Closed account - now what?

b, thanks for the info!! The first step is closing your account. This process isn't painful, it just takes some guts. These companies are going to call you and threaten to arrest you, make judgement against you, etc. The thing you MUST remember is that they cannot do any of that. Those are scare tactics only!

So, for starters, how much have you paid toward these loans, and what is the princial amount? What state do you live in?

I would ask the bank if they reopen accounts if there is an ACH attempt made? Hopefully not, but better to be safe than sorry and do not be afraid to let them know what is going on and why you chose to close your account.

Aslo as sswett said, please let us know what state you are in.

Also if you could let us know how much you have borrowed and how much you have paid each company, that will give a little more to go one.

I think as long as you have a new account, you should be ok to pay what you need to pay. Not sure if they will try to find out about your new account, but make sure the bank knows to not let ANY ACH withdrawals go through without your permission. That might be a bit hectic for a while, but it may pay in the long run.

Don't panic, you have come to the right place for advice, encouragement and support. Know that you are not alone and many of us have been and still are dealing with pdls. It will be ok, but understand it might take a little time and little work, but once it is all said and done, you will feel a big relief. Hang in there!!

I am in Virginia so the payday loan limits are 15% per 14-day period or 390% apr. Below are the amounts I've tracked in my checking account so far.

LoanPoint USA - Geneva Roth - borrowed $300, Paid $939, asked to mark PIF and refund
Sonic Cash - borrowed $150, no payment yet
Purpose Loans - First Bank of Delaware - borrowed $300, paid $69
ameriloan - borrowed $300, not sure of payments
OneClickCash - borrowed $300, paid $780, asked to mark PIF and refund
GW Financial - borrowed $500, paid $70
Little Loan Shoppe - Borrowed $250, paid $300
Payday Yes - not sure

I need to request paper copies of my bank statements to verify the above figures since I can't access that account online anymore.

I did ask the bank (BofA) about future ACH debits and the lady said they would put the account into the negative but I could dispute any charges which I had notified to de-authorize the charges. I just hope there aren't any or just one or two to deal with. Guess I'll find out in the next few days.

I just got a notice from GW Fin and when I logged in the website said I was "delinquent" which I guess means they have defaulted the loan. I guess this is a good sign:

Make sure that your bank does not give out your new account number to the loan companies. Other than this, I don't see there is any way they get your new account number.

My bank was wonderful to work with. They closed out my old account and opened a new one with numbers -- and they said they would not allow any new debits into that old account or carry them over into the new account. They were even able to take my directly deposited paycheck and move it into the new account. Whatever you do -- DO NOT GIVE YOUR NEW ACCOUNT NUMBERS TO THESE PDL COMPANIES!! Just don't do it no matter what!!

Things will work out -- I had two accounts marked Paid in Full within two weeks of closing out my old bank account.

Just one thing-- is your account in the negative? Mine wasn't so, that may be a factor of closing out the bank account.

OutofDebtin07

Most banks and credit unions will close out the account at your request, but if new ACH items are coming in, that WILL put you in the red, and you'll be sent a notice.

And there really isn't a way for you to dispute payday loans when they hit your account. If your dispute with your bank is that the charge is not authorized, there will be a set of channels they'll make you go through, which may include filing a police report. Please remember the loan agreement when trying to claim certain ACH's were unauthorized.

It's also advisiable to not completely close out your account. If you really need to protect it, ask a bank representative to give you a new account (which will include a new account #), and to block all ACH's.

If you do decide to block all ACH's, please remember that you won't be able to do any checks over the phone that don't have check #'s to it (automated checks), or car payments, heating bills, or insurance that may be automatically deducted from your account each month.

Regards
Mike

Nope, thankfully I closed my account with a $0 balance and had already moved the funds to my new checking account at the same bank. I'm hoping they all just get an "account closed" notice like I told them I would in my letters. I also applied for a checking account with another bank that I eventually want to move to... once I sign that paperwork I will have another account to work with. I only plan on sharing my account info with legitimate billing companies, such as for my electric and credit accounts, etc. Hope NEVER to PDL again! :roll:

OODin07, You were very fortunate! I got my account to +47.00 but the bank would not close it until it was positive for "a while". Now it is -1100.00 due to PDLs that would not stop. I filed a complaint with my State Dept. Of Finances but they are very unresponsive here in Florida. FYI Sonic Cash is very easy to work with on your terms. Geneva Roth is slime. They will continue to debet your account no matter what you tell them. They turned me over to collections and still continued after they charged off the debt. They seem to change names and move all the time so no one can catch them. They are now in Oklahoma after being sought after in New Mexico. THE WORST. Do not pay them anything!

Banks go both ways - Either they are very helpful and nice and work with you to get the account closed, or they won't help you at all, don't tell you what your options are, and your account ends up going deep in the red.

I'd specifically ask the bank what their policy is for ach debits that may go through within 30 - 60 days of you closing your account. Some banks will force the account back open and allow the account to go negative. I would tell the bank that these companies you are dealing with have a habit of continuing to debit people's accounts after authorization has been revoked. If they do have a policy of forcing accounts back open, they could put an ach block so nothing new could go through.

When I talked to my bank, I was just honest. I was having a finacial hardship and took out some PDLs and I was unaware they were illegal in my state and they are taking more money than I authorized them to, and I want to deal with the directly without causing myself more financial hardship. I felt really embarrased, but the woman I worked with was really understanding and said that she has seen this happen before and to not worry and she wished me luck. :)

What's funny about Geneva Roth is that I haven't gotten anything from them yet -- usually I get that extension letter to fax back before each payday, and I think that usually comes about a week before my payday, maybe less. I sent them a letter on 4/5, by then I should have gotten my renewal notice. Pretty strange - wonder what's going on there.

I've said this before - smaller banks like hometown banks are generally more forgiving than other banks. I was suprised when you said your bank was BoA and that they worked with you. My experience is that megabanks don't really care what kind of plight you've seen, they just want their money. This payday loan stuff is a nightmare...total nightmare. Just don't let it get you down... some of the happiest people I know are flat broke 99.99% of the time...

As far as banks go, and I work at one, if you tell us why you need to close the account, and are honest, we will DEFINITELY work with you and try everything in our power to make sure you don't get fleeced by companies trying to take money out of your account after you revoked authorization. I've had many customers close an old account and reopen one to keep some company from taking money out. AOL and 24Hour Fitness used to be the worst. If you are up front and tell your banker or the manager that you are afraid these companies will continue to try and take your money out, they can keep an eye on it and help you fill out any forms if they do take money. It's called an unauthorized ACH. They can also do an ACH swap so your direct deposit will go into the new account. Just ask the manager or an experienced banker. Let me know if you need any help. :D

Just remember to read your contacts!

If you signed up for something, chances are it won't be considered unauthorized. Especially dealing with AOL, fitness centers, and payday lenders. They will all be deducting their money from your account automatically.

AOL usually will have no problem canceling your membership, however lenders and fitness centers are more difficult. There might be a fee to cancel just as there is a fee with canceling a cell phone.

No matter what though, if you're trying to protect your account, be sure to keep your own eyes on it as well. You cannot 100% rely on someone. Mistakes happen. Maybe that rep at the bank forgot to hit enter, and actually close out your account. Or perhaps the secretary forgot to do payroll, because your time card fell under her desk.

Well my bank was completely uncooperative and I was honest with them..They told me that it was pretty much my problem....So as far as I am concerned, I hope this particular bank goes out of business and all the people who are "owners" loose their shirts!

I had the same problem as you did, Leah. I told my bank everything before problems even happened. They told me it was my problem too. Some banks just don't understand that without us customers depositing our money into their bank they wouldn't exist . . . .

Quote:

Well, so far I have gotten 2 notices about my loans being renewed - one is ameriloan and the other Payday Yes. Not sure what will happen with the old account but I have emails/faxes to prove they were notified to take to the bank. I'll keep you guys informed...

My bank didn't care either. They told me it was my problem and not theirs. I think that some of these banks only care about the account holders that hold huge balances. In fact, I used to work for one of the large corporate banks, and that is the truth. They could care less about people like me that just has a checking and a savings with like $5 in it. They only cared about those accounts that belonged to people that had a lot of money to invest.

This is cute, came in from Purpose Loans (First Bank of Delaware) today. Not very professional and it looks like they copied some of my formatting in their letter. I guess this is what you get when you ask them to put everything in writing. :lol:

BTW, they never sent me my password which I requested 2 days ago...

~b
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Oh...don't get me started on banks again! After all the crap we went through with the one bank and them closing the account (and we didn't get the big refund they promise, although they brought the account to zero), after bringing the account to zero and being snotty to me (which resulted in us talking to the VP who got onto these other peoples cases for not doing what he told them to do), we get a letter from a collection agency for the amount they put back into our account to bring it to a zero balance. This led to another call to the VP who said that it was not suppose to go there and he was going to get it taken care of. Now after Easter, we have tried to call him about this and he is on vacation!!! And we got another letter!!! Both letters will be going down to him when he returns from vacation, since we were not suppose to have to repay this amount and the VP even agreed!

I bank with a credit union and for a period of time my checking account was always in the negative. Before i thought to go ahead and close the account, my bank did it for me. I still have a savings account with them and they just switched all of my direct deposits into that account. Now i can finally breathe again since i have some finances to work with.

Quick update on my PDL accounts:

Sonic Cash - being nice, wants my debt management co. information

Purpose Loans - sent me that strange letter

OneClickCash - sent me the form letter saying that *mine* was a form letter, so I responded back. Will post if it gets more interesting.

Geneva Roth - not a word from them, and they never sent renewal agreement either. Anyone else have a PDL with them?

No phone calls from anyone yet... maybe they actually read that part of my letter.

OneClick are Mfers...They will call eventually and give you twenty-four hours to respond or a decision will be made on your behalf...I have yet to determine what decision they made on my behalf...

Yep, OneClick and 500fastcash are the same I think....they made a decision on my behalf too. Let them go right ahead. I am tired of having tht responsibility.

You are going to have trouble with One Click Cash, ameriloan they are MTE Financial Services which are a pain, just report them to your AG office and the BBB believe me the BBB can work because it seems they like to reponse to the BBB and you get a chance to rebuttal their answer, they are the ones that use a cut and paste letter (the one they are accusing you of using) Do not pay them eventually they will close the account, no more debits, but they will report you to Teletrack. On the other hand Littl Loan Shoppe is not hard to work with. I sent them an email and within two days I had my email saying they had marked my account Paid in Full and that no more debits will de done. Try contacting Patrick Bronson at DMS Marketing/Little Loan Shop etc. here is the email and fax number I used. (pbrunson@dmsmktg.com the phone # 1-800-757-0122 Ext 362 and the Fax 1-800-853-7221. Now for Payday-Loan-Yes, they are Global Financial Services and they are the Roayl Pain just as MTE Financial, I have not heard from them at all! i can't wait to hear from them! ha ha!. Good luck I hope this info will help you.

Thanks for the contact info.

Well, so far so good (knocking on wood) with BofA. I got a notice in the mail that they have returned two electric payments so far - not sure which accounts they were for, and for both it says "Waived" under Fee Charged. That's sure nice to see for a change!

I finally got my paperwork from T&C in the mail today and will have to gather all of my bills and PDL info together this weekend. And now I have a couple of complaints to file with the AG and BBB now. :D

When I closed my BofA account, I never received anything from them saying they returned or did not honor any electronic withdrawals from IPDLs. But, I did receive notice that my account was closed.

Regarding making sure accounts are actually closed like AOL---they reluctantly closed my account, but said nothing about the $50 fee they were charging me for "early termination".

OUCH! $50 is a lot of money!

Congrats outofdebt! Sounds like you are making excellent progress! I am glad that B of A is being so helpful! Make sure you get those complaints filed!! That is the only way the states will know this kind of stuff is going on. Best of luck to you!

Just for fun, I've pasted my reply to OCC's compliance department below. For some reason I have not heard back from them yet -- and this was sent Friday afternoon. :lol:

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there is a payday loan i got for 400.00 and them a 100.00 it's been about 4to 5 months and they are still taking 240.00 out of my account so i want to change my checking account number cause i been having financial problems with negatives

I close my account and open a new one at the same bank can the oline payday loan lenders go into my account.

I close my account and open a new one at the same bank can the oline payday loan lenders go into my account.

I close my account and open a new one at the same bank can the oline payday loan lenders go into my account.

not unless you apply for a pdl with this account.otherwise you should be fine.