Payday Loan trouble

[helpless in PA]

Due to Payday loans, I screwed my life up. I have 3 that have just rolled over, can't pay anymore. What can they do to me in PA, legally? Can they sue for bad checks? One is Cashnet USA, online lender. One is National Check Exchange, and one is Advance America. PA is suing Advance America.

I defaulted on all three. What steps can I take to protect myself. Thanks to corporate mergers and outsourcing, my company payroll moved, and my direct deposit to new checking account failed. Waiting on paper check, but just can't afford to pay these without jeopardizing mortgage.

LADY IN RED, so helpful last time i posted, what can I do? SHould I just pay them each $25/mo. via money order? Filed complaints with PA dept of banking. The PA dept of banking not totally consistant in answering if these companies fall under consumer discount companies, which then have usuary laws.

Any help is appreciated.

[isislc]

I'm not sue about PA but I know here in WI you can't be sued for a post dated check. It's mostly specific to payday loan stores. What I did with my payday loan was do up a nice repayment letter and mailed them a payment, smaller than the regular payment, and told them I would be making regular payments till the account was paid in full. If you're able to, I would try to swing $50 instead of $25, the amount looks a little better without knowing what your actual totals are. Mine is $540 and the payment I sent them was for $100 and I stated it was a "good will" first payment to show that I was sincere in clearing the debt. Here in WI it is illegal to continue charging their outrageous rates unless you sign a new contract. Basically what I owe is frozen except for miscellaneous fees which are like maybe $20 a month.

[momof5]

Actually, in most states you can be sued for post-dated checks....they just can't have you arrested for Theft by check. Also, they usually can't get treble damages as they knew you didn't have sufficient funds when they accepted the check.

Payday loans are a nasty cycle that spirals you downward. In FL, they try to protect consumers....(1) you cannot have more than one payday loan open at a time [but there is no way for the pd loan place to check!] and (2) you must take 30 days off every 6 mo... (as in, you paid the last loan and cannot renew,....no loan for 30 days....in the hopes that you find another way and don't go back to the payday loan place).

[kevin3344]

The State AG shut down the payday loan shops here in NC. Talk about predatory lending...they should be illegal everywhere. No one that touches them comes through unscathed.

[CleverCynic]

Sometimes you get in a spot where you REALLY need something, anything RIGHT NOW. I know the feeling and don't judge.

But I hope that you despise these situations enough now to take major steps to ensure you won't have to do this for the rest of your life. Shed whatever is holding you back (people and/or habits) and advance yourself towards an interest, or at least something you can be successful with even if you don't love it. Not everyone successful was born with a silver spoon... the sooner you accept it the sooner you can act.

[kdcool]

I was having a similar difficulty and I sending them debt valid ltr..along with state banking reg. compliant...

Do they have the ability to report to the CRA ??? or just SCAN ??>

[jetscarbie]

Believe it or not, my credit union just started offering payday loans. They say it's b/c so many people get into trouble with scams on payday loans.

This is what the web site says about it.

PayStretcher Loan is an affordable alternative to "pay day lenders". PayStretcher Loan is a line of credit set up for $250.00 limit, that must be paid within 30 days. There is an annual fee of $35. Available for persons who have been members for 90 days or more and in good standing.

[lolah]

I don't know about PA. I defaulted on 2 loans and neither of them have gone to a CA or are on my reports. (Yet) I tried sending a letter to each company requesting payment arrangements and OF COURSE the said they can't accept them.

I should have listened to the people on this site. If you send a money order, are they REALLY going to refuse it?!? No.

Do a search on this site for 'payday loans'. There are tons of other people who have been in the same trouble.

I feel your pain.

[Flyingifr]

This post copied from another site.

I see posts like this very often always saying the same thing, and that boils down to "I have a loan with a payday Loan company that I didn't pay back and now they are making themselves a pain in the butt, calling me a hundred times a day, yelling at me, threatening to garnish my paycheck, take my home, car and birthday and refusing to allow me to work the problem out. What can I do and what can they do?"

The very nature and tone of the question makes me believe that the Payday Loan Company (PLC) has somehow convinced you that (a) they are above the law, ( you have to accept that status, © that you are powerless and (d) they intend to immediately carry out their threats. Sorry to bust the bubble, but none of the above is true.

1. No business is above the law. While FDCPA does not apply to Original Creditors (OC's), it is important to know when the PLC has "crossed the line" and has placed itself under FDCPA. Once they cross that line, they cannot retreat back. (see FDCPA Section 803(6)) That line is crossed when they try to make themselves appear to be an entity that they are not. A typical example of this would be when Ripoff Payday Loans starts calling and saying they are now Usurious Collections, even though it is still really Ripoff Payday Loans. At that time they "crossed the line" and placed themselves subject to FDCPA. That said, even if they don't cross the line, before they can take anything away from you there is a legal nicety called "suing" that they have to go through. Sorry, but you can't take anything you don't have a specific lien on without a Court Judgment.

2. No consumer has to accept the status that PLC's try to assign to them - powerless and without any recourse. There is plenty you can do to stop a PLC from ruining you, and believe me, they will try. One of the common tricks a PLC will try to do is to attempt to turn your check into an electronic debit, and hit your account early and often. If they get paid, someone else doesn't. If they do it and don't get paid, you get a pile of NSF charges. How do you stop this? The answer depends on when you are going to take the steps to protect yourself. If you act before you take out the loan, just notify your bank in writing (preferable directly to a bank officer) that they are NOT to permit any electronic debits to your account that are not initiated by you. In other words, all electronic debits must have a PIN number of your choosing to validate them. If you take this step after the fact, then (especially if the PLC has tried the debit already) you have the Routing Transit Number and Account Number of the PLC - instruct your banker to refuse ANY debit from that source. If the banker won't do this, close the accoumnt immediately.

3. Now that you see you are not powerless, you need to understand the reality of the situation. You do this by understanding some of the legalities of the transaction. Here is one of the most common collection lies the PLC will use:

Your check bounced, the sheriff is on his way over to arrest you. This lie finds its ounce of truth in the statement that bouncing a check can be a crime. Notice I didn't say "is" - because there are a couple of elements of the crime that must be proven before a District Attorney will take an interest in the case. The first comes to 'criminal intent". The nature of the Payday loan industry is that it anticipates that the borrower will have a certain amount of money in a particular account on a particular day. If your bank statement shows that to be the case, then the prima facie evidence is lack of a criminal intent. If not, then the reason why would be important. Other checks go there first? You cannot control which checks arrive first, particularly with Check21 laws in effect.

Here in Pima County, Arizona, the District attorney has a NSF Check program. There are specific rules for submitting a check to them, and being a Payday Loan company will eliminate them from the program (one of the rejection criteria is "Checks that are predated/postdated or or where an agreement was made to hold the check for a later date"). This eliminates PLC's AND CA's from the DA's program and therefore "the sheriff is on the way" is a lie. Check your county's or city's District Attorney's Bounced Check Reovery program for similar criteria.

Here's Pima County's:

http://www.pcao.pima.gov/badcheck.htm

Now that the facts have been reduced to the fact that a PLC is no better than any other creditor and its debt enjoys no particular "privileged status", you can act accordingly.

4. Now that we have reduced the PLC to just another creditor, I recommend you read "Understanding the Collection Department", "Understanding the Collection Agency" and "They have an Attorney, Now the Fun Starts" in the Flyingifr Method (link in my sig line). Their refusal to "accept" payments in line with your ability to pay is just positioning. My advice - send them a money order, and see if they cash it or return it. It doesn't make a difference that they told you not to send it - just send it. Sending certified funds back to the debtor over a small debt like a Payday Loan looks awful bad in Court, especially if the payment arrangement you proposed would have paid the debt off before trial date. Nothing looks worse to a Judge than a debtor/defendant appearing in Court, placing enough money orders on the judge's desk to pay the debt in full along with letters from the Plaintiff that they are refusing the payments, and then they sued for the debt. Just watch the expression of anger on the Judge's face when he asks the plaintiff's attorney "why are you wasting the Court's time with this?"

Just remember - playing "hardball" is part of the positioning. In collections, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. PLC's hire the most aggressive collectors they can because an APR of 400% just can't generate enough profits for them.