Keeping record

[Yankee25671]

Hiya,

 

I took out over a dozen payday loans in 2013 and got myself into considerable debt. I paid them all off with payment plans over the course of a year and was proud to have got myself out of a considerable hole.

 

Today (3 years later) I received a letter from a collection agency saying I owe £400 to a payday loan company. Contacting me 3 yrs after the loan was taken out seemed odd to me and took me by surprise (payday loans was a stress I thought I'd buried long ago) Fortunately I kept a record of what happened to me in 2013 and so I could see it had already been paid off.

 

This is just a note to remind people to keep record of EVERY communication with loan companies, payments, payment plans and also crucially keep a record of a confirmation email from the company when the debt is cleared (if they dont provide one, request it)

 

If you ever find yourself with debts to these short term loan companies and their collection agencies, create a folder in your email called Debt or something, put EVERY one of the communications you have with these companies in that folder. Without that folder I would not have found the email showing I had cleared the debt, bearing in mind this loan was taken out 3 yrs ago!(could not name search as payday loan companies change names, close down, sell off the debt etc... all the time) but by creating that folder I could find an email from 2013 and see the debt was already cleared.

[Yankee25671]

Aside from that when I contacted their collections department I did not tell them I had an email proving the debt was already cleared in 2013, I simply said that the company had changed hands three times, my debt had been passed around, and perhaps there was a small possibility that there had been a mistake and whether they should look into it first before sending me letters demanding money.

 

He was sure there could not possibly have been a mistake and was eager to sign me up to a weekly or monthly payment plan. I refused and suggested that debt companies don't normally wait 3yrs to chase up an outstanding debt and again I asked did he think there had been a mistake. He was again certain that no mistake could have been made, didn't even offer to look into that possibility for me.

 

Just be aware, have all the facts and keep a record of these companies you've dealt with. This is a debt agency trying to chase up a debt I cleared 3yrs ago. If I didn't have proof that I'd cleared it already he would have signed me up to a payment plan over the phone to pay for something twice without a moment's hesitation. Who knows if they'll try it again in future?

[Conniff]

Not just payday loan companies Yankee but any receipts from purchases or financial agreements should be kept. 10 years is a good figure.

[renegadeimp]

Can I ask which company was chasing you