Provident Loan

DS1992

Hi,
Looking for some advice regarding a provident loan which my friends mother has stopped paying...Ill give you the reason.
You all know how it works, you take out a loan because your desperate for cash and your credit rating is too poor to approach a decent lender therefore you opt for the provident with their extortionate APR. You get a door step collector who comes to your house and collects the weekly payments as per agreed at the start of your contract. And your paying it until the day you die for a £500 loan. Kidding on...but you will be there a while.
Anyway, the representative that my friend had was a bit too friendly meaning my friend was taking him at face value and paying what was agreed each week.
When asking him how much she had left to pay, she thought to herself that the amount he quoted was a bit high...She then became suspicious that there was something going on and she therefore told him not to come back as she wasn't paying him any more.
THE PROBLEM - Never throughout this did she ever receive a book which kept record of the payments.
THE SITUATION - She is now being hounded by letters advising that they will be taking her to court bla bla bla the usual advising that she is breaching her contract of agreement by not keeping up with the regular payments stipulated in her contract with the provident.
MY QUESTION - I cant appear to find any terms and conditions regarding this book online and was hoping that by them not providing her with a book, they have breached their contractual obligations to the customer and giving us a case to fight this back.
Sorry for the long post - If anyone who knows what they are talking about can shed some light on this it would be really useful.
Thanks,


D

jonesMUFCforever

I guarantee that they will have a record of the loan - can't comment if there is a legal requirement for a book to be provided - but if this thread is going down the route of can I get it written off - I very much doubt it - if they are spending time sending letters eventually they will take legal action.
Write a letter to Provident head office - ask them for a copy of all payments made and outstanding amount.
Giving someone money without getting any kind of receipt is asking for trouble.

ReadingTim

What has really happened is that the borrower has realised what the APR means in actual pounds and pence per week and doesn't like it!

I know APRs are supposed to make it clear and transparent what a loan costs, thus making for an easy comparison between providers, but I also sympathize with Wonga's approach, ie borrow £100 now and repay £105 (or whatever) next week, especially where the target market is shall we say, somewhat....."financially unsophisticated".... - at least a bold statement in the documentation along the lines of "borrowing this £xx will cost you a total of £yy, divided into zz payments of £aa"

But back to the original post.... OP - you won't get this written off just because they weren't able to produce a repayment book at a moment's notice, nor is it any reason to stop payments. Suggest you find out what is owed, and take steps to repay, as they will make good on their threats.

Gaz83

ReadingTim wrote: »

What has really happened is that the borrower has realised what the APR means in actual pounds and pence per week and doesn't like it!

I know APRs are supposed to make it clear and transparent what a loan costs, thus making for an easy comparison between providers, but I also sympathize with Wonga's approach, ie borrow £100 now and repay £105 (or whatever) next week, especially where the target market is shall we say, somewhat....."financially unsophisticated".... - at least a bold statement in the documentation along the lines of "borrowing this £xx will cost you a total of £yy, divided into zz payments of £aa"

But back to the original post.... OP - you won't get this written off just because they weren't able to produce a repayment book at a moment's notice, nor is it any reason to stop payments. Suggest you find out what is owed, and take steps to repay, as they will make good on their threats.

I've often wondered how people who try to have a loan written off due to a (very often perceived) minor error by the lender would feel if the shoe was on the other foot.

"I see, sir... so you agreed to make payments as arranged, and have missed a payment. You have breached the terms of the agreement, and we seek to immediately recover the outstanding balance. Please forward the sum of [x] within 5 working days."

DS1992

Firstly, coming away from the point, its quite comical how the replies Iv had appear to be supporting the lender rather than answering the question when this website concentrates heavily on the squeezing of every last compensatory penny from big bad financial companies that have "Done us wrong" and owe us something for a small "error by the lender" ie PPI, Mis - sold A-Z, delays on flights.
Perhaps my question is more of a legal question for anyone who has reviewed the Providents terms and conditions...Is there a contractual obligation to supply the borrower with a book. This point is valid as the borrower should know how much they have paid out to know when the loan payments will be complete otherwise giving the opportunity for the collector to be claiming the amounts for longer than necessary.
Thanks,


D

Tixy

There is no legal requirement for them to supply a book.

However lenders are required to send statements, at least annually.

I would suggest that the customer requests a statement from provident.

If you are paying any loan in cash it is a sensible precaution to get some form of receipt. Has the customer requested and kept receipts from the provident agent?

There have been other occasional threads where provident agents have not properly documented cash received from a customer, the difficulty is proving payments were made if there is no written evidence.

It would be worth advising the debtor that rather than stop payments they would be better advised to send payments to provident direct in this situation.
How long is it since they last made a payment?

shazzablue

provident supply a payment book once a loan has been taken out,provident also have their own security team who randomly check books at customers homes,so I cant see any agent who values their job withholding a book,if an account goes into arrears letters.phone calls and visits from deputy managers are the norm so your friend would be aware of non payment on account.a receipt is usually given if no payment book available.

SnowTiger

DS1992 wrote: »

Firstly, coming away from the point, its quite comical how the replies Iv had appear to be supporting the lender rather than answering the question when this website concentrates heavily on the squeezing of every last compensatory penny from big bad financial companies that have "Done us wrong" and owe us something for a small "error by the lender" ie PPI, Mis - sold A-Z, delays on flights.
Perhaps my question is more of a legal question for anyone who has reviewed the Providents terms and conditions...Is there a contractual obligation to supply the borrower with a book. This point is valid as the borrower should know how much they have paid out to know when the loan payments will be complete otherwise giving the opportunity for the collector to be claiming the amounts for longer than necessary.

Your friend's Mother should have made a complaint instead of ignoring the problem and hoping it would go away.

http://www.providentpersonalcredit.com/complaints-procedure/

jonesMUFCforever

There is no legal obligation for them to provide a book.
They have a legal obligation to keep accurate records which will include a record of repayments.
If this is not the case make a formal complaint to Provident.

JKSandy

Can she not contact Provident directly and say she doesn't want to deal with the door step collector and ask for a statement with full details of what she owes? And start repaying the debt?


They will eventually default the debt and she will have issues for the next 6 years getting any credit or financial products.

[Deleted User]

DS1992 wrote: »

Firstly, coming away from the point, its quite comical how the replies Iv had appear to be supporting the lender rather than answering the question

It's not about supporting the lender. It's about trying to stop people from making unilateral decisions about the legality of agreements and simply stopping paying.

An answer that advises a borrower to continue to make payments generally isn't given with the intention of making that poster poorer. It's generally to make them richer, whether they realise it or not.