Do I have any rights here?

dsmith29

2 months ago I took out a loan with Piggybank loans to help cover a shortfall in my rent. I have been trying to get myself back on my feet financially, so a month ago I told them I would struggle to make the full repayment and could I get up a payment plan.

I have emails that show the discussion and that they were happy to do so and even the amount that was agreed and them stating that the payment plan was now in place. However, since then they have continued to send threatening emails, text messages, voice mails, and letters telling me they will take legal action.

I think the final straw came today when I transferred money I have managed to earn (I work as a freelancer) into my bank account only for them to empty it within the hour. This amount was three times the agreed amount in the plan.

So do I have any rights or grounds for complaint here? What can I actually do about this?

sharp82

Did you keep up to date with the payment plan?

John1993_2

Others may offer something different, but I think that it's retty likely that you'll just have to put this down to experience. Payday lenders are very aggressive when it comes to collecting money from people who default. If you browse the boards, you'll see that this is quite common, and they are unlikely to want to return anything to you.

You always have the option of asking them for some back for living costs, or even taking them to court, but as they've only taken back what they were owed, it's unlikely that anyone's going to be able to get that money repaid to you.

McKneff

Ring your bank and tell them the loan company have taken an unauathorised amount.

That should sort it.....

sharp82

I agree with John unfortunately.

Its worth complaining to them, if you don't ask you don't yet. Bad news is you gave away your rights when you signed up to the T&Cs when taking the loan out. I imagine any complaint you make, you'll just be referred back to the T&Cs

paddyrg

This is exactly why the Church of England have started fighting talk against PDLs

John1993_2

paddyrg wrote: »

This is exactly why the Church of England have started fighting talk against PDLs

Because they take back what they are owed?

That's not actually the case at all, their issue wih them are the high rates of interest. The churc is mulling over chargiing "only" 90-100% PA, but I'dd not be surprised if they then add fixed fees on top, which, when you take out a short-term loan, will miraculously blossom into eye-watering APRs again.

iolanthe07

The church is mulling over chargiing "only" 90-100%

Actually, what the Archbishop said was that 70% APR would be an approximate break-even point for payday loans, presumably because so many people default on them and they are expensive to administer.

John1993_2

iolanthe07 wrote: »

The church is mulling over chargiing "only" 90-100%

Actually, what the Archbishop said was that 70% APR would be an approximate break-even point for payday loans, presumably because so many people default on them and they are expensive to administer.

I suspect that he's only looking at the longer end of the loans to reach that figure, too, and the higher notionals.

70% APR on a 1 week loan on £100 come sto £1.35 in interest. Assuming zero defaults, this £1.35 is needed to cover all staffing and admin charges, compliance, oversight, regulatory departments, etc. That's never going to work.

spacey2012

You should have read the forums, the bank account raid is the pay day loan way.

Clive_Woody

I guess you have now both defaulted on agreements so it is going to be difficult to claim the moral high ground.

You could try asking your bank to see if they can help but I am sure they have heard all kinds of stories about PD loans and why their customer wants the money back (e.g. lost card reported, employment change, verbal agreement with PD company, etc...).