consolidation of payday loans

Thanks, pyb, for that information!
iguana - can you do this for me? Can you list how much you borrowed from each of your internet pdls and how much you have paid them so far? This will tell us a lot.

I have dealt with three of your storefronts (Cal Check Cashing, Advance America and Cash One), and can tell you from personal experience that Cal Check Cashing is the only one that offers the extended repayment plan. Advance America is a pain to deal with, but if you get a good store manager, will take payments. I am currently fighting with Cash One, who says I still owe money that I don't think I owe.
I would call Cal Check and get on the extended plan, which allows 4 equal payments over 4 months.

Yes, Loan Shop is one of my internet ones and they are doing the extension thing, just at the rate my state allows, so I would believe them to be illegal based on that they are extending the loan.

What do I do about the installment loans? I owe $200 every two weeks to First Bank of Delaware and $87 to ThinkCash.

I see ks has experience with some of your storefronts! Great! Now Loan Shop is probably the one that is not legal. They are charging you illegal fees. Your installment loans - they make you pay every two weeks? Not once a month?

Well, I seem to have a good relationship with my Advance America people (they all recognize me and are super friendly to me when I come in), so I suppose I can talk to the manager and see how it goes.

Cash One is a brand new one to me, so I don't know how that would go.

As for amounts paid, that might take me a little time. I had many pdls, got a loan from a friend that wasn't quite enough to cover everything and paid off what I could, but then ended up in the same rut I was prior to getting the loan from my friend, so I've probably paid my loans three to four times over at this point.

Yes, my installments are twice monthly.

ThinkCash is $87.10 every two weeks, I have 5 remaining payments.

First Bank of Delaware is $199.98 every two weeks, I haven't started paying on this one yet.

Oh my good Lord. These installment loans are awful! So you're paying $174.20 each month to Think Cash and $399.96 each month to First Bank of Delaware? Oh my God! That's $574.16 just on two loans per month. Lord have mercy. I'm not sure of the whole "installment loan" process, but can you (if you're able) try contacting them and seeing if they can do something regarding your payments? They may not if they are following all the laws correctly. But, my goodness, that's an awful lot of money every month. Plus the fact that you're playing the "pay the storefront and renew" game every two weeks. Then the internet ones on top of all that. Lordy, Lordy. When you get a chance, try to list out what you've paid your internets. We can probably do something there. With your storefronts, see if you can work out an arrangement with them to get out of this vicious cycle. And, try calling your installments loan companies. It never hurts to see what they say. The worst that can happen is they can say "no". Okay. But it's worth a shot if you tell them you're having financial difficulty. Maybe (hopefully) they can work with you? Try to do this & let us know where you stand. We can try to help you out.

Got some bad news today...

Spoke with a Bank of America rep on the phone on my way home from work... turns out that if I have pending ACH transactions out there and close my account, they will re-open the account.

I don't know what to do. Langhorne hasn't called me back yet and Friday is doomsday.

Can they not put a hard debit block on them???

They said that they can stop payment on them if they know at least 3 days ahead of time, but that is it.

I'm going to go into a branch and speak with someone instead of a trained monkey on the phone.

I figured out my totals on some of my loans...

UpFrontCash: $525.00 paid ($350 loan)
MTE Financial: $360.00 paid ($300 loan)
500FastCash: $360.00 paid ($300 loan)

The rest are loans that I haven't overpaid on yet or I got them, paid them off, and then got them again, so I don't think my overpayment would count...

iguana, okay, you shouldn't have called the customer service number. Nope. You need to go to the branch where you opened your account. You need to speak with the branch manager only, not a teller. You need to tell them the situation. However, let me tell you right now. Do not state "payday loans". No. Tell the branch manager illegal companies are taking unauthorized transactions out of your account. This is the truth. You have fraudulent activity on your account. They need to put a HARD DEBIT BLOCK on it now. Now. I understand that it can be "forced open" if they close it. It happened to me. But they can put a HARD DEBIT BLOCK on it. Do not use the words "payday loans". Use the words illegal companies, unauthorized transactions, etc. Tell them you are "working with an attorney". Hell, tell them whatever it takes to get this blocked now. Going by your user name, I'm going to assume you are a female. CRY! Beg! Do whatever it takes. And, if you think I'm kidding, I am not. It has worked. You need to get this account blocked. You have overpaid your internet pdls already. They are going to take more out. Tell your branch manager these are ILLEGAL. Hell, I don't care what you tell them (as long as you don't say pay day loans), just make sure they do it! Do not leave that bank until there is some kind of hold on it so nothing goes through. I personally told my bank that I had an attorney. Just me though. Although advice given about crying, begging, pleading has worked for some. Do not call customer service. Worthless. You need the one with "the power". Which is the branch manager. You need to go in person. You need to STRESS the illegal factors. Please do this.

Ok, I spoke with Langhorne today and got all of the appropriate paperwork. They are sure they can help with the internet loans, but not sure if they can help with the installment or storefront loans. I guess we'll see...

I'm going to see if I can scrape together the money to get my paperwork notarized and faxed over to Langhorne tonight so that I'll have a better idea what I'm up against at some point tomorrow.

I have been instructed by Langhorne that yes, I still need to close my checking account ASAP. I unfortunately have one item still pending and an ACH transaction pending from the Nugget Market that hasn't gone through (but is covered by the money left in the account).

Are there any letters in the site's arsenal that are for banks revoking ACH? It would be helpful to go in with a piece of paper in hand stating that I need the hard debit closure done.

iguana, let me ask you this. Langhorne stated they can help you with the internet loans. You have already overpaid all your internet loans listed. They are overpaid. What are they going to do? Pay them again? And they did not specify if they could actually help you with the storefronts and the installment loans? I'm just confused here. From what I'm understanding, they're saying they will help you pay overpaid internet loans, but aren't sure they can help you with unpaid storefront loans and installment loans. Am I understanding this correctly?

I have three internet loans that I have overpaid on and another three that have not been overpaid. The man I spoke with at Langhorne was not sure as to whether they could consolidate any of my other loans, but that was because he was a front-line representative, not my actual counselor.

He said that on the ones I have overpaid on, they will likely be able to get a paid in full statement very quickly from them and focus on the others for repayment.

In any case, I would much rather Langhorne go through the process of dealing with people like MTE Financial than have to do so myself. :P

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I just returned from the bank... it went much better than I could have possibly hoped for.

I spoke with the nicest representative I have ever dealt with at Bank of America and she helped me not only get my account closed as of tonight (once my $33 grocery store check clears and the account goes to $0.00), but she set me up with a brand new checking account, confirmed that none of the loan people will have any ability to access the new account, and even gave me the $25 to start up the new account by refunding me part of an NSF fee.

Also, if by ANY stretch of the imagination the account re-opens from the ACHs, she instructed me to come right back to her and she will help me resolve it.

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To do list:
Get power of attorney notarized
Fax list of all accounts and power of attorney to Langhorne
Find out if Langhorne can assist with any storefronts and if not, go to storefronts (preferably prior to Friday) and make payment arrangements
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The load on my back seems to be losing a few pounds each day...

iguana, awesome! You go, girl! You're rockin' now! If you feel better letting Langhorne battle with the "evil ones", go for it! But find out from your actual "person" if they can do anything about the storefronts. If not, then take a deep breath and call every one of them and talk to the manager about payment arrangements. Your bank experience went so well! I am so happy to read that! It just made me smile! They were good to you. I read so many horror stories regarding banks. I'm so happy for you, Iguana. You're going in the right direction and I know it's going to work out for you.

Thanks. Having the support from this site really helps me have confidence that eventually, everything will be ok.

I did some research on the CFSA last night and determined that all but three of my storefront payday loan providers are part of it, so other than those three (which are honestly the easiest people for me to talk to anyway), every other storefront should offer me some sort of repayment plan.

It's also really nice that after my first "payment" to Langhorne, I can add to my next month's "payment" little by little. $50 per paycheck is a much easier amount to tackle than $200 within one paycheck.

I genuinely feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel now, and between my actions, your assistance and Langhorne's help with the onlines, I will get there sooner, rather than later.