Minicredit Help Please

[renegadeimp]

Hi. Not sure if i should post here. If not, feel free to move this to the appropriate place.

 

My sister took out a payday loan a few months ago from minicredit. Around 2 weeks after taking out this loan, she lost her job. She tried to contact them but was shot down and the interest still kept piling up. The initial "loan" was £300 and the current amount they claim to demand is £1050. She has tried contacting them every other week. She called them by phone and someone stated that they would return her call within 24 hours. They never did.

 

They have pretty much ignored all other efforts from her to pay the initial loan + 1 month interest as a full payment (my advice to her to do that), and passed the amount to a DCA. The DCA's initial letter set out 3 options for her to pay. One was a £590 amount in full to clear the account, another was £80 monthly until the entire £1050 was cleared, and the final one was to call them to negotiate a payment ( this one i told her to completely ignore and to only contact them in writing and by recorded delivery).

 

She is more than willing to pay the initial amount + one months interest but would have to do it in installments, as she now only has a part time job that pays £340 monthly before tax etc.

 

My question is do we still contact Minicredit to settle this, or is there a specific method to deal with the DCA?

 

Edit: Ok. Ive spoken to her on the phone and she's said that she has another payday loan with payday loans. The story with that company is pretty much the same as with minicredit. I guess whatever advice we can get for the minicredit argument can be applied to the payday loans too?

Edited March 5, 2012 by renegadeimp
additional information.

[ims21]

Hi and welcome to CAG

 

I have started a new thread for you so please continue to post about your issues here.

 

The guys will be happy to advise as soon as they are available

 

ims

[renegadeimp]

Thankyou. Hope someone can help

[ims21]

Oh don't worry

 

The PDL guys will be around I'm sure

 

ims

[lanway]

I have had the same trouble with minicredit. they kept taking money out of my account each day for around a month and in the end I cancelled my bank card because of this.

Since then, I have recieved a number of letters saying that my amount had gone up to over £1000 (the original loan was for £400 and they have taken well over £500 from my account) they said that each day £4 was getting added onto the bill.

I was worried sick about it will i came on to this website and found out what they was really like.

I spoke to minicredit on the phone but they was no help at all.

 

This all happened to me in Nov/Dec and havent heard anything since (fingers crossed).

advise your sister to cancel her bank card if she hasnt already.

[renegadeimp]

Anyone able to give us some advice?

[quackquack]

Hi keep at it keep emailing them and keep all copies asking for a payment plan stick to ur guns and cancel ur bank card as lost to get a new one ,ur bank details will stay the same but ur new card security number will change so no one can take from ur account and cancel any direct debits u have with them asap in case they raid ur account

[renegadeimp]

Well, what we're considering doing, is sending a CCA letter to the DCA and getting the debt referred back to minicredit. From there, we're going to total up the initial loan and 1 months interest, then deduct what she has already paid. Then send minicredit a letter stating that her circumstances again, and that we are only willing and able to pay the initial loan plus the month interest.by recorded mail, plus the same letter by email and go from there.

[sillygirl1]

You are wasting your time with a CCA letter, the DCA is actually Minicredit under another name.

[renegadeimp]

Oh... Ok. So what should we do?

[sillygirl1]

Complain complain complain

 

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk for the Office of Fair Trading

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk for Trading Standards

 

You need to put in your own words how upset and distressed you are, you can phone both organisations and explain your situation, they are doing an in depth investigation into this murky trade

 

Your complaint could be vital - if you don't complain you are wasting your time posting.

[sillygirl1]

What is the name of the DCA - don't be afraid to post their name, then we can give more informed advice how to deal with them.

 

Complain though about both the DCA and Minicredit. You seem to have repaid a lot and are still being asked for a lot of money - wrong.

[renegadeimp]

The letter came from a company called opus I think. It said they negotiated with minicredit to drop the amount owed to 590.

[sillygirl1]

Opus are connected to Minicredit, they are taking the proverbial here.

 

All you owe at the end of the day is the original loan and one months interest - this is because the original loan period has ended and they cannot charge default sums etc beyond the original contract period.

 

It's all been explained in detail before and I am not going into this again. If anyone asks for 'legal details' I cannot supply them with any accuracy, knowledge or confidence in the original case as I am not trained nor paid to do so.

[sillygirl1]

£450 seems a reasonable amount to barter with, that would allow for £50 per £100 originally borrowed, you could even work on a lower figure, work on what is affordable for you.

[renegadeimp]

So the plot thickens. I've actually managed to get hold of the letter sent to her and a copy of her bank statement.

 

 

Let me preface this by stating her initial information was related to another company for which she has now got her solicitor involved in as she is currently receiving

6-8 phone calls a day even though she;s ex directory and has written to them not to telephone her.

 

The actual info for this loan is almost identical apart from the amounts

This is going to be funny for some of you.

 

The letter states that she owes a total amount of £1,030.00

 

It also says that all interest and charges have been frozen while they remain in control of the account.

 

They allow 3 options of repayment.

1) Pay one payment of £515 to clear the debt.

2)Pay £772.50 over 6 months

3) Pay 12 installments of £85.83

 

Sounds familiar no?

 

Heres where it gets interesting.

 

Her actual loan that started all this was a whopping £130.50. Thats right. One HUNDRED and thirty. Not one THOUSAND and thirty.

 

Proof of this? All the following is direct from her bank statement.

 

Initial loan:

 

16 Jun 2011
BAC
MICROCREDIT LTD , MINICREDIT LOAN , FP 16/06/11 0718 , FP085FR3T7ZKE00000
130.50

 

Repayments:

 

25 Jul 2011
POS
2810 22JUL11 , MINICREDIT.CO.UK , 0871 8903015 GB
-
25.00

 

2 Aug 2011
POS
2810 19AUG11 , MINICREDIT.CO.UK , 0871 8903015 GB
-
25.00

 

15 Aug 2011
POS
2810 12AUG11 , MINICREDIT.CO.UK , 0871 8903015 GB
-
25.00

 

 

 

5 Sep 2011
POS
2810 02SEP11 , MINICREDIT.CO.UK , 0871 8903015 GB
-
25.00

 

12 Sep 2011
POS
2810 09SEP11 , MINI CREDIT CO UK , LONDON GB
-
25.00

 

19 Sep 2011
POS
2810 16SEP11 , MINI CREDIT CO UK , LONDON GB
-
25.00

 

 

 

I'd love to see how they justify over £1000 in interest when the loan has been paid off.

 

We sent them a politely worded letter stating that she will pay £20 to clear the debt and that that amount is non negotiable. We have also given them 14 days to respond, with which if they do not, then we will deem the debt nulled and closed. Any contact after that would be considered harassment and reported to the authorities as such.

 

 

What gets me though is she has clearly paid the loan + interest yet they are demanding over £1000, and minicredits sub company are trying to get her to pay one of 3 amounts which she doesnt even owe.

 

We also are sending a copy of the letter to trading standards and the Financial Ombudsman

Edited March 8, 2012 by renegadeimp

[sillygirl1]

Don't forget the OFT as well.

 

They really do need bringing into line, clearly their 'creative accounting system' needs to be modernised!

 

The original contract period has ended so she only owes the original loan amount and interest thereon. The contract cannot be indefinatley extended, otherwise it cannot be a legally binding contract.

[renegadeimp]

Yep. She's sending a complaint to the OFT tomorrow afternoon. She's going into detail about the loan, and also attaching a scanned copy of the original letter, plus the letter that we sent today.

[renegadeimp]

https://www.minicredit.co.uk/explain_me

 

heh. Looks like its definitely a sham company. They cant even write coherently.

[sillygirl1]

That is so bad.... if it wasn't for real you would think a kid had hacked their site and left that garbage to prove it!

[renegadeimp]

That is so bad.... if it wasn't for real you would think a kid had hacked their site and left that garbage to prove it!

 

Definitley agree with that. I cant wait for the outcome of the OFT investigation.

[renegadeimp]

Little update. The letter was sent on the 8th, and my sister has had around 12 phone calls/texts from them asking her to get in urgent contact. This is despite our express instructions to ONLY contact her through EMAIL or recorded delivery letter. There have been no letters or emails to her since the initial letter from Opus which started this thread.

 

Suffice to say, we will be ignoring all contact through phone or text, and will keep the OFT up to date with our complaint.

[sillygirl1]

Good, keep the OFT informed and hopefully they will begin to realise how unhelpful and obstructive these companies are when it suits them.

[renegadeimp]

Good, keep the OFT informed and hopefully they will begin to realise how unhelpful and obstructive these companies are when it suits them.

 

I hope so. We will be updating the complaint sometime tomorrow. And also after the 14 business day notification period is up.

[renegadeimp]

Another update, we sent another letter about telephone harassment and we've heard nothing at all since.

 

Since the time limit that was stated to them is now up, we are now treating the debt as settled as they havent acknowledged the debt per our instructions, any communication from them will be treated as malicious as we have full proof that she has paid the debt plus interest direct from her bank statements.

 

If in the rare case that they try to default her on her credit file or take her to court, lets just say there will be some fun times ahead for them