Need some help/advice re: CPA's and payday loans

HeathenJezzie

Hi, this is my first time posting on the forum although I've been reading quite a lot. I really need some advice.

For years I've been trapped in the payday loan cycle and it's now getting to the point where I can't manage and it's stressing me out, big time.

This morning, after having spent a lot of time reading and researching I called up my bank (TSB) to cancel CPA's for Sunny.co.uk. The chap on the phone (Monty) was pretty decent although he advised that the particular team or department I need to speak to are not available at weekends and that I'd have to call back tomorrow.

I have currently 4 loans with Sunny, I found a template letter online that I filled out and have modified to suit my own particular situation and would like some advice as to whether it's suitable - the issue I have is the letter was designed to refer to one single loan/account and I've modified it to refer to 4 individual accounts, it this acceptable or should I send a single letter for each individual loan?

Here's the letter. Naturally, I have edited parts for the sake of privacy:

My street,
My flat number,
City,
Postcode

Elevate Credit International Limited,
Blenheim House,
Newmarket Road,
Bury St Edmunds,
IP33 3SB

Loan account numbers:
Loan ID XXXXXXXX £50 on Tuesday 20th February 2018
Loan ID XXXXXXXX £300 on Tuesday 13th February 2018
Loan ID XXXXXXXX £300 on Monday 12th February 2018
Loan ID XXXXXXXX £700 on Saturday 10th February 2018


Dear Sirs,


I write in connection with the above loans which I entered in to on the dates shown, and to request that you cancel the continuous payment authorities (CPA's) that were set up to make payments under the loans.

I have notified TSB of the CPA cancellation and accordingly no further payments should be applied for under the CPA's.

I would request your written confirmation that you have actioned this request and that the CPA has been cancelled.


It is not my intention to leave these debts unpaid, but as I'm experiencing severe financial hardship and have priority debts (council tax, rent arrears and utility bills) which I must focus on - I would like to enter into a structured payment plan to clear the above debts.

As the CPA's have been cancelled by the bank and no further payments may be taken I'd like to set up a standing order to pay these debts at £80 per month (20 per individual loan). If you could provide me with account details I can set up the standing order to make these payments commencing on 02/04/2018.


I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

I have not yet sent this to Sunny as I am yet to confirm cancellation of the CPA's with the bank. Is the letter ok? If so, should I send it to Sunny now or wait until the bank has confirmed cancellation?

The reason I ask is I've heard that some payday lenders will simply start taking the full amounts from the bank regardless of the cancellation request and even before the dates that the payments are due to be taken, is this true?

What I don't want is to find that, when I get paid on Wednesday that Sunny have cleaned out my bank account. I can not afford for this to happen right now as I'm moving house at the end of next week and must pay a deposit and one months rent, it would effectively leave me homeless and without money to live on.

What's the best way to proceed, here? Should I wait until the bank have confirmed the cancellation or should I continue and send notification to Sunny? Should I send one letter per loan or is the above sufficient?

I also have a loan with QuickQuid and have to pay them £550 on the last working day of next month. I have some time to maneuver on that but intend to cancel next month. My main priorties right now are making sure I have money to move into my new flat, pay rent, deposit and I also have an outstanding electricity bill for £555 which I intend to make arrangements to pay in installments.

Hope someone can advise, need to get this sorted out quickly as it's really starting to affect my life, ain't sleeping or eating much and constantly worried. My biggest fear is I'll end up in a situation where borrowing more is my only option...I've been in this rut since round 2009 and need to get out of it once and for all.

I really appreciate anyone taking the time to read and thanks in advance for any advice offered.

Regards,
Heathen.

sourcrates

Hi,

Cancel all your payday loan payments, agree terms with all of them, they will treat you fairly.

Some payday lenders have done what you suggest in the past, but regulations have been tightened since then, however you can never be 100% sure of this.

Your letter looks ok, but as a first step, you should call your bank, on the 24 hr number and say your card has been lost, they will automatically cancel that card, and issue you with a new one, dont mention anything else, the long 16 digit number will be different, so any attempted transactions will be declined, you should also cancel the CPAs as soon as you can, that way, your account cannot be debted by anyone with your old card details.

You should also consider reclaiming interest charges on past and present loans you have had, information here :

https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/

HeathenJezzie

Hi, sourcrates - appreciate the reply.

I would do that but can't at the moment.

The chap on the phone suggested cancelling my card - issue with that is I'm going to need it on Wednesday when I sign my new lease. I have to use my card to pay a deposit and months rent on my new flat - I'm really worried if I cancel my card it might cause me problems in this regard.

I spoke with the lettings agents about this and they say they cannot take cash payments, my deposit has to be paid into Deposit Scotland that day and my rent has to be transferred into their account so that I can get the keys. If there are any hiccups on Wednesday I'm homeless without question.

To be honest I can't really afford to be without my card for days or potentially weeks so I asked if there was any way they could block the CPA's without resorting to that which is why he instructed me to call back tomorrow and speak to the relevant department.

Do you have any knowledge about Sunny? On the face of things they seem pretty fair and have a reasonably good image so I'm wondering if they'll see reason and play ball.

Their site offers advice on what to do if you cannot repay but there's stil that niggling doubt in the back of my mind that they'll just take what they can despite my current situation.

The whole reason I'm moving is to curb my living expenses, that's how bad it has gotten. I'm moving into a studio apartment to half my monthly rent but I'm still in a bit of bother.

sourcrates

In an ideal world they should play ball with you, but banks are notoriously inept at cancelling CPA agreements, as a lot of staff have no idea what a CPA actually is, let alone how to cancel one.

It depends on what is more important to you, usually a new card can be with you within 4 working days, I understand your problem, but sometimes things need taking in hand in order to solve them, by cancelling the card, you are safe guarding the money in your account, if you dont do it, then it may be at risk.

Which scenario would cause you the most hassle ?

HeathenJezzie

Being made homeless would definitely do more damage.

I'm originally from Glasgow and recently relocated to Dundee to start a new job. If I were to be made homeless my only real option in the short-term would be to resign from my job and move back to Glasgow as I have no family or close friends here in Dundee.

I don't even have anywhere I could store my belongings, being made homeless in my current situation would pretty much destroy me.

Something occured to me earlier, however. About 10 years ago when I first started using online banking (back when they were Lloyds TSB) I was given the option to open a sort of secondary or sub-account, which I did.

It is directly linked to my current account but has a separate account number. I used to use it to save small amounts of money and keep it separate from my current account.

I was wondering if transferring my money into that account would offer any kind of protection? I'm not really sure how all of this works but it's maybe something worth looking into.

That aside, things couldn't have come to a head a worse time for me, cancelling my debit card at the present time is likely to put me in a very sticky situation so I really need a different solution.

I think I'll still phone the bank in the morning and emphasise the importance of having these CPA's stopped. I'm also going to send the above email (which I've altered slightly to try and highlight the severity of my plight) to Sunny and hope that they are happy to come to some kind of agreement.

Worse case scenario I will transfer all of my money into my sisters account at the stroke of midnight and default on the payments but I really don't want it to come to that.

Despite the situation I'm in I've always managed to settle my debts and am slightly embarassed that it has come to this but truth it this whole affair has finally broke me and I'm fed up with it.

I moved here because I'd found a job that paid a bit more and it was a step up for me, I hoped the extra income would help me get on top of things but the expense of moving alone simply exascerbated the whole situation and I never saw the benefit of the extra income. It would be a shame to let this situation get the better of me and lose everything I've worked for.

I really appreciate your input and thank you for taking the time to advise me, very much obliged.

HeathenJezzie

For reference, here is the above letter with amendments that I intend to email to Sunny, I'm not sure what level of detail I should enter into with regards to this but feel that adding some kind of personal statement might help:

My street,
Flat number,
City,
Postcode


Elevate Credit International Limited,
Blenheim House,
Newmarket Road,
Bury St Edmunds,
IP33 3SB


Loan account numbers:
Loan ID XXXXXXXX £50 on Tuesday 20th February 2018
Loan ID XXXXXXXX £300 on Tuesday 13th February 2018
Loan ID XXXXXXXX £300 on Monday 12th February 2018
Loan ID XXXXXXXX £700 on Saturday 10th February 2018


Dear Sirs,

I write in connection with the above loans which I entered into on the dates shown, and to request that you cancel the continuous payment authorities (CPA's) that were set up to make payments under the loans.

I have notified my bank (TSB) of the CPA cancellation and accordingly no further payments should be applied for under the CPA's.

I would request your written confirmation that you have actioned this request and that the CPA has been cancelled.


I feel it only right that I make some kind of personal statement outlining the reasons for my decision and to show that I'm in no way trying to avoid paying off my debts:

It is not my intention to leave these debts unpaid, but I am currently experiencing severe financial hardship and have priority debts (council tax, rent arrears and utility bills) which I must focus on. Also, due to unforeseen circumstances I am currently in the process of moving to a new flat and must pay one months rent and deposit (totalling £800) on the 28th of February, 2018. If I fail to make these necessary payments I will be effectively made homeless and would be forced to resign from my job which would leave me incapable of making any future payments (I will be sure to forward on my new address to you when the move is complete).

As a result of these changes to my circumstances I would like to enter into an affordable, structured payment plan to clear the above debts. I've been using yours as well as other payday loan services for almost 10 years now and have recently found my situation spiraling more and more out of control. I've continued to borrow larger and larger amounts to pay off existing loans and have finally come to a point where I can no longer continue to do so and must find a sensible and amicable solution to my situation. I've never missed a payment with you until now and hope we can agree on a payment plan that allows me to settle my debts in such a way that allows me to manage my financial situation more comfortably.

As the CPA's have been cancelled by the bank and no further payments may be taken I'd like to set up a standing order to pay these debts off at a rate of £80 per month (£20 per individual loan amount) and would like to continue paying this amount until all of my debts with you are settled (i.e I will continue to pay £80 per month regardless of how many loans are outstanding) and would like to request that any pending fees, charges or interest may be capped or frozen. If you could provide me with the relevant account details then I am happy set up a standing order to begin making these payments, commencing on 02/04/2018.


I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,
X

I've decided that - regardless of how my phonecall to the bank transpires - I will be sending this to Sunny by lunchtime, tomorrow.

I'll check back to see if anyone has suggested any changes or offers any other relevant advice before I do so, but if nothing else turns up by midday I'll go ahead and send.

Time is running out, now. I have only 2 days before my wages go into my account and Sunny attempts to take payment so if I've said anything I shouldn't have or if there's anything I should add then I'd be grateful for any pointers.

Many thanks

HeathenJezzie

Update:

So I calleed up the bank not long ago and they've assured me that they have blocked the CPA's.

She did, however, tell me that as it's a Visa debit card that Sunny could potentially contact visa and request that the block be removed - is this true?

Really need some help here as I'm running out of time - I'm going to send the email to Sunny and hope they will come to some arrangement with me.

Can Visa cancel the blocked CPA's even though I've specifically instructed my bank to do so?

Do Visa have the authority to deny my legal right to cancel these CPA's?

sourcrates

HeathenJezzie wrote: »

Update:

So I calleed up the bank not long ago and they've assured me that they have blocked the CPA's.

She did, however, tell me that as it's a Visa debit card that Sunny could potentially contact visa and request that the block be removed - is this true?

Really need some help here as I'm running out of time - I'm going to send the email to Sunny and hope they will come to some arrangement with me.

Can Visa cancel the blocked CPA's even though I've specifically instructed my bank to do so?

Do Visa have the authority to deny my legal right to cancel these CPA's?

Yes, because by giving them your card details, you have pre-authorized the payment, they can potentially do what is necessary in order to debt your account.

I have said already the only 100% foolproof way is to cancel the card, i can`t see your problem, if you had done this over the weekend, you would of had a new card by tomorrow...........its not a legal right, its a consumer right.

HeathenJezzie

Another update:

Ok, so I bit the bullet and sent off my email to Sunny. I got an automated response telling me they were experiencing a high volume of enquiries and that they'd get back to me as soon as possible.

Waited a couple of hours and no response, so I called them.

Spoke with a very nice lady who offered to assist me in entering a payment plan, she started to ask me questions about my income and outgoings, all was going well until she asked about my utility bills and I informed her that I have an outstanding electricity bill for £555 at which point she stopped me.

She informed me that they cannot continue to set up the plan while I have outstanding priority debts and that they have to now freeze my accounts until priority bills are paid off - they won't even accept a small token payment per month until I've settled these bills.

So she froze my accounts for 30 days and there will be no interest or charges. She said they'll call me on or after the 28th March to find out if my situation has improved, if it has we will then enter into a payment plan, if not my accounts will be frozen for yet another 30 days until I get these bills sorted.

I must say I'm rather suprised by how sympathetic she was, very helpful which is a comformt in some ways but makes me feel bad in other ways as I sort of saw them as big bad wolves - perhaps an unfair assessment.

So now I have a bit of breathing space and piece of mind, can go ahead and move into my new flat which effectively halves my rent and council tax. Hopefully, things will improve and I can get on top of this.

I still have other debts including the £550 I owe to QuickQuid. Not sure how to go about that, I may try and come to an arrangement with them but I have a month to go before that payment is due - I am due a small £50 payment to them on Wednesday which I can stand to lose.

So not out of the woods yet but definitely a positive development.

I'll be sure to keep you guys posted, in all fairness I must say that Sunny surprised me today and if anyone out there is in the same boat with Sunny I think it's fair to say that they're not so bad and are quite helpful when you finally reach breaking point so from experience I can say it's probably best to talk to them and try and sort things out.

I'll keep you all posted, many thanks.

sourcrates

Good news.

HeathenJezzie

Thanks, sourcrates - I genuinely appreciate your input and hope you don't think I'm being ignorant.

I'm so stressed out right now and all over the place but I'm honestly grateful for you taking the time to help.

Many thanks.