MiniCredit advice

[debtfreeformeplease]

Hi everyone - I am in the process of battling my way out of what was previously a massive paydayloan/credit card nightmare.

 

I have managed to at least make some kind of arrangement or settlement with all of them, except MiniCredit. It has in fact taken me a couple of months to even get a worthwhile response, but now that I have, and managed to get some kind of dialogue going, I have got the following response. This was after several E-mails and phone calls in which I was hoping/attempting to get them to settle for the original loan amount plus 1 months interest. Anyway this is their latest, and presumably final offer for settlement. I would like some advice as to whether this is something I should consider proceeding with (my father has offered to help me pay it off if so, but I would of course rather pay off something else with the extra funds) - original loan amount for this loan was £400 and I had had 13 loans with them previously which were all repaid on time. Any and all advice will be much appreciated.

 

Here is their latest offer:

 

Dear Mrs xxxxxxxx

 

Microcredit Ltd confirms that we are willing to accept £893.00 as a full and final settlement if repaid today on the 24th of August 2012 over the phone with our Customer support on the number 0871 890 3015 before 8PM.

 

The current outstanding balance is £1468.00

 

The settlement amount consists of the following: loan principal £400.00, the daily interest for the time the funds have been used (1% of the loan principal per day) currently £428.00 and the two penalties £80.00 for breaking the Loan agreement. We are willing to waive off all of the failed debit transaction fees £475.00 (£5.00 per every failed debit attempt) and the debt expense recovery fee of £100.00 added on the 30th overdue day.

 

The settlement offer will increase daily by the contractual interest £4.00 per day.

 

The settlement offer is only valid in case our automated system is not able to collect the full repayment from the registered debit card meanwhile.

 

Once the payment is made we will not have any further claims against You.

 

The account should be cleared latest by the 28th of September 2012 to avoid Legal proceedings and a default on Your credit file.

 

Kind regards,

Minicredit Claims Department

[renegadeimp]

Standard crap they send to everyone hoping you will fall for it. Get it to the OFT as it breaks guidance.

[havinastella]

If this was me they would get £400 + 1 months interest.

 

Please don't pay this company any more than you owe.

[Welshy27]

Don't pay them their offer of £893. Tell them you want the debt to be passed on to OPOS (their in house DCA). OPOS should wipe all those extra charges and agree for you to repay back the original loan amount and the one month interest. They will let you repay it back at a reasonable monthly rate (I'm paying them a minimum £20 per month).

[havinastella]

And IF they used the word penalty and you have proof of that, I'd not pay them a penny back!

[renegadeimp]

I find all the "failed debit fees" funny as hell.

 

Lets look at it in detail. £475.00 total. £5 for every failed transaction ( even though it costs them nothing unless the transaction goes through).

 

Thats an astounding 95 attempts. I wonder what the OFT and judge in any court case would make of that.

 

It's no wonder they want to remove them and the unfair transfer charge pretty quickly.

[renegadeimp]

They also state contractual interest. Umm hello minimuppets, the contract ended when the account defaulted and you wouldnt agree to a payment plan. And £4 a day? thats £120 a month simply because minimuppets wont agree to a plan.

 

I also love how they say the settlement is only valid if you pay using a debit card and only online. I wonder why they want your card details... what a bunch of inept morons.

[debtfreeformeplease]

Thanks for the feedback - that is pretty much what I had thought myself. So there is every chance that whichever card paid the settlement figure, they would continue to try to charge the rest for anyway and ignore the agreement? I mean I guess they way they operate there is no reason to think otherwise...

 

If I ask them, or wait for them to send it to their DCA - at that point will they enter a default on my credit file, or will they NEVER do that because of their illegal operations?

 

Has anyone actually had a minicredit default notice on their credit file?

 

Obviously the main motivation for my father helping out in trying to clear these is to avoid a bad credit file.

[renegadeimp]

Thanks for the feedback - that is pretty much what I had thought myself. So there is every chance that whichever card paid the settlement figure, they would continue to try to charge the rest for anyway and ignore the agreement?

 

 

Bingo. These idiots are very VERY well known for doing just that. The adding of a default may be something of a sore point, but they are allowed to add it because you have defaulted on the repayments. However, if they add it despite you wanting to pay back and they are refusing to cooperate, you MIGHT have a case to get it removed.

 

PDL's know they are within their rights to add defaults, and thats why in their threat letters, they threaten you with adding one and messing up your credit record for 6 years.

[debtfreeformeplease]

So what's my best strategy with this company? How can I get them to agree in writing to settle for original loan and 1 months interest, and also accept a bank transfer or cheque for this rather than debit card?

[Welshy27]

So what's my best strategy with this company? How can I get them to agree in writing to settle for original loan and 1 months interest, and also accept a bank transfer or cheque for this rather than debit card?

 

Highly unlikey that they will agree to any of this unfortunately - they really are one of the worst to deal with (as you prob know!) If you do decide to let them pass it on to OPOS then you can pay them by bank transfer and they never need your debit card details. Also once it gets passed over Mini Credit will block your account with them and you won't receive any further correspondence from them. OPOS have never sent me any either - I kept all communication with them by email. Not sure if there is an official default on my credit file but just wanted to be rid of Mini Credit. After reading numerous threads on here I concluded that OPOS seemed more reasonable to deal with and asked for my debt to be passed on - and they have proven to be.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Welshy27

[debtfreeformeplease]

So should I just forget about trying to resolve it completely? And work on all the others? I really don't know what to do for the best.

[renegadeimp]

We had a poster with almost the same prob a few days ago. Except Opos was chasing them. A nice little letter went out to them and opos backed right down and agreed with the posters stance.

[Welshy27]

So should I just forget about trying to resolve it completely? And work on all the others? I really don't know what to do for the best.

 

Well don't just bury your head and forget about it. It depends how you feel about potentially having a default on your credit file. For me it doesn't bother me if I do have one for 6 years because I really don't see myself wanting to apply for a mortgage etc. If you decide to proceed with it being passed on then you will be asked to complete Mini Credits 'Hardship' form which is a basic income/expenditure form - no in depth details required. How much is your Dad able to help you out and how much can you currently afford yourself?

[debtfreeformeplease]

At this stage he is prepared to help us out with £5k, which is enough to cover all the payday loans assuming they agree to waiving all the dodgy fees that have accrued. I can't afford anything as far as repayments go - we have just enough to cover our rent and bills, so nothing left over to cover any debt repayments. So ideally I would like to get rid of them all now and all that would leave me with would be a few credit cards who are obviously a lot easier to deal with. I would prefer to not have any defaults at all, but the question is would that be worth paying a higher amount than needed to these crooks?

[debtfreeformeplease]

I mean if they are known for going back on even written agreements, then I don't see how to get out of it at all, even from paying....

[Welshy27]

Oh wow so he can really help you out then so I can see your dilemma. The 24th has obviously passed so the question is what would the next settlement offer be - obviously you can't answer that right now. They will of course hike it up - when did they send that first email to you?

[renegadeimp]

Any settlement that you consider MUST have all unfair charges/debit fees etc removed. If you pay those charges/fees/interest then you are in effect, legitimising them and agreeing with the PDL that they have been levied fairly.

[debtfreeformeplease]

They said that the offer would stand for the next couple of weeks, just with added £4 per day interest

[renegadeimp]

Theyre pushing their luck. Trust me. Stand your ground.

[debtfreeformeplease]

So basically renegadeimp you are saying that I should accept nothing but a settlement for principal + the 1 month interest? Surely they will NEVER agree to that before default situation and passed to the DCA? If you were in my position what would you do?

[renegadeimp]

I already explained what they do. Minicredit will refuse to negotiate and pile on the unfair and unlawful charges. They they simply say " if you dont pay what we say, then we will add a default to your credit record". This is how they work, and why we call them legal loan sharks.

 

It's a blatant breach of OFT guidance but they do it more and more since hardly anyone reports them for it.

[Welshy27]

If the loan was £400 then I'm guessing the one month interest was roughly just over £100? I'd not pay them back anymore than £550.

[debtfreeformeplease]

So just sit and wait for them to contact me with better offer? Or try to haggle with them. I still don't understand how I could ever resolve it for less than what they are asking, if they are going to just take whatever I give them regardless of the agreement and still try to take/ask for more?

[renegadeimp]

If you want to pay them the unfair amount they ask, then thats up to you. I can only offer advice and that advice is to not pay what they state as they are clearly trying to blackmail you. If you get a default on your Credit record, then you could contest it, but seriously that should be the last thing on your mind. You should be more worried that a company is breaking regulation and possibly law and trying to blackmail/extort money out of you.

 

If off out for the night now, but ill check back on this thread tomorrow.