Cheque Centre - next PPI claims?

Authorised

-- fca.org.uk/news/cheque-centre-stops-selling-single-repayment-payday-loans-fca-tougher-consumer-protection

It is very interesting that this has only just become public knowledge, even though they stopped on 1st April, and John Keenan, the only long term UK based Director, exitted on 31st March according to Companies House. Andrew Deller is the named FCA Director and only joined them recently.

This is even more interesting:
"The poor practice was uncovered by the former consumer credit regulator Office of Fair Trading (OFT), and FCA staff on secondment at the OFT. In late March Cheque Centre was sent a letter setting out the regulators’ serious concerns. Following that letter, Cheque Centre realised that there were areas of its business that needed dramatic improvement and moved to make immediate changes."

What was the letter? If it is on sales technique / irresponsible lending, then surely this is evidence to spark a massive PPI style claim against the company?

I have taken loans from this company, when I was forced to rollover a number of times under intimidation that they could ruin my credit record and stop me getting a mortgage etc... if I went into a fixed plan.

Monkeyballs

Hi,

Thanks for posting that, before entering into a DMP I had numerous loans from them and while I was repaying and re-loaning the staff were really friendly but as soon as I started to have problems then they quickly turned...

I admitted to them at one stage that I had a gambling problem and had started to seek help but were unwilling to offer any real help by way of a repayment plan and just told me to keep doing it and maybe reduce my loan by £10/20 per month until it was paid off...

My experiences being;

The contract said I could call their HO to discuss problems, when I did they said I had to go into my local branch to discuss face to face despite my stating that I felt ashamed of my situation.

When I went into the branch I was greeted at first and asked if I wanted to loan... When I mentioned calling HO to discuss a repayment plan I was told I was effectively stealing from them and that I had no option to pay as not doing so would lead to court action?

When I opened up and admitted a gambling problem (in a shop, through glass with other people listening in) they laughed and said they "should have known" but they couldn't offer any repayment terms and had to do a 'step down' and borrow less each month

I tried doing this but, as I had a problem and was throwing all of my money into FOBT's kept topping up while some (not all assistants were horrible) sneered and told me I was wasting my money but gave me money anyway!

I called HO several times but each time was told the gambling was my problem, not theirs and I had to pay (under threat of court action) and told that I had to deal with the branch and to stop contacting them...

Eventually the branch started to try to get me to take out a repayment loan - the £1280 (£1k loan + interest) could be repaid over 2 years at £200ish per month but refused as this would have been £4800 over that time...

I must have re-loaned (never rolled over as they took money on payday and I had to re-loan on the same day) continually for perhaps 2 years never once did the money fail to be removed.

Every month I would provide a bank statement which showed other payday loans being repaid and similar (but smaller) amounts being paid back into my account the same day. The statement would be sent to HO who would approve the loan and on occasion offer a credit increase!

I was in a real mess and must have paid perhaps £4k or more in interest just to this one company despite asking for help, following their advice and being honest about what I was doing...

I take responsibility for my gambling and my debts and am now repaying them through a Step Change DMP (Cheque Centre took an F&F settlement in the end) but if they had been more cooperative and not made me feel like a criminal then I may have settled my debt a long time before I eventually did...

MB

Monkeyballs

Since writing this I have read and re-read it several times and it's really dawned on me just how much stress I was under and how badly they actually reacted when I asked for help!

It has made me realise just how far I have come in a fairly short period of time and I actually feel quite bitter about the way in which they switched from being extremely pleasant to brick walling me when I made a genuine request for help! By doing the maths, I must have repaid well over £7k because it was more than a 2 year period... It's sickening to think of the money I have wasted and now I find myself on a DMP with an outstanding balance of over £12k!!!

I know I'll get comments from people saying it's all my own fault, gambling was a choice, don't borrow what you can't afford, etc. but it really was a horrible experience!

I have therefore written a letter of complaint to the Cheque Centre making reference to my case and experience, perhaps nothing will come of it but just writing it was very theraputic.

MB

Tixy

Monkeyballs - if your letter of complaint gets you nowhere then you could always consider a complaint to the FOS. Having read your post and some of their recent decisions relating to various payday lenders I would think they may uphold a complaint from you.

Monkeyballs

Hi Tixy,

Yeah, I think I'm going to just do it...

I'd been so tied up in getting my DMP off the ground and getting my gambling under control over the last year or so that I'd pretty much just blocked the whole ordeal out of my mind!

Generally speaking I've been of the mind that my debts were my own and that repaying them was a part of my "therapy" but if CC had been a person I'd have punched them in the nose and got my "therapy" that way LOL (I'm normally a very level headed peaceful chap btw).

This was far and away my biggest PDL debt and while I had others, because they were smaller I never spoke to them about my problems so I can't hold them to account in anyway but thinking of the times when I was basically humiliated in the branch makes my blood boil!

MB

fatbelly

I had a look last night at some of the ombudsman decisions against payday lenders, prompted by another post on this site, to which monkeyballls has contributed.

Search here: http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/

It does seem that the ombudsman is taking a firm line in many cases and awarding significant sums to complainants.

eyeopener2

Now is the time to strike back, just get a complaint in and lets see if we can finally crush these guys.

JOBLESS

Whilst Martin Lewis and the rest of you guys are campaigning to 'crush' these guys just remember you are also 'crushing' the 100s of staff that also work there by putting the companies out of business and whilst you may have a few staff that got tired of the customers excuses for non repayment and were unwilling to help there were some who were actually compassionate and tried to help customers get debt free.

Monkeyballs

JOBLESS wrote: »

Whilst Martin Lewis and the rest of you guys are campaigning to 'crush' these guys just remember you are also 'crushing' the 100s of staff that also work there by putting the companies out of business and whilst you may have a few staff that got tired of the customers excuses for non repayment and were unwilling to help there were some who were actually compassionate and tried to help customers get debt free.

Hi Jobless,

Ok I'm guessing that you are either an ex or soon to be ex employee of Cheque Centre? If something is in the pipeline and will be hitting the news soon about CC then I'm sorry for you.

While lending I had a great relationship with the advisers in branch, some even commented that I'm a great customer because I always pay and borrow straight away and it's good commission for them...

They were decent enough but I suspect their reaction to me asking for help was more dictated by "instruction from above", or at least I'd hope that to be the case...

Ultimately if someone had said contact Step Change instead of offering more credit then fair play but they didn't.

I have nothing against the people in branch and to be honest, I thought most were too good for that place anyway!

MB