and I'm convinced that these companies somehow expect that a fair percentage of their customers will end up defaulting but they gamble that they will make money to cover things during the months that customers will try to cope by extending loans or taking new loans to cover old before they get to the point where they default. If anybody is contemplating taking out a payday loan (unlikely for people here I guess)....DON'T.... please, just DON'T.

Bit of a long first post and apologies if I've gone on a bit and ranted etc! So far Stepchange have been amazing and I wish I had gone to them years ago. My DMP is in it's very early stages but all has gone well so far and it does feel good to look at my spreadsheet for December and see a payment coming out of my new bank account for Stepchange and then all of my essential bills coming out by the 2nd of the month leaving me with a figure to live off as per my Stepchange budget... no sign of a Wonga or Payday UK entry . Only problem so far has been trying to get my loan reference number off Wonga as they don't issue any agreement number with their loans you have to request it and they are so far not playing ball which means Stepchange can't add it to my DMP... will persist and ring Wonga yet again on Monday morning!!

Guess that's it. Sorry for such a long post. If anybody can offer advice or support it would be gratefuly received. Likewise if I can offer any kind of support to people going through what I have been through please don't hesitate to ask. So far I would recommend Stepchange to anybody and hope that if I can get debt free I can repay them in some form of voluntary work or whatever. I don't advocate anybody spending money to get out of debt but one thing that really helped me decide to go face things was a kindle book that cost me about £2 called "When payday loans go wrong", kind of mirrored my life over the past few years and made me feel a little less aloane and a lot less stupid for having gone down the payday route. The government need to act to cap rates but there action so far proves they either don't understand or don't care.

Thanks everybody!!

pogg000

wishing you all the best in your journey

DaveK1971

Cheers Pogg.

mum2one

DaveK1971 wrote: »

I have a few questions if anybody out there could advise:

1) I am not afraid of confronting my creditors but I am worried about them ringing me in work, especially the payday type companies such as Quickquid, Payday UK and Lending Stream. Has anybody had dealings with these companies whilst on a DMP and have they been reasonable?

If they do ring you at work, write direct to them, (by recorded delievery) saying that you can not take telephone calls of a personal nature at workplace, and that you will contact them .

There is a template letter that you can ask for any communication to be done in writing, which would stop any calls.


2) As I have obviously had quite a few loans over the years I may be entitled to PPI compensation. Am I correct in thinking though that I would be best to avoid this whilst on a DMP with companies I would be trying to claim from? Same with bank charges as I have been charged a fortune over the years despite on occasions pleading with my bank to waive or delay fees of £35 for going £2 or so overdrawn due to financial hardship.

With the PPI and bank charges (again templates think there on the sticky at the top debt free board), put all the claims in, if the loan is still in existance, generally any refund would go back off the loan, but it would reduce your debt amount,

3) Years ago it was easy to get credit and one instance of irresponsible lending that springs to mind is that my bank on two occasions sent me an online banking message saying that I was approved for a loan of £20k (which I had not applied for) and that if I clicked accept they would send out a loan agreement and credit my account. I accept that I am responsible for accepting and taking on the loan but this particular instance does annoy me as I was earning about £15k at the time and getting a message to say you can have £20k without even filling a form in or asking for it just seems wrong, especially as now that times have changed my bank have been quick to preach responsible lending! I assume there is nothing I can do about their method of luring me in as at the end of the day I signed the agreement but thought I'd ask for your thoughts and get it off my chest!!

totally agree where your coming from, thats how I ended up in this mess, I knwo now banks are becoming tighter on lending, but they did just throw money and offers around, unfortunatly some of us (me included) thought it was a good idea. Others were stronger than us.

4) Not a question but a statement. Up until two years ago I was dealing with my debts and was actually quite proud at having gone from owing £46k to £7k but payday loans have ruined my life! It has been hell trying to juggle things this last few years and I'm convinced that these companies somehow expect that a fair percentage of their customers will end up defaulting but they gamble that they will make money to cover things during the months that customers will try to cope by extending loans or taking new loans to cover old before they get to the point where they default. If anybody is contemplating taking out a payday loan (unlikely for people here I guess)....DON'T.... please, just DON'T.

Bit of a long first post and apologies if I've gone on a bit and ranted etc! So far Stepchange have been amazing and I wish I had gone to them years ago. My DMP is in it's very early stages but all has gone well so far and it does feel good to look at my spreadsheet for December and see a payment coming out of my new bank account for Stepchange and then all of my essential bills coming out by the 2nd of the month leaving me with a figure to live off as per my Stepchange budget... no sign of a Wonga or Payday UK entry . Only problem so far has been trying to get my loan reference number off Wonga as they don't issue any agreement number with their loans you have to request it and they are so far not playing ball which means Stepchange can't add it to my DMP... will persist and ring Wonga yet again on Monday morning!!

Guess that's it. Sorry for such a long post. If anybody can offer advice or support it would be gratefuly received. Likewise if I can offer any kind of support to people going through what I have been through please don't hesitate to ask. So far I would recommend Stepchange to anybody and hope that if I can get debt free I can repay them in some form of voluntary work or whatever. I don't advocate anybody spending money to get out of debt but one thing that really helped me decide to go face things was a kindle book that cost me about £2 called "When payday loans go wrong", kind of mirrored my life over the past few years and made me feel a little less aloane and a lot less stupid for having gone down the payday route. The government need to act to cap rates but there action so far proves they either don't understand or don't care.

Thanks everybody!!

Not really stalking you, hopefully your get somewhere with Wonga soon. Glad your all sorted with stepchange, I'm due to make payment no 3, and the difference is unbelievable, I tried a self managed dmp for 12 mths previous and was scraping through, now I have 10 creditors, 9 have frozen interest and charges, the last lower interest, so nice knowing where I stand with money, just need the winning lottery numbers x

DaveK1971

Cheers mum2one, feel free to stalk me you've been a great help tonight. Thank you. Got my breakdown from stepchange yesterday and puzzled that they are going to be overpaying all if my mainstream creditors whilst underpaying the payday people. My preference would have been the other way around but I guess they know what they are doing. No idea yet who will agree to accept plan. Glad it's working out for you. Determined to enjoy Christmas and for the first time in memory not take any credit for it. Cheers, thanks for the support, you really have picked me up :-)

moneywaster55

Hiya Dave, I cant really give much advice as I am very new to this myself. But did not want to read and not support. So know where you are coming from with payday loans. I had/have 2. Worst thing I ever did, but we don't think of that at the time.

I have a wonga loan and ignored my arrears, they text me and rang my mobile for 3 weeks but never rang my home or work. I eventually got my head out of the sand and rang them and to be honest, they were very accepting and went with what i could pay and stopped the interest.

I have only just found this site and finding out stuff myself, but I feel a whole lot better for knowing there is support here or somewhere to unburden my worries etc. Although I don't know much. I am Happy to chat and support where I can.

This site is full of :A

Subscribed

DaveK1971

Cheers moneywaster, always good to talk. Got another email from wonga this morning refusing to provide my loan reference number. Will ring them in a bit and try my best to prize it from them. I already sent the letter advising them of DMP so am worried they will refuse to issue my number so that stepchange can't help!

simeyb

Hello - best of luck with getting to a position of being able to keep your head above water with the payday loans i.e. the DMP but you do need to pay serious attention to what markers anyone is putting on your credit file - for the amount you owe you'll be out of debt in reasonably good time, but the trouble with adverse markers like Defaults and Arrangement to Pay on your credit file will be with you for 6 years in which time you will not be able to get any credit and could, if you aren't careful, get you back to payday loans which obviously you don't want - suggest you subscribe to credit expert and equifax and see whats on there and do read all correspondence from creditors to see what they are planning to register. Good luck!

DaveK1971

Cheers Simey. To be honest I'm not too worried about my credit file. Once I've cleared my debts I will be in a position to save and pay for things up front. My current thinking is that I never want credit again, will use a payg mobile and do things the old fashioned way where money is concerned. I am registered with Noddle as they are free so will keep an eye on things. Cheers.

simeyb

DaveK1971 wrote: »

Cheers Simey. To be honest I'm not too worried about my credit file. Once I've cleared my debts I will be in a position to save and pay for things up front. My current thinking is that I never want credit again, will use a payg mobile and do things the old fashioned way where money is concerned. I am registered with Noddle as they are free so will keep an eye on things. Cheers.

Makes sense re not wanting future credit - nor do I - its been the bane of my life - BUT - don't know what your mortgage situation is? Rent references? Even just having a ccard for emergencies (bloody car is in dock again!). Best of luck!!!

DaveK1971

Hi, I rent a house and have no intention of buying (even if I could afford to buy I prefer the freedom of renting). From experience the rental checks are minimal as half the time we have been in a house before my salary has even been confirmed and I have a family member who was made bankrupt three years ago who has never had any problems renting. I didn't get into debt through spending on luxury items so can live without flash cars and the latest gadgets etc. My car is ten years old but reliable and if I need a new one in future years I can pick something up for £1k or £2k max. Know what you mean about car repairs etc (have just had to have brakes done setting me back £50) but I go to a little backstreet garage. Once debt free I reckon I can save about £500 a month and still have more of a life than I do now. Fingers crossed it goes to plan.