Countrywide Payday loan mess **

[wannabeoutofdebt]

Hi I have 7 payday loans with

 

Wageday Advance

Text Loans

CountryWide

MiniCredit

Wonga

Payday UK

Payday Express

 

I have been rolling over loans for months and am not able to keep up any more. I bank with Santander and went to them yesterday to close my bank account and open a new one with them. After reading some of the forums I wonder can these companies raid my new account?

 

Also, I have account details for all of them apart from MiniCredit and Countrywide. Does anyone know the details of either of these? I should have known Countrywide would be slippery after I applied with them and they wanted to know my telephone banking passwords for Santander! I just told them to call me later as I did not want to give these out and then they processed my loan anyway!

 

Is there a template e mail to contact these companies to default? They are all due to be repaid on 27th July and now I am panicking if I am doing the right thing

[Cait116]

Hi there!

 

Don't panic - you have done the right thing by opening a new account. No, they cannot access your new account unless you give them your new account number which you're not going to do!

 

Best to email the companies rather than call them and offer what you can afford to pay. Work out what you genuinely can afford to pay them and then email them (best not to talk on the phone to them); this way you will have a record of any correspondence between you and them. Can you afford to pay maybe one small one off this month and then offer the others what you can afford?

 

There are template letters in the CAG library - top of your screen - click onto library. Have a read there. Come back if you need more help.

 

Good Luck xx

[Crocdoc]

|Very naughty asking for Banking passwords, a complaint to the OFT is worth considering

[sillygirl1]

Having just had Santanders Terms and Conditions IO notice they CAN give somebody your new account details without reference, you really need a new account with another bank to be completely safe. Halifax Easycash online is very good, so is the Co-op and Post Office.

 

You have taken the first steps to being debt free. Is it possible to pay one account off completely each month - its called Snowballing and proves more effective than pro-rataing. In all cases remember you are only liable for the original loan amount and one months interest, no matter what THEY might like to tell you.

 

I'd email them as follows

 

 

Dear XXX

 

Please find my shortened I&E, I am experiencing financial problems and wish to pay you X amount over X months, this being the original loan amount and one months interest as deemed due by Section 87 of the CCA Act.

 

I am not to be approached by telephone and wish to keep everything in email format, should any telephone calls be received they will automatically be recorded and kept for evidence should it be necessary.

 

I will not fill out any I&E forms nor pay any 'set up arrangement' fees - requests to do either will automatically be reported to the OFT and Trading Standards, the information below should be sufficient for you.

 

Short I&E Form

 

Income

 

Priority Debts

Rent/Mortgage

Council Tax

Gas/Electric/Water

TV Licence

 

Non-priority Debts

Travel to work/Car expenses

TV/Broadband/Phone

Food

 

Amount left for X creditors X divided by no of creditors = X

 

I will send an update every three months as my situation changes. It is too unstable at the moment to provide any more details as they are still being assessed.

 

I am sorry this situation has arisen but feel it is the only way forward.

 

Yours

 

Keep it short, straightforward and leave all threats out for now, that way they can't start pressurising you.

 

Keep us informed as to what is happening.

[Cait116]

Blimey sillygirl - didn't know santander could do that! Sorry for misinformation wannabeoutofdebt! Can they still take funds from a new account without permission?

[Cyberprog]

Sounds like you dodged a bullet with the telephone banking passwords!

[sillygirl1]

It appears in a lot of banks T&Cs, you have to read them carefully to find it, its also in the Halifax one. Basically if you set up another account with the same bank they can give your details to anyone who had access to your old details.... it explains why if some company takes your money the bank can state that they 'deemed it owed' and were doing their duty.

 

I thought their duty was to protect YOUR money, not let anyone else take it at will! - Goes to show what reading T&Cs on a boring afternoon does!

[phil73]

Please can I ask about this cancelled card thing? My bank assure me that payments will not go through on a cancelled card. It concerns me to read otherwise.If pay day loan companies can just do this, then why don't they do it automatically without recourse to threats of door step visits, constant phone calls etc?

[Cyberprog]

Unless a card is cancelled for fraud, the banks will often honour a continuous authority on a card for a good while...

[phil73]

My bank assured me that because my card was reported stolen, they will not allow ANY payments through. It's nat west.

[debtbegone]

Quick action plan for you and you'll fine.

 

1. Close all your accounts with Santander and open one elsewhere. Coop was suggested above, great idea, great bank.

 

2. Contact Payplan. Get a debt management plan together, they'll sort all this out free of charge.

 

3. VERY IMPORTANT. Even though you've got in touch with payplan, *still* email the payday loan company the excellent email that sillygirl provided above. But add your payplan details and tell them payplan will be in touch. Might be worth missing off the I&E bit though and say that payplan will supply all the details that you require. Payplan are brilliant but can be a little slow IMHO, if you need to pay up on 27th of this month, payplan won't be in touch in time so you may end up having a doorstep collecter turn up. At least you've contacted these companies.

 

4. Knock up a little letter and keep it by the door. You can then give it to the door step collector if one should turn up. It should just mention that you've been in contact with the loan company, you've got a debt management plan (put payplan details on there), and you've requested that they only contact you by email but all enquiries should go through payplan, please don't call again.

 

5. Sit back, and relax, you've sorted it all out. Everything is covered.

 

 

But, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, don't forget item 3, it's just an email that you can copy and paste and it will stop any messy stuff. You can say you've been up front from the start just by sending that simple email.

 

Keep us up to date, you'll soon me changing your username to Iamnowoutofdebt in no time (if it's not taken that is).

[Cait116]

It appears in a lot of banks T&Cs, you have to read them carefully to find it, its also in the Halifax one. Basically if you set up another account with the same bank they can give your details to anyone who had access to your old details.... it explains why if some company takes your money the bank can state that they 'deemed it owed' and were doing their duty.

 

I thought their duty was to protect YOUR money, not let anyone else take it at will! - Goes to show what reading T&Cs on a boring afternoon does!

 

Nice one Sillygirl! May have been boring but definitely constructive.

[wannabeoutofdebt]

Thank you all for your advice. I am worried about Santander still letting the companies take the money from my account as I will have some paid in on the 27th and dont want these companies to raid my new account before I can do something about it.

 

I will go and try and open one of the basic accounts somewhere else tomorrow. I am starting to get nervous but have put aside the money to repay MiniCredit as they seem very scary and not willing to accept any payment plans.