Toothfairy Finance

coco1277_2 · 11 July 2010 at 11:33AM

Hi , I am after any advice which could be given regarding my husbands situation with these sharks .

He took out a payday loan at end of April needed to find a loan fast as our dog needed an emergency operation .
He borrowed £300 which was to be repaid in 4 weeks time but unfortunatley he couldnt pay it as got laid off from work .

Now within these few weeks the debt has been passed to Northern Debt Recovery who have been nasty , threatening and not willing to help . I offered to pay £50 per month and this is the email they have sent below please bear in mind this was a loan of £300.

In response to your email, we will accept £50 per month. Can we assume that you will make the first payment tomorrow, Monday 12th July 2010?

P.S Also when looking for information on Northern debt recovery its not bringing anything up at all apart from collections for Orange . The letter I received from Northern Debt Recovery is showing the same address as the company the loan was took out with Toothfairy Finance ? with company no 6956396 but cant find anything on this
The present outstanding balance is £974 with a further £54 due to be added on 22nd July.

You must appreciate that interest is charged at £9 per week per £100 borrowed, which with a loan of £300 means interest of £108 per month. This is quite clearly set out in the terms and conditions that you double-digitally signed when making your application. This means that you will be paying £50 per month for a loan that increases by £108 per month.

At this stage we are not in a position to offer any settlement figure because we have not yet seen any proof of willingness to pay on your behalf. Once you start making regular payments and hopefully increases your monthly amounts, we may well be in a position to offer a final figure of payment

Is there anything I can do about this surely these charges are not legal on a £300 loan . I am at my wits end about this and dont know what steps to take next. As they say if he doesnt pay they will send baliffs to all addresses held on file .

Any advice at all welcome , sorry for the long post .

P.S Also on the letter I received from Northern Debt Recovery it has the same address as the loan comapny the loan was took out with Toothfairy Finance and a company no : 6956396 but when searching on Google cant finad anything at all on Northern debt recovery apart from they are collections for orange ?????
I am a little confused and dont think this letter is actually from a debt collection agency

DizzleUK · 11 July 2010 at 12:08PM

Sadly ToothFairy are one of the worst when it comes to pay day loans. If it has been passed to a debt collection agency then there shouldn't be any further interest added.

BEFORE you pay them any money at all, you need to get confirmation of a final balance that needs to be repaid. You need it in writing (by email is fine) that the repayment agreement you are entering into what the amount is that should be repaid, what timescale you both expect it to conclude by and that the balance will not increase further so long as you stick to the arrangement.

Again, do not pay them anything until you know what is expected from you.

They will be very nasty and use all sorts of scare tactics to get you into paying. DO NOT SPEAK TO THEM ON THE PHONE keep all contact in writing.

If they don't want to play ball, make it quite clear to them that you WANT them to take you to court. It will not get that far as they'll have to explain their underhand actions to a judge.

coco1277_2 · 11 July 2010 at 12:14PM

Thanks Dizzle , He has told them he wont speak to them on phone and only deal with them by email or writing so that he has everything in writing for his records .

I will email them and do as you state.
I find it strange for them to email him at 9.30am on a sunday morning ?
Thank you

DizzleUK · 11 July 2010 at 12:26PM

Have they got a current balance for you?

The general concensus with TF is to report them to your local Trading Standards office.

Just remember they will not send bailiffs round (without going to court first) and the Police will not get involved.

Keep a copy of everything they send you. Obviously you borrowed so have to pay something, but this should be not a penny more than the amount you originally agreed to pay.

If they keep phoning you, a good tactic (though I can't personally recommend doing so as it's probably wrong so you do so with your own conscience) is to put the phone up to your smoke alarm and press the test button.

coco1277_2 · 11 July 2010 at 12:54PM

They have emailed again as the email they sent me was actually from a toothfairy email account so I asked them if they were the same people pretending to be a debt collection agency the reply was below . As for the outstanding balance they say £974 with a further £54 to be added on 22nd July I only borrowed £300 .

We work in very close liaison with Toothfairy Finance and in cases where offers are below realistic paybacks, we need to pass them by Toothfairy before they can be accepted. This is what happened in your case and they decided to forward the email on to you.

You are dealing with Northern Debt Recovery and it is our job to obtain payments for loans in a realistic manner before passing on to bailiff company representatives.

In your case, we are trying to be as accommodating as possible and we expect payment, as you have stated on Friday 16th July.

Establish a pattern of payment and we will consider a reduction in amounts due to enable settlement as soon as possible. Pay more than £50 on 16th July and we may be able to arrive at a realistic figure immediately thereafter.

DizzleUK · 11 July 2010 at 2:02PM

Ignore the bit about the bailiffs company. This is most likely an external debt collection agency that can also act as bailiffs IF APPOINTED BY A COUNTY COURT ONLY.

The amount they are asking is rediculous! Draft them another email, in as formal a tone as you can make it. The below is what I would send them if I were in your situation, you may use/edit/ignore it at your pleasure......

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your most recent communication regarding my account #000000000.

I sincerely wish to settle this matter as quickly as possible, however, due to the seriousness of the situation and my current financial position to which I have already advised you of, I have sought advice on how best to resolve this.

It has been suggested to me that the amount you are now requesting in such a short space of time is leaning towards extortion, and as I have not entered into a formal agreement to pay any amount other than the original £XXX.XX (the original loan plus the interest had you paid on time) this is the only amount I am willing to pay and will not be bullied, threatened or otherwise coerced into paying more than this.

Subject to your written agreement, I offer to pay this amount in monthly instalments of £XX.XX with the first payment being on COLOR=red]insert date[/COLOR and subsequent payments being made on COLOR=red]insert day of month[/COLOR. By my calculations, this means the account would be settled on COLOR=red]insert date[/COLOR.

Please be aware that I will only make payments to you by in-bank deposit, so I therefore request that you provide me with your bank account number and sort code so I can effect these payments.

No monies will be paid to you until such time as a written repayment agreement is put in place. I cannot allow payments to be made in the scenario you outlined in your last communication whereby you can alter the total amount to be repaid at your discretion.

If you are unwilling to reconsider your position and agree to enter into an agreement for the total amount of COLOR=red]insert amount again[/COLOR then please confirm that in writing, outlining your reasons for declining this offer. Subsequently, please immediately apply to the County Court to have this matter heard by a County Court Judge, whereby I will have the summons transferred to my local County Court where I will attend with copies of all communications received from yourselves and any associated agents and ask you to explain how you arrive at the figure you state I currently owe.

Whilst I wait for the the court papers to arrive, I will be reporting you to my local Trading Standards office, the Financial Ombudsman Service, BBC Watchdog, the Local and National Press regarding this matter.

I would, however, prefer to settle this matter quickly and amicably without further action on either side.

I look forward to your considered reply,

Yours sincerely,

COLOR=red]Name[/COLOR

Amend and delete anything in red and good luck!

coco1277_2 · 11 July 2010 at 2:34PM

Thank you very much Dizzle what a great help you have been , I shall send that to them soon , bit scared really lol but lets see what they come back with.

iolanthe07 · 11 July 2010 at 3:09PM

Why didn't you talk to the vet first? Ours does interest free loans for expensive operations.

coco1277_2 · 11 July 2010 at 3:11PM

Well my vet doesnt !
As soon as I took dog in the first thing vet asked was how are you paying ? I needed the cash quickly .

DizzleUK · 11 July 2010 at 3:42PM

coco1277 wrote: »

Thank you very much Dizzle what a great help you have been , I shall send that to them soon , bit scared really lol but lets see what they come back with.

No problem.

I can't offer any sort of guarantee with that letter and there is a very very small chance they will go to court. The letter is basically to call their bluff and show you are not put off by their usual scare tactics.

If they come back with a compromise that YOU are happy with then by all means take it.

Tooth Fairy loans generally target the university student market and the NUS have voiced their concerns by all accounts. You wouldn't be the first to report them to the authorities and you wouldn't be the last either.

Payday loans are all well and good if you can definitely afford to pay them back on schedule, it's when the payments aren't made that the !!!!!! hits the fan.

To be fair, some are far better than others when it comes to sorting out the problem customers. TF are high up on the list of the worst though.

They will probably reply to you saying no deal. If that is the case, thank them for their communication, express your disappointment. Tell them that your offer will remain open for their consideration, otherwise you look forward to meeting them in person on the due court date.

After that, answer all further correspondence like a broken record of "Thank you for your most recent email, I refer you to my last. Yours sincerely." until either they change their minds or pass you on to a new company. If the latter happens, forward them your previous emails (and TF's) and tell them that the offer of repayment still stands.

DON'T get into a slanging match with them. If they try to bait you, remain polite and professional.

Mismatched · 12 July 2010 at 4:15PM

Thank you so much for the advice posted here. I am dealing with TF myself at present, similar situation, needed the money badly, borrowed £100, lost my job. The charges are being piled on, they tell me i currently owe £540 for a loan that would have been (with interest) £132 paid on time.

My account is also currently in the hands of Nothern debt recovery and speaking to them on the phone this morning to inform them i was seeking advice from CCCS to sort out my debts to them and other creditors, i received a very frosty response. They told me that no debt management sceme they ahd ever heard of was satisfactory to them and such cases nearly always went to court. Having spoken to CCCS I beleive this is not the case, but I am still unsure as to where i stand if it does go to court.

I have drawn up a debt management plan, including this debt with CCCS, and have a copy of my financial statement and a letter which i have been told to photocopy and send with a token payment to all my creditors, including them. They told me this was unacceptable and further charges would follow. If i do go to court can the court send baliffs round if i have drawn up a budget, offered payment and obviously can't afford to meet their demands for repayment?

Having read this i will be switching all content to email as if they are as unpleasant in email as they are on the phone, i will be reporting them to anyone who will listen, especially the people you have suggested.

Thank you so much again

Toothfairy Finance

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