I BEAT Ohio payday lenders!!

I don't want to give anyone guidance or advice as I don't feel I'm qualified for that but I do want to share my experience so those in need may glean some strength and hope from it. I still have to pay off my payday loans, but I’m doing it on MY terms now – not theirs. It’s quite lengthy, but I want to make sure I cover all the bases. Here goes:

For many months I was juggling 3 to 4 payday loans at any given time totaling anywhere from $800 to $1200. I had gotten storefront pdl's from Express Payroll Advance, CheckSmart, National Check Cashers and Cashland. Eventually I was able to pay Cashland so I then only had three lenders to contend with. At one point I had all three loans due at once equaling $1200. I had been stuck in the pdl cycle for months and couldn't seem to get out of it and I knew I couldn't possibly afford to pay all these loans without depriving myself of my basic necessities which I had been doing for too long and I did not want to continue taking out payday loans to pay payday loans. I had gone several times without groceries, medical care and much needed car repairs. My wardrobe was threadbare and scarce to say the least and on many occasions I had forgone paying my utilities and even had them shut off at times. All of this was for the sake of paying these heartless blood suckers first who thought nothing of taking my money again and again. As I said before, I had 3 pdl's due at one time equaling an amount of $1200 and I knew I couldn't possibly pay them and I had to put a stop to the endless, stressful nightmare that had become my life for so long. So here is what I did:

Before the loans were due (that is before my post-dated checks were due to be cashed) I called all three of the payday lenders (Express Payroll Advance, CheckSmart and National Check Cashers) and told them that I was not going to be able to pay the loans and that if they cashed the checks they would bounce. I then asked them if I could set up a re-payment schedule to which they told me they don't do payment arrangements. Having no other alternative, I immediately stopped payment on the checks with my bank and promptly closed my checking account. I then sent all three payday lenders a letter again reiterating my circumstances, apologizing for the situation and assured them that I have every intention of paying my debt. I further stated in the letter that I would send them a payment every two weeks (which is when I get paid) and that the amount would vary depending on my necessities at that time. I did not give them a specific amount due to my financial situation at the time. I did not want to commit myself to a specific amount because I was in such bad financial shape and I knew I could not guarantee that I’d be able to send that amount each time and I’d be right back where I started. When I sent them payments I sent them money orders because I did not want them to have access to my new checking account information. In my payment letters I told them when I would send my next payment and I stuck to it.

Naturally as I’m sure you can guess, they were not happy with this arrangement and promptly began calling me non-stop leaving me nasty voice mail messages. They even started calling me at work so in one of my payment letters I gave them my work numbers and told them not to call me at those numbers as they were my workplace. They abided by this request however, they continued to call me on my cell phone. At first I was very shaken up by these calls because they were so constant and numerous and I refused to answer them because I knew they’d yell at me, say nasty things to me and try to pressure me into paying the amounts in full (meaning I’d have to get yet ANOTHER pdl). This didn’t stop them from leaving me very nasty messages. One lady went so far as to literally yell at me in her voice mail. It’s very stressful to hear your phone ring constantly when you know it’s THEM calling. So I decided to just turn off my ringer which gave me such a sense of peace and I did not return any of their calls, yet I continued to communicate my intentions in my letters to them. In their messages they claimed I was refusing to communicate with them and that I was evading my debt which wasn’t true because I was regularly sending them letters and payments.

Express Payroll Advance began sending my payments back to me so guess what I did? With my next payment, I sent the returned payment right back to them. They did this a couple times but I just kept sending it back. My rationale behind this was that if at some point they wanted to try to take me to court, any judge with common sense would see that I had been making honorable attempts to pay my debt and he/she would also see the ridiculousness in them sending my payments back to me.

Eventually, National Check Cashers became more willing to work with me in setting up a payment plan. They were the most cooperative of the three pdl’s. However, they wanted high payments ($200 installments) every two weeks. At first I tried to abide by this agreement but then I realized again, I wasn’t meeting my basic requirements first such as food, gas for my car, rent, utilities, etc. So I sent them a letter telling them that I apologized for not being able to stick with the originally agreed upon payment arrangement, that I simply couldn’t afford it. I also stated in the letter that I would send them payments every two weeks (the amount would vary depending on my needs at the time) and I stuck to it. They pretty much left me alone until a couple months later someone from their legal department (not sure if they really have one or not) called and left me a voice mail that I needed to call them to make better arrangements to pay off my debt, that my meager payments weren’t enough and failure to do so would mean that they may sue me. I called them and told them that I simply couldn’t afford to send them any more money than I was already sending me so I guess they’ll have to do whatever they need to do. At that time, after having already sent in several payments, I owed them $305. I figured if they want to pay court costs and spend money to take me to court over $305 then so be it. I was actually looking forward to my day in court because I was hoping a judge would see my honorable attempts to pay my debt and the fact of the matter was – I SIMPLY DIDN’T HAVE THE MONEY THEY WERE ASKING FOR and that the most I could send them was $50 a month. You can’t get blood from a stone. Guess what happened? The following week they called me back and said that they would accept my $50 a month and they were as nice as can be.

During all this time I had filed complaints with the Attorney General’s office, I had written the Governor, my representative, my senator and anyone else who I thought would be of influence on changing the laws in Ohio which are currently non-existent when it comes to payday lenders in Ohio and their poor consumer relations. I had also been in frequent contact with a well-respected law professor at OSU, a consumer advocate group who was fighting to have the laws changed, and a very eager and helpful OSU law student. I also took the initiative to file for mediation with all three payday lenders. (Mediation is a FREE service offered through the Franklin County Municipal Court!) My reason for this was to a) beat them to the punch and b) have proof of my intentions to pay my debt so they couldn’t say that I was trying to get out of paying. However, it didn’t come to mediation. All three pdl’s had agreed to my terms for a payment arrangement most convenient for ME - not them.

I learned later from the law student that if you file a complaint against them, they are not allowed to contact you which was a wonderful reprieve for me. Also, since I filed a complaint first they would not attend mediation as this would violate the “no contact” rule.

I’m not sure exactly why they all gave in and agreed to my terms but I think it may have been one of or a combination of the following:
1) They are under A LOT of scrutiny in Ohio these days. There is a lot of pressure from the public and consumer advocate groups to change the laws regarding how these pdl’s currently do business and how they treat consumers so they might be treading lightly.
2) I didn’t give in to their scare tactics and all the threats. I think that maybe sometimes those threats are just that – empty threats. Normally these threats and scare tactics work and scare people into complying because they simply don’t know what these companies are and aren’t allowed to do.
3) They probably figured this was the only way they were going to get their money.
4) The mediator may have had something to do with it. Maybe they talked some sense into the pdl’s.

Be strong and GOOD LUCK!!