Pounds2Pocket Taking Money

[jascrawf]

Hi there, I'm desperate for some help as P2P are attacking my bank balance and I have no idea what to do.

 

I took an initial loan for £800 which I paid back over a year. I needed a new car last year and took another loan, this time for £1000. I kept up repayments but then lost my job in December and couldn't afford to pay them. Despite being in a new job, I still can't afford to pay them. I took the loan believing I could pay them back as I did last time, but after losing my job through mental health issues and a 20k drop in wages at my new job, this is no longer the case.

 

Usually, they would take a single payment of £158 on the 4th of each month.

 

They insist I make the payments and when I told them I couldn't, they just took money anyway. In the last 3 days, they have taken the following amounts:

 

17.00

32.02

11.90

23.82

17.00

119.07

34.01

 

They have also contacted my previous employer by email with details of how much I have defaulted, how much the loan was for, how much is left to pay etc. I was mortified, particularly as I work in the financial industry.

 

The only way I can think to sort this is to tell my bank I've lost my card so they cancel it, or is there another way to stop them? Even if I move the money out of my current, they are still charging the account so when I move the money back, it's swallowed up.

 

I have no idea what to do. I'm paid weekly now and P2P have just taken 1/3 of my rent money. Any help would be truly appreciated, I'm at my wits end.

Edited February 5, 2014 by jascrawf

[jascrawf]

I thought I should also add that upon calling Lloyds a month ago, they informed me they couldn't stop the recurring payments or authorisation because it is a debt owed.

[RobbingHood]

Have you phoned them or written to them explaining the situation first and tried to come to a suitable repayment plan? If not, this will be why they're dipping into your bank account. You need to attempt this asap.

 

You'll need to protect your income, so you should consider setting up a new bank account with a completely separate bank, however this does take a little time. You could always report your card as stolen in the interim and ask for a new one, although that's not entirely foolproof it may stop them dipping in. Request all CPA's are cancelled as well, the bank HAS to do this upon your request, don't take no for an answer. They shouldn't be able to take money from your account if there's none in there and there's no overdraft, cancelling all CPA's should do this - perhaps put it in writing and hand it in to your bank personally just to cover yourself.

 

I am stunned they've written to your previous employer, that's breaking so many of their guidelines I don't know where to start, but you MUST report this to the Financial Ombudsman immediately.