Struggling to get help from Moneyboat after making them aware of impending redundancy

caravan_girl

I made a terrible mistake of taking out a Moneyboat pay day loan a couple of months ago.  My credit is fairly poor and it was my only option at a time that I thought my job was stable, meaning I thought the loan was affordable.  My credit is poor due to historic debt, but had been improving until last July when I was made redundant, at which point I started to accumulate arrears with my energy company which I still haven't managed to pay off.

I secured a new job in March this year but sadly the company that I work for has since went into administration and while the administrators are still giving us work, there is no timescale for how long this will be for, and any money I am paid is being used to pay priority bills including utility bill arrears and council tax arrears.

Initially I asked Moneyboat to put my account on hold for 60 days as per the breathing space guidelines, they referred me to Stepchange, who advised me that this is a scheme for England.  I am in Scotland.  I went back to Moneyboat and asked them to allow me the hold as it's not my fault that the breathing space scheme only applies to Scotland, and they refused.  Scotland doesn't appear to have a similar scheme that I can use.

I then cancelled the continuous card payments via my bank, and contacted Moneyboat to ask if I could pay £40 per month as a temporary payment plan until I know what's happening with my job and get back on my feet.  They refused to set up any kind of payment plan without a first payment being made, even though I told them that I don't have any money, and they then advised that they will continue to charge me interest per day which means my arrears have increased by around £60 over the last month.

I blame myself entirely for taking out a pay day loan, so I don't need educated on why that was a bad idea, I'm just lucky that I'm not planning on applying for a mortgage any time soon.  

I just wondered if there was any way I could get Moneyboat to actually work with me, as I made it clear in every communication that I was going to pay the loan off, and that I just needed support for a few months.  They have done nothing to help me at all.  At this stage I'm inclined to let it go to a debt collector and see if they're a bit more empathetic to my situation.

I did check out Debt Camel but I don't think that there was anything that would have helped my situation, as I'm not requiring a refund of interest paid at this point.

In the meantime I've got all my ducks in a row regarding priority debts and commitments, and everyone else been so helpful, I just don't know how to get Moneyboat to accept what I'm offering them without demanding an upfront payment.  I think it's dreadful to continue charging interest when someone's made a payment plan offer and explained they're financially vulnerable.

[Deleted User]

Defaulting would seem to be your best bet. At the moment, you're just prolonging the pain, the cost and the damage to your credit files.

Once interest is stopped, you can focus on clearing it with a payment plan.

caravan_girl

Thanks zx81, I thought that might be the only way, and I've got an income and expenditure sorted along with an offer of repayment.

sourcrates

I would agree with the above, but hesitate to offer a repayment plan too soon,  you really need this defaulting before offering any kind of payment plan.

Moneyboat will, eventually default the debt, and most likely sell it on.

This process can take some time, and again, any new owner will go through there own standard collection procedure, which again takes time.

Depending on how things pan out for you, a payment plan with the new owner is feasible, but also, at some point further down the line you might be able to make a settlement offer on the debt, thus offsetting the large amounts of interest currently being added.

Borders2017

What about new work? Have you got anything lined up so you can get some more money in asap? 

Grumpy_chap

Outside of the immediate issue, the OP may benefit through preparing SoA and sharing via the DfW forum.  This might help them better understand their financial options and routes to create "headroom" for the future.

ManyWays

You cannot make a lender be reasonable. Often defaulting is your best bet if they arent. Offer MB what you can afford and nothing more.

The one saving grace of payday loans is that there is an interest rate cap on them so you don't have to worry the debt will just increase as it will very soon hit the 100% cap. EG if you borrowed say £400 you can never have to repay more than £400 in interest.

But if you have historic debt, it could be better for you to look at a formal debt solution. Did StepChange talk to you about the options?